Extra topsoil may have to be laid to prevent stones injuring players at the Riverside football pitches in Dundee.
The city council announced this week that it was closing the pitches temporarily after several members of the Dundee Saturday morning football league reported being hurt in the past two months.
One man needed hospital treatment for a four-inch gash in his leg after hitting a stone during a sliding tackle.
Chris Grieve (37) spent 48 hours in Ninewells Hospital and needed nine stitches and glue to fix his wound.
Queried by West End councillor Fraser Macpherson, the city council’s environment department said it would be taking action.
An officer said: ”The pitches were stone-picked the week before the football match in question. What we have done since is cut the grass on the site so that we can detect any potential stones that may cause injury and we are carrying out an operation called verti-draining the pitch.
”We normally use this machine to assist with surface drainage of pitches and what we are hoping it will do is to break up soil compaction and bring any large stones to the surface. We will then give the pitch a thorough inspection and remove any large stones.
”We therefore hope to have the pitch operational as soon as possible.”
Mr Macpherson said he would be meeting representatives of the football league and the environment department on-site next week.
”I am anxious to see a swift resolution of this and an assurance that all steps have been taken to avoid further injuries in the future,” he said.