Clarification to AlexUM, original poster, and to Tupperware pilot.
No, most clubs in the UK do not use 'rope! Braided steel cable is reliable, and unlike the Dynema rope used in some places, possibly on the Continent,
the braided steel cable does not lie on top of the grass, which causes a problem in clubs that do winch and aerotow, and do sometimes taxy across a cable, very carefully. We never never take off or land across a cable, if using a narrow run, the cables must be retracted before the airtow or motor glider departs.