Fourth Generation Pitch (4G)

A marketing term which is used to sell 3G sports surfaces. As of 2020 there has been no significant innovation in 3G sports surfaces which could justify recategorizing them as 4G. A synthetic carpet has, however, been manufactured with very dense tufts, often being of more than one shade of green and also including a light brown colour to imitate some basal grass sheaths. These are very dense carpets and not designed to have any infill material applied, which can be a distinct advantage. However, the significant limitation of these carpets is that of without any infill material how can the strands stay standing upright rather than be flattened from usage, reducing playability, and not returning to an upright position.