Ball roll is one of the oldest tests we still use to evaluate playing surfaces. But do we ever stop to ask if it really reflects the game of soccer?
The method dates back to the 1930s when it was developed for golf greens. Over the decades it has been adapted, and in many ways bastardised, into soccer testing. While the test has some merits, it should never be mistaken as a surrogate for how players actually experience the ball in real game situations.
In soccer the ball often skids and slides as much as it rolls. The test measures very slow rolls that do not resemble real match conditions. The difference in roll direction is often more important than the absolute distance because directional bias can cause player confusion, especially on poorly designed surfaces. Turf systems with stiff yarn or manufacturing bias can exaggerate these issues, whereas good natural grass and well engineered turf systems show much greater uniformity.
Perhaps most importantly, player feedback consistently highlights that turf feels slower than natural grass. Yet paradoxically, ball roll tests often record turf as producing longer rolls. This contradiction casts serious doubt on the relevance of the method and shows how far removed it can be from the lived experience of players.
Yes, upper and lower limits exist for the test, but treating them as the main benchmark oversimplifies a complex reality. Our research (and that of others in the field), goes further by projecting balls at appropriate speeds and angles to better mimic the way players actually kick. This allows us to measure not only how far a ball travels but also how it reacts when struck with different levels of force, spin and trajectory. These more sophisticated methods create data that is far closer to the real in-game experience, and they give us the insights needed to design and improve surfaces that genuinely support player performance.
Ball roll has its place, but we should be honest: it is a blunt tool from another sport being stretched well beyond its original design.
