From September 17th-25th the Carabao Cup third round saw teams across England’s top four divisions looking to cement a spot in the competition’s fourth round. It proved to be an entertaining third round, marked by a 7-0 thrashing of Barnsley by Manchester United and a record-breaking penalty shootout between Preston North End and Fulham (the longest in the cup’s history with 34 penalties taken). However, it was the cancellation of AFC Wimbledon’s home draw to Newcastle United which took the headlines.
Just days before the clash was scheduled to take place, AFC Wimbledon released a club statement concluding the fixture unplayable due to extensive flooding to their Cherry Red Records stadium; flooding that left their club with a large sinkhole which is expected to cost £1million in repairs. The Dons’ hotly anticipated home tie was subsequently moved to the following week to their opponents’ St James’ Park which resulted in a misery compiling 1-0 defeat for the Londoners. Thankfully, the footballing community united to slightly soften the blow, raising over £120,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to assist with restoration. But for the fourth-tier club – who sit in a division where every penny counts – the remaining money required will likely prove to be a detrimental, unexpected loss to the club.
Whilst it may be too early to directly attribute this particular incident to the consequences of climate change, UK climate projections suggest that events like these are set to become increasingly more frequent over the coming years in line with the warming of the planet. More specifically, current forecasts predict that by 2050, one-in-four stadiums in England’s top four divisions will face partial or total flooding each year. Aside from the direct damage flooding may cause to England’s most vulnerable clubs, wider concerns must be raised over the impact that flooding may have on the football league’s already widening gap between the Premier League’s wealthy ‘elite’ and those further down the pyramid. Without disregarding the impacts of flooding on clubs in the Premier League, it feels only fair to highlight that incidents of flooding will certainly not have an equal impact on every club. It may seem obvious, but whilst a flooded pitch for clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea would certainly come as a large, unwanted cost, the reality is that such an event would not threaten the existence of the club; at worst causing fixture disruption and a hefty blow to the financial balance. Whereas for clubs further down the football pyramid, whose stadiums and bank balances are far less equipped to deal with extreme weather events, flooding of the same hypothetical volume cuts much deeper, and even in some cases, has the potential to put a club’s entire future at risk.
Unfortunately, flooding’s forecasted impact on professional and semi-professional football clubs is just the tip of the iceberg, as beyond the football pyramid lies grassroots football. Grassroots football plays a crucial role in the UK, providing people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and financial situations a safe space to exercise, socialise, develop sporting skills, and express themselves. However, despite its value, its funding is typically low, leading often to clubs being run by volunteers, and public parks or school fields hosting games. This is ultimately where grassroots football’s vulnerability lies as, with recent research conducted by the Football Association (FA) showing that approximately 150,000 grassroots games were cancelled due to unplayable pitches in 2023 alone, there is a strong likelihood that annual figures will rise as climate conditions worsen over time. For anybody that has played grassroots football, there isn’t a feeling much worse than travelling to a fixture early on a Saturday or Sunday morning, only to find the game cancelled upon arrival. But the sad reality is that this gutting feeling may become a monthly occurrence for the millions of grassroots players up and down the country.
Current forecasts paint a brutal picture of the future of our beautiful game; a future plagued by worsening financial inequalities and threats to the core foundations of the sport. So, if you’re a football fan that cares about the future of football, then you’re a football fan that must care about climate change. The two go hand in hand. The harsh reality is that climate change is a lot closer to home than we often imagine, disguising itself in more subtle ways to the catastrophic images we often see in the mainstream media. And if we don’t make the progress needed, the sport we love is in for a turbulent future. We, as the footballing community, must take action to protect beloved clubs and ensure that our children, loved ones, and those most reliant on football for their wellbeing, have a field to play on in the future; a field to find out who they are in the world; and a field on which they can dream.
“No Football Today!” by tj.blackwell is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.