“I just feel gutted for you guys that have come out, I promise I’ll buy you all a hot dog at the next game.”
Emma Hayes’ words to a packed Kingsmeadow were met with a mixture of laughs, cheers and eventually applause, all just minutes after Chelsea ’s WSL game with Liverpool was abandoned due to a frozen pitch. The Blues manager is one of the most popular figures in the game and has the charisma, charm and emotional intelligence to diffuse any tension.
But Sunday’s entirely avoidable situation wasn’t fair on Hayes or the 3,000-plus crowd who were hoping to see the biggest game of the weekend in the women’s top flight. Hayes showed her class on the mic, but sitting inside a freezing Kingsmeadow you couldn’t help but feel the whole thing was anything but a total shambles.
When Brighton vs Arsenal was later called off in addition to the Tottenham vs Leicester game that had already gone, half of the WSL’s weekend fixtures hadn’t survived the cold snap. As defending champions and one of the largest clubs in the women’s game historically, much of the focus will be on Chelsea.
Supporters had travelled from all over the country, particularly those following visiting side Liverpool. Even fans who lived an hour or so away will have only set off once the morning pitch inspection was passed. All this effort for everyone to be let down within six minutes of play.
For all we were told the playing surface had passed the inspection and it was very much ‘game on’, reality quickly intervened for anyone with a decent view of the Kingsmeadow pitch, initially covered up by pitch tents and covers. Once they were removed, it quickly resembled an ice rink with players looking visibly nervous as they went out to warm-up.
Liverpool manager Matt Beard looked particularly concerned by the situation. Like Hayes, he too later said the game should never have started.
Pre-match chatter around the press box featured more than one mention of ‘I can’t believe this is on.’ Everyone had the same gut feeling and that many people within the game can’t be wrong.
But blame should not be laid solely at the door of the officials who allowed the game to start, then decided within minutes it wasn’t safe. Games are often under greater pressure to be played when broadcast on live TV, but that shouldn't be an excuse. The FA have to take responsibility.
In her post-match interview with BBC Hayes said: “The FA weren't here - they need to be making the decision.
"It wasn't playable at 9.30, so they said to give it until 2. There was a section that was quite hard, so they put blowers on it. They tested everywhere else and it wasn't too bad, but as soon as you take the covers off it becomes a different situation.”
Not only were they not on the ground, the league’s stakeholders still haven’t made it a requirement for all WSL grounds to have undersoil heating. Conditions around the ground today were not perfect, but nor were they dangerous.
The FA did later issue a statement, which said the Kingsmeadow pitch was deemed playable by the referee before kick-off, only to deteriorate quickly after. They also added guidance that the decision on whether a pitch is safe to play on is a matter for the match day referee and is not decided by the league or the competing teams.
But is it fair to put officials, players and fans in this situation in the first place? With undersoil heating in place the pitch would have been safe and a healthy crowd, with a large proportion of younger fans would not be going home disappointed. This is before you even get to the injury risks, at the time the professional women’s game tries to comprehend a string of ACL injuries to some of the world’s best-known players.
We talk all the time about growing the game. We talk about it to such an extent, it is often hard to quantify what exactly needs growing and how to do it most effectively.
But giving the games the best chance of being played is a basic requirement. Undersoil heating at all WSL grounds should be a basic requirement. Hayes herself put it best when calling for its addition at Kingsmeadow saying, “we’ve got to take our game seriously.”
The kids at the game, not to mention the wider football world, may begin to believe the league or elite women’s football in general, isn’t important enough for games to go ahead when the temperature drops. And it’s hard to stake the argument for the WSL being the best league in the world when we can’t even get games played during winter, when the weather isn’t particularly extreme. It all creates a poor impression to the wider sporting world.
The stakeholders can’t afford to allow these views to become ingrained. Something has to be done, and quickly.
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