Football workforce accused of flooding pitch intentionally to cease match as footage emerges

Football matches being abandoned due to inclement weather is a common occurrence in the lower leagues, but one side has been accused of intentionally waterlogging their home ground

A National League North football team has been accused of flooding their pitch deliberately to get their match abandoned.

Kings Lynn Town were scheduled to host South Shields FC in a top half vs bottom half of the table clash earlier this month. Considering the Linnets are knee deep in a relegation battle, many of their homes fans would have dreaded a meeting with the North East side, who are pushing for promotion to the National League.

However, barely 24 hours before the match was due to kick off, the clash was postponed, citing a “high amount of rainfall and insufficient drainage of our pitch” reducing their home ground to a wet, muddy mess. The match was abandoned and re-arranged to Tuesday March 17.

JOIN US ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page

Unbelievably, CCTV from the Walks Stadium suggests the Great British weather was not the culprit for the waterlogged pitch. In footage sent to the Non League Paper by an anonymous source, a sprinkler system was seen spraying the football pitch with a large amount of water while it was already raining.

It’s unknown as to how long exactly the system was spraying water for, but time-stamped images of the footage suggests it could have been as long as 45 minutes. There had also been a large amount of rainfall in the days leading up to the pitch inspection.

In response to allegations the sprinkler system had been deliberately turned on to force a postponement, a source from the National League released a statement to the Non-League Paper saying: “We are aware of the allegations and we are investigating, but we won’t be making any further comment.”

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings

It has also been alleged the pitch-inspection was carried out remotely. South Shields chairman, Geoff Thompson, told the BBC: “We are aware the matter is being investigated by the National League.

“We’ve also seen the evidence of the sprinkler system being on for a very considerable time in advance of the referee pitch inspection, which was conducted remotely via telephone with the match referee and hosted by the KLTFC groundsman.”

King’s Lynn Town FC have so far not released a statement explaining what has happened. It’s also understood the National League has requested the full CCTV video and a response to the allegations.

In a statement uploaded to their own website, South Shields opted to steer clear of making any accusations, saying: “We are aware of reports that have surfaced over the course of the weekend regarding our postponed fixture versus King’s Lynn Town FC.

“The club has been approached by numerous external media outlets. However, the club will not be commenting further at this time.”

At the time of the postponement, Kings Lynn were missing key players in Adam Marriott and Festus Arthur. They are currently 19th in the table, only two places above the relegation zone.