A YOUTH team leader is seeking to raise awareness of what he believes may be a link between a type of artificial football pitch and cancer.

Christian Tudor, a coach at Llay United Youth Football Club, began researching the possible link after his son Will, who played as a goalkeeper, was diagnosed with cancer last year.

He is now campaigning for a change in regulating such playing surfaces, while hoping to educate other parents of the potential dangers.

Mr Tudor, of Monger Road in Hightown, Wrexham, spoke to the Leader about how he first came across the link between the two.

He said: “I noticed an article online where Nigel Maguire, an ex-NHS chief who lost his son to leukaemia, had done some research into the links between 3G football pitches and cancer, where he came across Amy Griffiths, a World Cup-winning goalkeeping coach in America.

“She herself had identified a link back in 2009 to 3G football players being diagnosed with many forms of cancers, but mainly lymphoma cancers.

“Of all the 3G players she had identified being diagnosed with different forms of cancer, 60 per cent of those were goalkeepers.

"With goalkeepers of course being the minority on the pitch compared to outfield players, for me, there is a clear, undeniable link there.

“Nigel Maguire and Amy Griffin are both campaigning for some sort of change in regulation or increase in awareness and I want to do the same.”

The rubber crumb infill on 3G pitches is commonly made from recycled car tyres, which contain Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a group of organic compounds composed of fused aromatic rings.

Several of these have been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as being carcinogenic to humans.

The rubber infill is spread loosely over the pitch surface and football players often find the black crumb stuck to their boots and legs at the end of a match.

Ten-year-old Will Tudor was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last November and needed a six-week intensive course of chemotherapy, which was successful, and he is now in remission.

Will, a pupil of Ysgol Bodhyfryd in Brynycabanau Road, Wrexham, still plays football but is no longer a goalkeeper.

His Dad, 36, said: “Will used to come home with cuts, grazes all over his body.

"We would often be trying to get the little rubber granules out of his cuts.

“If it gets in your cuts and grazes then it’s getting straight into your blood and there has been no research done whatsoever into the affects of these rubber granules getting into cuts and grazes or being ingested.

“The realisation that something could have caused this cancer which could have been prevented is hard to take but that’s my fight now, with these regulators who are bringing these potentially harmful 3G pitches to children’s use.”

Llay United Youth FC have opted against using 3G pitches as a result of the research carried out by Mr Tudor.

In 2016, following an investigation in the Netherlands which found rubber crumb samples to contain carcinogens known to cause cancer, the Ajax Youth Academy said children would no longer be playing on 3G pitches and such pitches would be destroyed.

Mr Tudor said: “I am not going to stop until I see some sort of change, they have acknowledged that they know these APH’s are in the pitches, it’s known scientifically that they can cause cancer.

“If cigarette companies legally have to state on the packaging that they contain over 70 substances known to cause cancer, why isn’t a similar sign on the 3G pitches?”

“The Football Association have documented on their own web page, on a page aimed at stakeholders, that they know that PAHs are prevalent in the pitches, but claim that it’s such a low quantity that it can’t be a risk to human health, but my child’s health has been affected.

“The aim for me is for changes in the awareness of parents and players in playing on the 3G pitches.

“I would say 80 per cent of the parents I’ve spoken to about this don’t know at all that their kids are playing on old, shredded car tyres, and what they contain, which isn’t their fault.

“Even if people do know about this and take it as gospel that it’s a low dosage, they’re still there.

"And when you’ve been through something like this, done the research and made the link, it really is horrible to know children are playing on these surfaces.

"There are potentially harmful chemicals contained in these surfaces that their children are playing on and parents need to know, they deserve to know.

“If anyone out there has also been affected by this, or knows anyone who has been affected, then please contact willslist@outlook.com.”

The Football Association (FA) said there were about 500 3G pitches in the UK and added it was aware of concerns, but was "comfortable with current health guidelines".

The surfaces have been widely introduced in the UK because they can be used continuously in bad weather.

The Sports and Play Construction Association, which is the UK trade organisation for the sports and play facility construction industry, said there were "numerous research studies carried out worldwide" and "the current consensus is that the rubber crumb poses no significant health risk".

A STATEMENT on The Football Association website about 3G pitches states: "Third generation or 3G artificial grass pitches are recognised as durable, safe, year-round playing surfaces, able to withstand intensive use and all kinds of weather.

"They mean more people can benefit from all the associated social and health benefits of physical activity.

"Concerns have, however, been raised about the safety associated with these pitches and their constituent parts, most commonly the presence of rubber crumb.

"We take these concerns very seriously.

"We have monitored numerous independent scientific studies on this issue, which have reported a very low/negligible level of concern for human health as a result of 3G pitches and rubber crumb.

"Indeed, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has recently published its own findings, following an extensive EU-wide study, and has found no reason to advise people against playing sport on 3G pitches with rubber crumb.

"The Sport and Play Contractors Association (SAPCA), the UK trade body for the sports pitch industry, is working to develop a voluntary industry standard that will provide restrictions that go above and beyond what is currently required for rubber crumb under European regulation.

"The FA, Sport England and leading sport governing bodies all support this approach and will continue to work with the industry to provide reassurance that pitches in this country are safe."