THE debate can often be about as exciting as watching grass grow but the conversation must now get serious when it comes to artificial pitches.

Issues surrounding the suitability of synthetic surfaces are long-standing and the injury that Jamie Murphy sustained at Rugby Park on Sunday will reopen the dispute once again.

The Rangers winger suffered knee damage early on in the Betfred Cup clash with Kilmarnock and received treatment before being stretchered off, clearly in pain and fearing the worst.

Murphy will discover in the coming days how serious the injury is and it can only be hoped that the Scotland international doesn’t face a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Rangers labelled the Rugby Park pitch ‘unforgiving’ when Martyn Waghorn was crocked on it two years ago and supporters are now up in arms once again after Murphy’s knee twisted awkwardly and he immediately went to ground.

“I think it will be one of those things that will be up for debate,” boss Steven Gerrard said when asked if it could become clear that the pitch played a factor in Murphy’s injury.

“We’ll have to wait and see. I think if you ask Jamie right now he’ll say it was a pitch incident.

“I don’t think it’s the first time Rangers have had that type of injury here, I think Waghorn suffered a couple of years back.

“But look, let’s just wait and see. I don’t want to dive in too quick, we’ll wait and see what the examinations say but we’re all fearing the worst.”

The calls to ban plastic pitches in the Premiership will inevitably grow louder in the aftermath of the blow for Murphy and Rangers, but a crescendo will need to be reached before action is taken.

When PFA Scotland asked members for their views on playing surfaces across the country last season, the artificial park at Hamilton, which has now been ripped up and replaced, came bottom of the table. One place above it was Rugby Park.

If a similar survey is carried out again this term, it would be a surprise if Livingston didn’t join Accies and Killie at the wrong end of an unwanted list.

These pitches are not popular with stakeholders in the game – everyone from players to punters to Press – but until the SPFL change their rules there is a danger that even more clubs will go down the plastic route.

Kilmarnock will argue that it is cost effective to have it because Steve Clarke can put his players through their paces on it every day and training facilities don’t need to be paid for.

And Accies will say that their youth development system couldn’t operate if they weren’t able to use the Hope Stadium round the clock, day in day out.

But Livingston don’t even have that excuse and it is fair to say the pitch at the Tony Macaroni Arena hasn’t exactly been well received thus far. Just weeks after installing an artificial park ahead of their return to the Premiership, they scrapped their Academy structure.

“I’m not here to disrespect Kilmarnock and their playing facilities,” Gerrard said. “I know that it’s a big help to Kilmarnock having a plastic pitch, it helps support the running of their football club.

“So I’m not going to show them any kind of disrespect but my opinion is elite football shouldn’t have any plastic pitches, that’s my opinion.”

Every club, of course, is run differently and has their own vision and model but they should, especially in the top flight, be playing on grass week in, week out.

Player safety is the most important consideration and none of the clubs in question would send their side out if they feared their park could contribute to an injury.

But few will be concerned about how our game is presenting itself when we stage matches on pitches that look terrible and are not conducive to entertaining football.

Everyone with an interest in Scottish football will have an opinion but it is the clubs themselves that hold the power.

Until that conversation is held inside Hampden, plastic parks are here to stay, and will unfortunately continue to grow in number.