Every Major League Baseball field will be sporting a fresh haircut on opening day – crafted by its best barber, the head groundskeeper.
Last summer, while grounds crews sweated through early morning routines in America, the Premier League mowed down the hopes of artistic groundskeepers in Europe, a move which could eventually affect natural-grass based fields everywhere.
The league announced that “the playing surface must contain no markings other than traditional horizontal and white lines,” effectively banning any creativity across the grass.
The Premier League says the policy makes them consistent with the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) club manual which states:
“The grass should be cut in straight lines, across the width of the pitch, perpendicular to the touch line.