Heatwave health risks for grassroots football players prompt adaptation calls

As a heatwave continues across the UK, concerns are being raised about the health risks for grassroots football players, with experts and campaigners calling for adaptation measures such as scheduling changes and hydration protocols.

At Brislington FC in Bristol, coaches are already taking precautions. Training sessions are held as late as possible to avoid the hottest part of the day, and players are given frequent hydration breaks. One coach said: "We try to train as late as possible. Obviously, it's got to fit around family lives and work lives. Hydration breaks as many times as possible. As you can see, we're trying to train in the shade as much as we can, but it's just being sensible. Have to look after the guy's welfare."

A player added: "There's no getting away from it when you're out playing football and you're out doing sport, so you're kind of stuck, really, just out in the sun. And it does make a big difference. You need to hopefully stay hydrated and it keeps you fit, to be fair, because if you don't have those water breaks, then you're just going to crumble."

The campaign group Round Our Way works to highlight the impacts of climate change on everyday life and says extreme weather is increasingly interrupting sport at all levels. A spokesperson said: "Climate change and extreme weather is having a massive impact on sport up and down the UK. Rainfall, and we're also seeing a lot more extreme heat now as the bouts we've just experienced. I think it kind of exposes a fundamental flaw in sports infrastructure in the UK, which it was built for a climate that no longer really exists. I don't think we have the infrastructure to deal with it, but also there's a need to raise awareness about it, because I think obviously playing during peak hours of sunlight, during the highest temperatures, can be very, very dangerous for young people in particular."

Professor Mike Tipton, who has extensively studied the impact of extreme heat on the body while playing sport, insists that temperature adaptations at grassroots levels are needed, similar to the hydration breaks introduced in this summer's World Cup. He said: "We're getting at the point now where we're getting heat waves of sufficient intensity and duration and frequency for it to be regarded as a health-related issue. The ultimate thing to try and mitigate these problems is to have the matches obviously at a time and at a location, both daytime and also a time in the year, where heat isn't a problem, because we'll soon be in a situation where it's going to be pretty high up on your risk assessment from late May through to the end of August."

Possible future measures include early morning and evening matches, water breaks, cool-off periods, and even a hiatus of play for several weeks in the hotter months. The report notes that a changing climate may make weather patterns even trickier to predict than the outcome of a football match.