of Liverpool the Women’s WSL match against Chelsea was called off due to a frozen pitch just six minutes into the match despite having passed a test earlier in the day.
The match was played at Kingsmeadow, the home ground of Chelsea women’s club near London and looked like it could be called off when the pitch was inspected at 9.30am GMT, three hours before kick-off.
Due to the cold weather, many matches in the UK have been called off this weekend, and temperatures are expected to stay below freezing on Sunday.
However, despite an early pitch inspection and the idea of postponing the match to 2pm, the match went ahead at 12.30pm as planned.
But after six minutes, the referee stopped play, informing both teams that he was canceling the game due to the frozen pitch.
some Liverpool fans went to the game at 5am today and now it will have to be rescheduled to a later date.
Message from Emma Hayes regarding the match pic.twitter.com/yiYtTT2U5T
— Emily Keogh (@emilyskeogh) January 22, 2023
The match was abandoned minutes after the start. Women’s football deserves better 🫠 https://t.co/GUPuaFZOGh
— Roopa Vyas 🏴적적적적적적 (@LFC_RV) January 22, 2023
“I’m not sure why it took us six or seven minutes to realize he was frozen,” Liverpool women’s team manager Matt Bird told BBC Sport.
“He was frozen this morning, he was frozen during the warm-up.
“I’m just worried about our fans because they left at 5am this morning when it could have been postponed to 9:30 because the pitch wasn’t safe.
“Look at the temperature, it wasn’t going to get above freezing today. It’s disappointing in every way, it wasn’t worth playing in the first place.”
Bird also confirmed that the referee had deemed the pitch fit for play this morning, but changed his mind a few minutes after kick-off.
“Whoever made the decision to launch the game is putting players at risk today,” he added.
Chelsea’s female manager Emma Hayes also expressed concern that the match was allowed and called on the fans for BKP after it was suspended.
Liverpool got off to a promising start with a couple of early opportunities against the league leaders, the team they beat at home on the opening day of the WSL season last year.
