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Undated file photo of flood water covering the pitch at Abingdon Town FC in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
CLIMATE CHANGE is threatening to disrupt grassroots sport in the UK by forcing games to be postponed, which could lead to fewer athletes and fans wanting to take part, a report has found.
Extreme weather has prevented more than 130,000 cricket overs from going ahead in the past decade, while sports clubs and events are themselves producing emissions contributing to the increasingly severe heatwaves and downpours stopping games, analysts from the British Association of Sustainable Sport (Basis) said.
Five named storms have already hit the UK this winter season, with Storm Babet cancelling all but two games in the top tier of Scottish football on October 21, while a golf club in Swansea was flooded in September for the second time in three years.
The climate debate has focused on tournaments and fan travel, but the sport’s relationship with fossil fuels stretches back to the Industrial Revolution
Unions and climate activists pressure government to consider legislation for maximum working temperature
The recent heatwaves revealed how ill-prepared Britain remains for a hotter future – and how unequal the ability to cope with it has become, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
