SUTTON United and Carshalton Athletic have been among the pioneers of a 3G revolution this season which is helping to make non-League football sustainable.

Traditionally at this time of year their pitches would be deteriorating fast and the postponements would be piling up.

Now their pitches are available for use seven days a week by various other teams, the community and for coaching sessions which help the next generation.

Tooting & Mitcham United also have two of the 567 FA-approved 3G pitches across the country but – at a time when the case was beginning to look unanswerable – the surfaces have been dealt the worst possible blow with suggestions they could cause cancer.

Nick Maguire, a former chief of NHS Cumbria, is calling for all 3G surfaces to be ripped up claiming it has been a cause of his 18-year-old son Lewis’s Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Mr Maguire’s concern is the small rubber pellets which cover the surface contain toxic chemicals, and follows a similar case in the United States where a young female goalkeeper’s death is being linked to the pitches.

The FA insists the pitches are safe and – with it about to spend £260m on laying around 30 4G pitches next year – it has a vested interest to protect its own hefty investment, plus that of various clubs, schools and other public bodies.

Sutton are so proud of theirs it has its own dedicated website, knowing it can help finance the National League South club's promotion ambitions.

That entrepreneurial spirit must be admired – and could be the lifeblood of the grassroots game - which is why the FA must quickly to determine one way or the other whether these pitches are safe.

As they mentioned this week in their statement about cutting FA Cup final ticket prices, they have the finances to do it.

But no stone can be left unturned – and cost and self-interest must be put to one side because the sport cannot afford to expose players to a kind of footballing asbestos.