Plastic pitches bounce back

THE Football League will hold talks next week over whether clubs with plastic pitches should be allowed into League Two. National League clubs Sutton, Maidstone and Bromley are in the play-off places but cannot be promoted to the Football League because of their artificial surfaces. Remarkably, if any of those three finish this season in a promotion position but refuse to replace their pitch with natural grass, they will be hit with relegation instead to National League North or South. One club owner estimates it will cost around £300,000 to change from plastic to grass. Meetings will be held this month, with talks about artificial surfaces on the agenda as part of a wider stadium criteria review. Should Sutton, Maidstone or Bromley be successful in their respective promotion bids, they would have to submit paperwork to League bosses committing to changing their pitches this summer. If plastic pitches are given the green light, it is only likely to be from 2019 and the majority of League One and Two clubs are believed to back the plans. The FA like the surfaces and allow 3G use in their competitions, including the FA Cup. THE Football League have warned fans who take pyrotechnics into football grounds they face a minimum three-season ban as well as criminal charges. EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: ‘Taking pyrotechnics into our grounds is a criminal offence and the police will always seek to impose a football banning order.’