Football match postponed 'due to solar eclipse'

7 hours ago

Alex PopeBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

AFC Turnford were due to play Cuffley Football Club on Wednesday night

@thomasarnomedia A group of players in a huddle, on a football pitch. They are wearing red tops and black shorts. Foliage is behind them. — AFC Turnford were due to play Cuffley Football Club on Wednesday night

A "surprised" non-league football club said it was ordered to postpone its Wednesday evening fixture due to the solar eclipse.

AFC Turnford, which plays at Wormley Rovers Football Club in Wormley, Hertfordshire, said it had been informed that its game against Cuffley could not go ahead during the celestial event as the ground does not have floodlights.

Ronnie Bates, the club's founder and player, said the match was due to start at 19:00 BST, just an hour after the partial eclipse was due to begin.

In the message sent to Bates, and seen by the BBC, the Herts Senior County League (HSCL) football operations said all games would "need to be postponed due to the eclipse" unless "under lights".

AFC Turnford plays at Wormely, Hertfordshire

AFC Turnford A flag and gazebo showing AFC Turnford, by a football pitch. It is made out of red and black colours. There are trees behind it and an area of grass, that is dried up. — AFC Turnford plays at Wormely, Hertfordshire

Bates, who said the club had been going for six years and was started by a group of friends who attended Haileybury Turnford School in Cheshunt, added: "It is what it is; we can't do much about it.

"We've been told if you don't have floodlights, you have to postpone your game.

"I was surprised, but we are just following what has been said.

"It's unusual to see a game called off like that, as we've never had it before. We are starting to lose light in the evenings, but we normally play at 15:00."

The match will now be rearranged for a later date.

Cuffley FC told the BBC that it was also asked to move any fixtures that could not be played under floodlights to Thursday due to the solar event.

The HSCL said it takes player safety seriously.

The Hertfordshire Football Association (HFA) said the HSCL operates separately "to ourselves as the governing body," and it has not sent any dialogue on the matter.

The celestial event, when the Sun will be almost entirely blocked by the Moon, will last about one hour and 50 minutes, starting at about 18:20 and finishing by 20:10, but exact times will vary depending on where you are in the world.

The Moon will cover 90 to 96% of the Sun, which is due to be the biggest coverage since the total eclipse in 1999.

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