As shared on social media yesterday evening, our scheduled Southern League Premier South fixture away at Havant and Waterlooville was postponed after the match officials deemed the pitch to be unsafe for play, due to a significant tear in the playing surface.
Earlier in the evening, the kick-off for this fixture was delayed until 8:15PM after the referee deemed there to be a clash between the kits. Following this decision, our kitman travelled back to Farnham to retrieve our home kit, which was then in-hand and on-site ahead of the rescheduled kick-off time.
At approximately 7:30PM, as the Farnham Town team came out for their warm-up, a tear in the playing surface was noticed by our staff and highlighted to the match officials with reasonable concerns around player safety.
Following this, Havant officials made attempts to repair the tear in the playings surface while both teams continued their pre-match preparations, but were unsuccessful in their efforts to repair the tear. After which, following discussions between all parties, the match officials postponed the fixture on the basis that the pitch was unsafe for play and all players were escorted off the pitch.
It’s our understanding that the tear in the playing surface was known to Havant and Waterlooville ahead of this game and they opted to attempt to proceed with the fixture, and this tear was already scheduled to be repaired after the fixture was played.
At Farnham Town, we conduct ourselves in the interests of player safety, and it was very clear that there was a significant injury risk for both sets of players and officials if the game was to go ahead.
We’d like to extend our apologies to all of our traveling fans who have returned home disappointed with no game this evening, and any neutrals who wanted to come and watch a great game of football, and details of a revised date will be communicated in due course.
Information relating to ticket refunds will be communicated by Havant and Waterlooville.