Kingston University’s football team’s game was suddenly postponed by half an hour before kickoff on Sunday morning after miscommunication by Surrey FA and the university.
The team were not contacted by the University or the Surrey FA, causing gridlock on Old Kingston road as the players were left stranded still expecting to play at 10:30am.
Harry Fuller, team captain, said on Sunday: “We were never notified and the university said it was all the Surrey FA’s fault but they literally had no explanation.”
Fuller also said that the University’s was not the only team effected by the closure, local Sunday teams were also caught up in the mayhem.
The footballers were left waiting for news from ground staff at Tolworth before taking matters into their own hands, eventually deciding to head home at 11:15am.
KUFC president Greg Potts was also angered by the lack of communication from the university.
He said: “This is not the first time Tolworth’s gates have been locked when we’ve arrived for training or a match.
“For us it’s a communication problem between Tolworth staff and the University which then affects us as sports clubs.”
A KU spokesperson said: “KU men’s football had a cup match, and perhaps it was organised at relatively short notice, but at no stage was a pitch requested by them.
“All teams booked for Sunday January 21 were written to on Friday January 19 warning of the current ground conditions and the weather forecast for the weekend. This was then followed up on Sunday morning after a ground inspection with a phone call from a member of grounds staff at 8am to all teams booked into the venue.”
The spokesperson said that KU men’s football had also not requested a booking for the first Friday of the Autumn term when they again found the gates shut.
Konstantinos Patas