Regulation 22 and Player Welfare

Regulation 22 specifies the requirements for artificial turf for use in the sport of rugby. It is mandatory for all fields used for contact rugby both in matches and training.

Regulation 22 is intended to provide a basis for:

• ensuring that a field enables a player to perform to the best of their ability without any additional injury risk
• maximizing the field’s ability to meet that performance for its entire lifetime (assuming the correct maintenance is completed).

There are three main test categories incorporated into Regulation 22:

• Player/surface interaction - Player Welfare is at the heart of Regulation 22 with player/surface interaction being one of the key aspects of the performance requirements contained within the regulation. These aspects are benchmarked against the performance of good quality natural turf. These tests are completed in the laboratory to ensure that they can be met and on site to ensure that they are being met.
• Quality and wear resistance – These tests are intended to assess a field’s ability to withstand the rigour of regular rugby matches. The testing assumes that a field will be used significantly more than an equivalent natural turf field and that appropriate maintenance is undertaken regularly. These tests are completed in the laboratory with some construction quality tests being done on site.
• Identification test – With the quality tests being undertaken in the laboratory, it is not practical to perform these tests on the field when it has been installed. To ensure that the results from the laboratory testing can be transferred to the product on the field, identification tests are completed to identify whether or not the product installed in a facility is the same as that tested in the laboratory.

If there is any uncertainty about whether a field can achieve World Rugby Regulation 22 compliance, please contact your local Union or World Rugby on [email protected].