Artificial grass was developed in the sixties in the United States of America, but entered worldwide after the Montreal Olympics of 1976. The sports community soon realized the advantages of artificial grass and tested it extensively.

Two viable options emerged, non-sand-filled artificial grass, mainly used for professional field hockey and tennis, and sand-filled artificial grass, which is particularly well suited for recreational purposes and is economically more attractive.

The United States was the first to choose artificial grass for sporting purposes. This type of artificial grass – known as first generation artificial grass – was mainly used in American Football. The field had a very high density and was made of short nylon (or polyamide) yarns. Unfortunately, the nylon yarns were not UV-proof and very coarse; so the artificial grass aged very quickly and athletes were apt to suffer serious burn wounds. To prevent such injuries the pitch had to be sprinkled with water before each match. The total concept was so expensive that laboratories sought less costly alternatives. Today, the first-generation artificial grass pitches are only used in professional field hockey, but the nylon yarns have been replaced by polyethylene – or less often by polypropylene yarns.

Research led to the development of sand-filled artificial-grass pitches or second-generation artificial grass. The carpet structure became less dense and the polypropylene-based artificial grass yarns became longer. This concept was much cheaper, but its playing features were less perfect. The evolution of sand-filled pitches, where different constructions are now preferred (dynamic or flexible support surface), as well as more supple yarns (polyethylene), dramatically reduced the quality differences between the first and second generation of artificial grass pitches.

The next evolution, semi-sand-filled pitches, combines the advantages of both structures – the playing quality of non-sand-filled pitches and the low cost of sand-filled pitches – and is expected to have a fine future ahead.

In the mid-90s the soccer community began to be aware of the many advantages of artificial grass. The disadvantages, such as burn wounds, a different response of the ball as compared to natural grass and a lack of shock-absorbing capacity forced the artificial grass producers to come up with a new concept. By now, third generation artificial grass pitches has been developed for soccer and rugby. The density of the artificial grass cover has become even lower and the length of the yarns even longer. The artificial grass yarns are made from polyethylene (to prevent burn wounds as a result of sliding). The cover is filled with sand (for stability) and rubber (for elasticity and suitability for sliding).

With the developments of non filled qualities nowadays, which still need a lot of intensive research, we could say we go back to the first generation, using more sophisticated raw materials.