According to Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, the Women’s Super League needs to find a way to stop games from being postponed due to frozen fields.
On Sunday, their WSL home game against Liverpool was called off after six minutes due to dangerous field conditions.
Following an earlier pitch inspection, the game—which was broadcast live on BBC Two—had begun at 12:30 GMT as scheduled.
However, when it became clear that the field was unusable at Kingsmeadow Stadium, referee Neil Hair removed the teams.
“In order to prevent freezing pitches, we have heaters and pitch covers. We must find another alternative if they fail to perform that task “Hayes remarked.
“That’s not my responsibility; the league and the teams should take care of that so that we never have to postpone games. I have long maintained that postponing games has a negative effect on our sport.
We should all work toward doing all it takes to prevent games from being called off with six or seven minutes remaining for supporters traveling across the nation.
The choice to kick off endangered the players’ safety, according to Liverpool manager Matt Beard on Sunday.
The series of events, which began with an 09:30 pitch inspection and culminated with players tripping over and Hayes addressing disgruntled fans, drew criticism from managers, analysts, and players on social media.
At their home venues, only four WSL clubs—Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester City, and Reading—have undersoil heating.
When asked if clubs should invest in undersoil heating, Hayes responded, “In general, if this is the top tier for women’s football, then we should be provided exactly the same chance.”
“This isn’t about Chelsea; it’s about women’s football and how difficult it has been for them to develop a fan base, a business, and other things without having access to things on an equal basis for a very long time.
In an ideal world, you might have an environmentally friendly pitch so you can play in the top league, someone pointed out that undersoil heating is not environmentally friendly.
On Wednesday at Brisbane Road in Leyton Orient, Chelsea will meet Tottenham in the Continental Cup quarterfinals, albeit there will first be a pitch inspection.
WSL opponents Arsenal confirmed they had “investigated the idea” of holding the match at Emirates Stadium but it was “not practicable owing to vital pitch work” and are scheduled to meet Aston Villa at Meadow Park on Thursday.
On the day of the game, the Gunners announced that a pitch inspection would begin at 12:00 GMT.
