What Not To Wear - Turf Soccer Shoes 101

Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Madeline
Customer Service and Admin Specialist


All offerings for ESSC Turf Soccer leagues are labelled as ‘turf’, but there is a significant difference in the turf material used between facilities. Based on this material, some facilities only allow certain types of indoor soccer shoes to be worn during play. I have explained these differences below, which will help explain to you what type of shoe you should wear and why.

Astroturf:
Astroturf consists of two parts; dense, artificial grass blades and the rubber mat to which they are attached. Normal soccer cleats will not bode well on Astroturf because they are designed to penetrate the ground for traction. The mat on Astroturf fields is impermeable and normal cleats will provide poor traction. Normal soccer cleats will also wear down and cause damage to the field.

Facilities such as the Phillet Center and Edmonton Soccer Centers have Astroturf and they do not allow normal soccer cleats on their fields.

Artificial Grass:
Artificial grass uses an infill material in the mat; this allows it to act more like artificial earth than a rubber mat. The infill is made of materials such as sand and rubber crumbs. Players are welcome to wear indoor turf shoes, but the ESSC recommends normal soccer cleats as the artificial grass is thick enough that normal soccer cleats dig in similar to real earth / grass, giving you better traction.

At facilities where artificial grass is used, such as Commonwealth and Turf Training Center, it is highly recommended that you wear normal soccer cleats.

What Should I Wear?
Please review the table below to help determine which shoes you should wear!

FACILITY SHOES ALLOWED
Commonwealth Indoor Turf Shoes or Soccer Cleats
Phillet Center Indoor Turf Shoes Only
Edmonton Soccer Centers Indoor Turf Shoes Only
Turf Training Center Indoor Turf Shoes or Soccer Cleats
Edmonton Soccer Dome Indoor Turf Shoes or Soccer Cleats