Astroturf has an increasing following with thousands turning out each week to enjoy team sport but are there health drawbacks? Carl O'Malley reports
If one was to believe the steady stream of "binge drinking" and "drug-fuelled sex romp" headlines that litter the press on a daily basis, one could be forgiven for losing all faith in the destiny of this State.
After all, what can the future lawmakers realistically achieve from a rehab clinic, while undergoing treatment for a myriad of sexually transmitted infections and battling chronic obesity? Not much, one would venture.
Yet for many of this generation, the old adage of "work hard and play hard" is entirely different from the popular public perception.
Finishing work in the evening is no longer a race to the pub or the couch. Instead, many join the ever growing troupe of 20-30 somethings who travel, in what is sometimes a thrice-weekly pilgrimage, to one of the umpteen astroturf pitches dotted around the capital and the rest of Ireland.
Astro has become big business in recent years and has captured the attention of countless young men and women - football fans or not. People for whom more traditional organised sport has for a long time been unmanageable are realising that they can get regular exercise with their friends, and on their own terms.
Yes, there is a lot to be said for gyms and health clubs, but the benefits to playing with a team can't be replicated on a treadmill.
A measure of astro's appeal is evident from the sheer numbers taking part. According to Terrence O'Halloran of Astro Soccer Limited, a conservative estimate of weekly participants is 50,000 nationwide.
Astro Soccer Limited owns three sites - two in Dublin and one in Limerick - and operates leagues out of at least another 15 in the Republic. In Dublin alone, its weekly figures have reached 7,500 in 150 games and the numbers are showing no signs of abating.
Ireland is the perfect breeding ground for astroturf devotees. Winter renders grass pitches unplayable and for many club teams training on astro turf is their only option.
Summer then sees the end of the traditional football season and consequently a large rise in numbers visiting astro facilities.
The growing number of participants is undoubtedly encouraging for the health of future generations and those taking part now, but there are concerns that overdoing it can lead to other health problems.
Astroturf is traditionally a demanding surface and there are pitfalls, despite recent and significant improvements in its development.
With vast experience dealing with sports injuries, chartered physiotherapist Ailbe McCormack of Ranelagh Physiotherapy Clinic is all too aware of the problems astroturf can pose for those who do not take proper precautions.
"You are more prone to arthritic problems," says McCormack. "Astroturf, if it's not properly looked after, can put a lot of stress on the joints. A fair number of my non-contact injuries would be astro-related - backs and ankles.
"Generally people who go off to play Astroturf don't do any warm up. They up, get changed, meet their mates and get a kick-around straight away.
"They should try to get there about 10 minutes before they are due to play and spend a bit of time stretching their calves, stretching their hamstrings, stretching their quads and thigh muscles."
Warm downs are also very important, says McCormack, especially for players who play a few times a week and who "just bounce off straight into the car, they cool down in the car".
Two days later, they are back again. "It's an ever-decreasing circle, the muscles just get tighter and tighter, so they are more prone to pulling and straining. It puts pressure on the joints all the time," says McCormack.
"They are not looking after themselves and they are often carrying a bit of weight, and possibly not wearing the right footwear as well," she says.
McCormack admits to being shocked by the quality of footwear which he says has not evolved at the same rate at which the pitches have.
"None of them have really evolved . . . there is no cushioning in them, there is no shock absorbency, there's no arch support. The whole thing has not been looked at."'
Of course, these words of warning are offset by the fact that it's really about preparing properly. "I think it's a great sport - it's great to get people out to play and it's a very social sport. The issue really is are they actually preparing themselves?"
Similarly, there are concerns among cardiac experts, that despite the very encouraging increase in numbers, some people should be aware of the risk.
Prof Ian Graham, consultant cardiologist and head of cardiology in the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght, broadly welcomes the emergence of astro, but warns that some may need to take precautions.
"If you look at leisure exercise in general, there is very little downside to it, in that people who are active in their leisure time have certainly lower rates of heart attacks and strokes," says Graham.
"There are probably two components - one would be the direct protective effects and the other, as you would imagine, would be an indirect effect, because if you are interested enough to take leisure exercise you are less likely to be overweight, you are less likely to have high cholesterol, you are less likely to have high blood pressure and you're less likely to have diabetes.
"Long term you are less likely to have arthritis and it has a quite a definite stress-relieving effect as well, so you get an awful lot of benefits and people who are motivated to be active during leisure time, of course, would tend to be more interested in their diet and less likely to smoke.
"So, broadly, given that we are becoming a culture of inactive, very overweight people, anything that promotes exercise, particularly this enjoyable, is good."
As with musco-skeletal issues however, those who are not prepared will suffer for it.
"If you go straight from the pub after stubbing out your cigarette, and you have done nothing, and you take vigorous exercise in a competitive way, the more you go into middle age the more the risks begin to develop.
"I suppose if one is taking exercise for the first time in middle age, one probably should have a check-up, have their blood pressure checked and maybe an exercise ECG if they are going to do something very strenuous.
"It's really a matter of common sense, that you train yourself into it and build up progressively . . . but generally the challenge is the other way round, to get people out there rather than stop them."
Graham adds that recent figures reflecting a decrease in coronary death rates are due to drops in cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking, but warns that these are "beginning to be offset by weight and obesity and diabetes going up".
"One of the most important things there is," according to Graham, "is the 20-somethings getting exercise where previous generations would have missed out.
"If you have a culture of being active in you leisure time, and three or four times a week is fine, if you are doing that regularly, rather than doing it explosively once every six months, all the other benefits follow.
"And it will have a beneficial effect on how your kids are likely to behave as well.
"A lot of people would see it in terms of society, as far more important than the things we do with our drugs and our pills."