The FA has released the data from their largest ever survey of grassroots football.
More than 28,750 players, coaches, referees, staff and volunteers responded to the online poll during October.

And very interesting from our industry's perspective is the news that the biggest deciding factor on whether and how often people choose to play the game, is the quality of the playing surfaces which are available to them.

In line with the findings of Greg Dyke’s Chairman’s Commission, the survey found that among existing players, availability of pitches remains the biggest factor in how much they play and a lack of quality of pitches is putting them off playing more.

Players with access to better quality pitches would like to play 25 per cent more often than currently, while those playing on poorly-maintained pitches are likely to reduce the amount they play next season.

In a statement the FA said, "Currently in England, 83 per cent of pitches are publicly owned and, as austerity measures kick in, local authority budgets are increasingly being squeezed. Therefore funds for pitch maintenance are often at risk as councils are forced to prioritise essential services.

"Breaking the dependency on under-funded local authority pitches is a central pillar of The FA’s new National Game Strategy for Participation and Development."

To this end the FA are allocating a significant slice of the £260m budget over the next four years to improving facilities directly, which of course is only to be applauded. Investment is apparently set aside to bring the number of all-weather 3G artificial grass pitches more in line with some of our European counterparts.

But is this the only way to improve matters? Can it not be achieved with natural turf surfaces? The FA Statement does go on to say, "New grass-turf pitches and improvements to a further 2,000 existing pitches are also in the pipeline."

But this certainly seems to be playing second fiddle to the plans for increased synthetic surfaces - part of which will come under the 'Parklife' scheme which will see the creation of 'hubs' in cities, a scheme which is being piloted in Sheffield.

If 3G and the like are being seen as the way ahead, hopefully adequate budgets will be in place for their on-going maintenance by skilled turf professionals - because as we all know they are not a magic system, which once installed can be left to their own devices.