50 years of hockey on turf
Hockey’s turf transformation began at the 1976 Montreal Olympics
The hockey turf revolution began 50 years ago at 10 am on 18 July 1976, when India and Argentina played the first match of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. This was Hockey Turf Day One.
From the AstroDome to the Montreal Olympic Games
Synthetic grass had been introduced to sport (baseball) a decade earlier in 1966 by AstroTurf at the AstroDome in Houston. The product was originally developed to overcome the challenges of growing natural grass inside a domed stadium but was subsequently recognised as a more consistent surface for sport.
It took hockey another 10 years to take its first tentative steps on AstroTurf, when it was decided that Montreal's weather made it too difficult to prepare an Olympic-quality natural grass surface. The original AstroTurf was good, but then it rained during the Montreal Olympics, and the surface played much better. As a result, hockey's wet turfs were accidentally born.
Hockey’s turf transformation
From 1976 there was no turning back, hockey’s unique transformation to a turf-sport had begun.
International Hockey Federation (FIH) President Tayyab Ikram explains:
"The introduction of artificial turf at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games marked a defining moment in the evolution of our sport. It demonstrated how innovation can transform the way the game is played, creating a faster, more consistent playing surface that showcased the skill, speed, and athleticism of the world's best athletes. Fifty years later, that pioneering decision remains a milestone in hockey's history.
Just as importantly, artificial turf has continued to evolve, with today's surfaces offering significantly improved sustainability, including substantially lower water consumption and more efficient use of resources.
As we celebrate this 50-year anniversary, we recognize the visionaries who embraced change and set the stage for generations of athletes to perform at the highest level."
From earlier adopters to turf natives
Following Montreal, synthetic turfs were gradually introduced around the hockey world, but as Richard Tattershaw, Sport Group Marketing Director and former New Zealand hockey player, explains, it took some time:
“For many years after Montreal, hockey remained a grass game, played occasionally on hockey turf. For example, the 1980 Moscow Olympics were played on Poligras hockey turf from Polytan, but the 1982 Men’s World Cup in India was still on natural grass. Initially, the benefit was seen as practical, in that turfs allowed play in ‘all weather’, but over time they came to be recognised as providing a superior playing performance.
By the turn of the century, turfs had become commonplace, which meant the 2012 London Olympics featured a new generation of players, such as Jamie Dwyer and Luciana Aymar, who had been raised on turf. They were not playing grass hockey anymore; they were hockey’s first turf natives, and they brought with them an explosion of skill and speed that was vastly different from grass hockey.”
The amazing turf journey continues
Hockey is a progressive sport, and adopting hockey turf naturally led to changes in rules, tactics, equipment all of which has made the sport more enjoyable for beginners, and faster and more dynamic for experienced players. Fifty years later hockey turf is still evolving, with advancements in sustainable technologies such as sugar cane, water reduction for irrigated turfs and a new generation of waterless turfs to replace sand-dressed turfs.
The 1976 decision was a profound one, and the many subsequent and related decisions, taken by people who cared deeply about the sport have modernized and enhanced the game successfully, resulting in a sport that is equally amazing for men, women, elite, beginners, young and old.
Watch ‘The Surface’, a unique hockey documentary, where hockey stars including Jamie Dwyer, Luciana Aymar and Ric Charlesworth discuss hockey’s transformation from grass to turf.
FIH Global Supplier Polytan has installed Poligras hockey turf for the last five Olympic Games. The 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will feature Poligras hockey turf manufactured and installed by AstroTurf in the USA.