Scotland's top-flight players have signed a petition demanding an end to artificial surfaces in the Premiership.

Players across Scotland have also called for action to improve pitches throughout the professional leagues.

Livingston, Kilmarnock and Hamilton are the three top division sides who have artificial pitches installed, as permitted by Scottish FA and SPFL rules.

Players from those clubs were not asked to sign the petition, but every other Premiership player has put their name to the demand, which was drawn up by PFA Scotland.

The petition follows a survey of all pitches that was conducted by the players' union in 2017/18 and saw Hamilton and Kilmarnock's pitches rated by players as the worst in the league.


In addition for the call for Premiership clubs to have grass pitches, players have also called for an improvement in standards throughout the leagues.

There has also been a request for records to be kept, and research conducted, to discover the impact surfaces have on injuries.

St Johnstone's Liam Craig, chairman of PFA Scotland, said: "Players believe that removing artificial surfaces from the top league and improving them throughout the SPFL Championship, League One and League Two will have a positive impact on our game in Scotland.

"The inconsistency of artificial surfaces at the top level of Scottish football is a major factor on how the game is played by players.

"The ball rolls and bounces differently which effects a player's decision making.

"Movements such as running, turning and tackling on the pitch also have a negative impact on the body which inevitably effects a player's performance.

Liam Craig: St Johnstone player and PFA chairman. SNS Group

"Players often say it takes longer to recover after playing on an artificial pitch. This can not only effect future performances, but also team selection.

"If a player takes longer to recover, a manager may not select them for games on these surfaces or for a game after playing on them.

"A decision based on this sees a player suffer financially - the player could not only miss out on bonuses and appearance money, but could find themselves out of the team for a longer period purely down to a game being played on an artificial surface."

PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart said: "This is a strong, powerful message from our members, those that actually play the game.

"It is abundantly clear from our conversations with all 42 squads our members feel passionately about Scottish football and care about the image and perception of the game they love.

"Football is, of course, an entertainment industry, but our members do not enjoy playing on artificial surfaces in particular.

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"The SPFL recently agreed television contracts, meaning Premiership matches will be seen all over the world; this can only be good for Scottish football, which is in a good place now.


"To keep improving, and to capitalise on the feelgood factor, our members are of the view that having quality pitches to play on is of vital importance.

"Our members in the Premiership want to see regulation in place that will ensure all Premiership pitches are grass which are maintained to the highest standards.

"The standard of grass pitches in the Premiership has improved, particularly since the Pitch Rater App has been in place, therefore there is no reason why clubs at the highest level cannot have a well-maintained grass pitch.

"Our members in all divisions feel artificial surfaces are often over-used and the priority seems to be community use, not first-team matches, therefore these surfaces drop in standard very quickly.

"Players in the Championship, League One and League Two ask for a quicker turnaround when replacing the artificial surfaces they play on."

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Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and Rangers manager Steven Gerrard are among those who have called for an end to artificial pitches in the Premiership, with the latter suggesting it had played a part in serious injury to Jamie Murphy at Rugby Park in August.

Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke defended the surface at the time, saying: "Is our injury record any worse than anybody else's? We train on it every day and play on it every second week.

"For Kilmarnock, the initial decision to put down that pitch was financial and it has benefited the club financially because it's in a much more secure financial footing than it was ten years ago, when it almost went bankrupt.

"We can't lift the plastic pitch this year, so there's no point getting into a discussion about it because it can't come up - it's there for the season.

"We have to play on it and train on it, and that's what we'll do.

"I think there's a mechanism in place if clubs don't want plastic pitches they can vote them out, but I would suggest they are not going to do that because they have allowed Livingston to put a plastic pitch down this year, Hamilton have just relayed a plastic pitch.

"And, don't forget, plastic pitches are used all over the world."

PFA Scotland's petition