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Artificial turf might not be the first choice of the Los Angeles Galaxy's celebrity midfielder David Beckham, but when he comes to Toronto for Major League Soccer matches, he had better get used to it.

Because Toronto FC's home field, BMO Field, was funded by about 70-per-cent public money at the federal, provincial and city levels, the mandate is that it be available to community soccer groups, and toward that purpose it will have a bubble over it so that it can be used during the winter.

That means artificial turf, and in the case of BMO Field, the latest version of FieldTurf. "Our script was kind of written for us because of what the province required for the stadium," said Tom Anselmi, the executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which runs Toronto FC.

Beckham has an ankle injury — picked up on real grass — and he finally made his competitive debut for the Galaxy last night. He watched last Sunday's 0-0 draw at BMO Field from the bench dressed in a suit and tie.

His suggestion at a media conference in Washington on Wednesday that he had a better chance of making his MLS debut at RFK Stadium last night against D.C. United came true because that stadium had natural grass instead of the FieldTurf at BMO Field.

He also said that all MLS soccer stadiums should have real grass. There are four stadiums in the 13-team MLS with artificial turf.

"It's like everything else in the world, it's subjective," Anselmi said yesterday.

Ideally, most soccer players would like a well-kept real grass field, but even those players say Toronto's field is better than most artificial turf pitches they have played on.

"Compared to earlier generations of [artificial] turf, it's not even comparable," Anselmi said. "In soccer, you can maintain natural grass as long as you're not using the field for much else.

"We've got a stadium here though that is going to have hundreds of hours of community use all year long. It's going to have other events. Other teams playing at it, the national teams training at it. So I think that's what really drove the province's mandate."

Toronto head coach Mo Johnston said he has no problems with the surface at BMO Field and that it has not caused injuries.

In fact, there were statistics from the FIFA U-20 World Cup, played at six Canadian cities last month, that showed the injury rate for games on artificial turf was slightly below the rate for games on natural grass.

As for Beckham and teammate Landon Donovan both expressing their dislike for artificial turf, Johnston said, "Everybody has their preference."

Toronto FC's next game will be at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford on Sunday against the New York Red Bulls, and it will on artificial turf.

Toronto defender Todd Dunivant was traded by the Red Bulls to Toronto in late June. He rates Toronto's turf better than New York's, but prefers real grass.

"I think any player would rather play on grass," he said. "But it is what it is. The more teams that have grass the better. I think obviously from a stadium standpoint and a management standpoint, it makes sense to have a field with artificial turf because you can have other events on it, and the other thing is there's no maintenance. You can have clinics in the afternoon, you can have concerts and not have to worry about the field.

"That's why they do it and you can understand that but as a professional athlete, soccer players should be playing on grass."

He said artificial turf takes a toll, but he does not feel it has been bad for a quadriceps injury that he had the past couple of seasons.

"I don't think with my quad it has made anything worse," he said, "but the turf takes a toll on your body. After you've played 90 minutes on turf , you have aches and pains that build up over time. It can be different things. It can be knees, it can be ankles, it can be hips. … You wouldn't think it would be that much of a difference, but it really is.

"We're used to it and we train on it every day. This is our home field and we have to make an advantage out of it. This [turf] is definitely better than New York's. New York's is a lot flatter, a lot more matted down and the football lines are embedded into it."

Defender Marco Reda said he has no problems with BMO Field's turf. "There's always an adjustment period," he said. "You get a true bounce. The only thing here is that the ball will not stop. Most times you have to hit a moving ball, which is fine. This is a new generation [of artificial turf], it's a little softer, a little truer bounce. I don't mind it all."