Amateur football in France hit by parched pitches before restart | OneFootball

Drought has left amateur pitches across France scorched and unplayable, piling pressure on clubs to reorganise training and fixtures as the new season approaches.

According to L'Équipe, FC Lunéville’s president Franco Di Sangro, at the club for 60 years, found the main pitch ruined by summer heatwaves and unusable.

With 16 teams and one synthetic across town, training is crammed into half-pitches. From 31 August only evenings remain. R1 starts 29 August away, the 5 September home date is tight.

Showers helped a little, but the town hall still bans use to avoid ripping roots, which could mean at least two months without matches.

Further north in Maisnil-lès-Ruitz, US Maisnil face the same restrictions. Despite milder temperatures than the south, the surface is completely yellow, and no synthetic alternative exists.

President Julien Le Guiader shifted D3 seniors towards fitness runs and basic drills on a leisure field. Only one friendly was possible, instead of three or four.

Nationally, the 22 August weekend saw Coupe de France ties hit, with 30% of home clubs unable to host. The Ligue des Pays de la Loire postponed all matches until mid-September.

US Laval’s Laurent Buron says water pools on bone-dry ground and it feels like playing on tarmac. League president Didier Essor plans to raise calendars and support with the FFF and LFA.

Clubs are sharing scarce synthetics to stage R1 and R2, though lower divisions and youth teams may face December and January rescheduling if pitches are not frozen or under snow.

Source: L'Équipe

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”