Artificial grass/turf gained a lot of attention back in the 1960’s when it was used in what was then the newly constructed Astrodome in Houston, Texas, USA.

 

David Chaney, Dean of the North Carolina State University College of Textiles at that stage– headed up the team of Research Triangle Park researchers who created the first notable "artificial turf". That accomplishment led Sports Illustrated to declare Chaney as the man “responsible for indoor major league baseball and millions of welcome mats.”

 

Sports stadium Synthetic grass first came to prominence in 1966, when AstroTurf was installed in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The state-of-the-art indoor stadium had attempted to use natural grass during its initial season in 1965, but this had failed miserably, the field conditions were grossly inadequate during the second half of the season, the found a solution and a decision was made to to colour the dead grass, which was then painted green. Due to a limited supply of the new artificial grass, only the infield was installed before the Houston Astros’ home opener in April 1966, the outfield was installed in early summer during an extended Astros road trip and first used after the All-Star Break in July of that same year.