(Read More: http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2015-06-03/womens-world-cup-turf-war-fifa-canada-artificial-turf-natural-grass)

BY Marc Lancaster
The United States forward and her peers figure to have enough pictures like this to overwhelm an Instagram account by the time the Women's World Cup final is played July 5. All 52 matches of the tournament, to be played at six stadiums across Canada, will be contested on artificial turf.

That's a first for any World Cup, and the participants are none too pleased about it. Dozens of high-level players from a variety of countries filed a lawsuit against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) last year in Ontario, accusing the governing bodes of gender discrimination and demanding to have the games played on grass.

The players’ complaint was filed last fall with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. It named FIFA, the international governing body for soccer, and the Canadian Soccer Association. Neither budged in reconsidering the planned surface for the event. So why go with artificial turf in the first place? Because in most cases, that's what was there. Many outdoor stadiums in Canada have artificial surfaces because the climate is so harsh for much of the year and the facilities are used for other sports, like football, where the difference between natural and artificial isn't considered as important a factor. Every Canadian Football League team currently plays its home games on turf.

"I’m not going to dwell on this, but I’m also not going to drop it, because it needs to be said," U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe wrote last month for The Players' Tribune. "This will be the first global football tournament played entirely on artificial turf. FIFA made a $338 million profit on the 2014 Men’s World Cup. To say that it’s not logistically possible to install real grass at all the stadiums is not acceptable, in my opinion. We have played on grass all our lives. Now we’re going to compete at the highest level on a different surface. I think it has a lot of implications."

The players want to focus on their matches and not the controversy, attorney Hampton Dellinger said.

“The players are doing what FIFA and CSA have proven incapable of: putting the sport of soccer first,” he said.

(Read More: http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2015-06-03/womens-world-cup-turf-war-fifa-canada-artificial-turf-natural-grass)

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