"There is absolutely zero chance of natural grass being installed." Kevan Pipe, fired former head of the Canadian Soccer Association. 

                                               
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"It [FieldTurf] kills the culture of the game." - Julian De Guzman, midfielder, Canadian national team and Deportivo La Coruna.

"The best salesman in the world couldn't sell me on it [FieldTurf]. I hope in my career I never have to play on it." - Paul Stalteri, defender, Canadian national team and Tottenham Hotspur.

"If they get grass in there instead of an artificial surface, it would be easier to draw better players and teams from Europe to play exhibition games."  - Dwayne De Rosario, midfielder, Canadian national team and Houston Dynamo.

"Every game, every team, should have grass -- without a doubt. You can't ask any soccer athlete to perform at a high level on FieldTurf." - David Beckham, midfielder, English national team and LA Galaxy.

                                               
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Reality has set in for Toronto FC. With their playoff chances dropping as quickly as their players are to injuries, the focus has turned from their on-field play to the actual field they play on.

Here in Toronto, the synthetic playing surface of BMO Field has been subjected to an ongoing series of critical comments that started before the stadium was built, escalated by players and coaches who participated in the FIFA U-20 World Cup and hit new heights when it was a factor in keeping David Beckham from making his MLS playing debut on August 5.

The past week has seen articles appear in Toronto media where some of Toronto's many injured players, fearful of being openly critical, have taken gentle swipes at the playing surface.

A series of injuries that has stripped Toronto of it's best attacking players - Danny Dichio, Jeff Cunningham, Ronnie O'Brien and Marvell Wynne - has left the club starved for goals and losing sight of a playoff berth. Without a goal in 462 minutes of play, the club is in danger of setting a dubious record should they fail to score on Saturday against visiting Chivas.

Manager Mo Johnston raised eyebrows before season when he responded to criticism of the plastic pitch by saying: "Any player who doesn't want to play on FieldTurf is not someone who we would be interested in having on our team." Given the lack of depth and the glaring absence of a high-quality designated player, those words could come back to haunt him.

While no one can actually prove that the turf is responsible -  club and stadium officials have been almost strident in their defensive tone about the playing surface -  the players are beginning to hint around that playing on grass would be preferable.

Fans are also wondering if artificial turf is keeping the club from attracting a quality designated player. At first glance, you'd think not, since New York has been able to sign Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna despite playing on plastic. But the club will begin play next year in a new stadium that will have a grass pitch. There have been suggestions that certain European clubs will not loan out players to Toronto for fear the plastic pitch will take its toll physically. The summer visits of Aston Villa and Benfica have done nothing to allay that.

It's not like the club can act alone about changing the playing surface. The stadium is owned by the city of Toronto, its construction jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments, which gives the Canadian Soccer Association a say in its operation, but if Canadian national team players have anything to say about it, they want to see the pitch changed.

With funding supplied from three levels of government, one of the stadium's mandates was to allow community access. For $75 per hour, any bunch of weekend warriors can rent the place and act out their dreams. This wouldn't be possible on grass.

Nor would the installation of an inflatable dome in winter. The club plans to operate indoor winter soccer clinics on their home turf, giving some of their younger players a little off-season employment while helping to strengthen emotional ties with youngsters from Toronto's massive recreational soccer community.

On paper, this business plan involving the year-round use of the turf surface must have looked like a bureaucrat's dream. Too bad the core business of this great new stadium, the games that matter most, those of Toronto FC, aren't played on paper.

 The choice of turf over grass made some sense this year, given the amount of play it received from both MLS and FIFA's under-20 World Cup. But after watching this season's games so far, there is a certain sterility to the play.

The ball rolls well on it and generally rewards quick technical play. But neither TFC or Canada's national teams have ever played that style. Being hockey fans, we kind of enjoy a bit of biff and wallop. This current TFC squad would be much better rewarded playing all its games on a less pristine surface, something that maybe sees the odd rugby game.

You can see players shy away from making certain plays - slide tackles, cut backs in certain situations - because the turf simply has too much bite. When something has to give, instead of grass getting torn, it's a part of someone's body.

One solution that has been debated on fan forums is to install grass at BMO Field and have the FieldTurf surface transferred to nearby Lamport Stadium, where all the practicing and community access mandates can still take place. It's an older 10,000-capacity facility long past it's prime. Given that it sits in a lower-income area crying out for additional recreational facilities, it would be hard to imagine the city opposed to the move.

It's also hard to imagine the provincial or federal governments objecting if it proves to be a move that also benefits the national team and creates a new playing surface for local or regional youth competitions.

By selling out it's 20,000 seats for every game, fans in Toronto have made it clear that this will be one of MLS' best-supported teams. The two-years-and-growing waiting list for season's tickets has already prompted talk of expanding the stadium capacity.

That would have been hard to conceive of a year or two ago in this very discerning soccer market. There's an appetite for the game here that still has a long way to go before it's satisfied. Many fans want to see TFC take on the glamour clubs of Europe when they visit North America.

A grass pitch would remove the biggest obstacle to seeing those sort of lucrative, image-enhancing games take place. The sort of match-ups that would seal the deal on seat sales in an expanded stadium and possibly make the team look more interesting to a marquee player, which would only add to their already-massive merchandise sales.

Put down real grass and players and management alike will be rolling in the green stuff.