‘For the sake of 90 minutes football, it’s not worth a player being off work for a year or ending up in a wheelchair’ – Hampshire grassroots football clubs postpone matches due to the heatwave

With temperatures predicted to hit the mid-30s on the south coast, Portsmouth area clubs playing in the county league have called their matches off in the interests of player safety.

That follows an email sent off from the county league asking clubs to take ‘sensible precautions’ such as having regular drinks breaks and ‘consider having snacks such as frozen fruit, ice cubes or homemade lollies as a rehydrating treat.’

Paulsgrove, who were due to host QK Southampton in the Premier Division of the Hampshire Premier League, are one of those taking no chances as the heatwave continues.

Grove have already seen defender Archie Scott suffer a broken wrist while landing awkwardly in a league game last Wednesday evening.

Boss Steve Ledger told The News: ‘On a normal grass pitch, nine times out of 10 Archie bounces back up.

‘But our pitch at the moment is like playing on a concrete slab, there’s no other way to describe it.

‘Heaven forbid, Archie could have landed on his back or his head, he could have ended up in a wheelchair - the ground is that hard.

‘I would have been more than happy to play the game, but then what if a player ended up in hospital through heatstroke or landed on his back?

‘For the sake of 90 minutes football, it’s not worth a player being off work for a year or ending up in a wheelchair.

‘I don’t think some people are taking this into consideration. If someone got hurt, who’s going to take the blame? I’ve made sure it’s not me. People can say ‘it’s only a bit of sun, don’t be a snowflake’ - if I take some stick, so be it. If someone got hurt, I couldn’t live with myself.

‘Some of the boys wanted to play, others didn’t. I thought it best not to play.’

Harvest also called their HPL Premier game with Sway off after consulting with their opponents.

Their fixture was due to be played on the artificial surface at Front Lawn in Leigh Park - and games on 3G surfaces are even hotter than ones on grass.

Harvest boss Steve Harris said: ‘It’s stupidly hot. I’ve been working outside in it all work and it’s been horrible.

‘If it’s going to be 35 degrees this afternoon, you can add a few more degrees from playing on a 3G.

‘We played a pre-season friendly there a few weeks ago, the temperature was around 25 degrees, and the boys were getting blisters - it was like their feet were on fire.

‘It’s boiling hot, there’s no shade, there’s no forgiveness. It’s just not worth it.

‘We rarely get it this hot. If Sway wanted to have played it, we’d have played it. But they said they were happy to call it off and so we were.’

Of the eight scheduled matches taking place in the HPL Premier, only three remain.

Denmead’s game at reigning champions Colden Common is among those postponed - though Common aren’t happy.

Denmead secretary Simon Strickland said on Twitter that ‘common sense’ needed to be shown in the heatwave.

Common boss Connor Doswell replied: ‘COMMON sense. Come on Simon don’t be silly.’

Strickland: ‘Are you for real? What about your players welfare too?’

Doswell: ‘They are fully grown men, I’m sure they can make their own minds up about playing in the hot weather.’

Clanfield’s home game with Liphook on Havant & Waterlooville’s artificial surface at Westleigh Park is going ahead, though, as is Hayling Island’s home fixture with Stockbridge.