Eclipse Causes AFC Turnford Match Postponement

AFC Turnford are used to postponements for waterlogged pitches and frozen goalmouths. An eclipse, though? That was a new one.

The non-league side, who groundshare at Wormley Rovers Football Club in Wormley, Hertfordshire, were ordered to postpone their Wednesday evening fixture against Cuffley because of the solar eclipse and a lack of floodlights.

The game was due to kick off at 19:00 BST, roughly 40 minutes after the partial eclipse was scheduled to begin at around 18:20. With the Sun set to be almost entirely blocked by the Moon for close to one hour and 50 minutes, league officials stepped in.

The Herts Senior County League (HSCL), which governs the Premier Division fixture, ruled that matches at grounds without floodlights could not go ahead during the event. The league has been contacted for comment.

Ronnie Bates, AFC Turnford’s founder and a player for the club, admitted the ruling caught him off guard.

“It is what it is; we can't do much about it. We've been told if you don't have floodlights, you have to postpone your game,” he said. “I was surprised, but we are just following what has been said.

“It's unusual to see a game called off like that, as we've never had it before. We are starting to lose light in the evenings, but we normally play at 15:00.”

AFC Turnford, formed six years ago by a group of friends from Haileybury Turnford School in Cheshunt, have been climbing the local ladder and now compete in the HSCL Premier Division. The club documents its progress and matchdays on YouTube, building a small but growing following around their rise.

This week, though, the cameras will stay off.

Cuffley FC confirmed to the BBC that all clubs in the league had been contacted jointly by the HSCL and Hertfordshire FA and instructed to move any fixtures that could not be played under floodlights on Thursday because of the eclipse.

Across the region, that meant one thing: no lights, no game.

The celestial event, visible at slightly different times depending on location, is expected to run from about 18:20 to 20:10. For clubs like AFC Turnford, chasing points and promotion ambitions in the fading light of early autumn, the timing could hardly have been more awkward.

Non-league football is used to the whims of the weather. Now it has met the cosmos.