Eclipse Forces AFC Turnford to Postpone Non-League Match

AFC Turnford expected to be worrying about Cuffley’s front line on Wednesday night. Instead, they were beaten by the Moon.

The non-league side, who groundshare at Wormley Rovers Football Club in Wormley, Hertfordshire, were told their Herts Senior County League Premier Division fixture could not go ahead because of the solar eclipse – and their lack of floodlights.

The game was scheduled for 19:00 BST, around 40 minutes after the partial eclipse was due to begin at roughly 18:20. With daylight set to dip and no artificial lights available, the Herts Senior County League stepped in and ordered the match to be postponed. The league has been contacted for comment.

Club founder and player Ronnie Bates admitted the call caught them off guard.

“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.”

For a club built on mates and momentum, it is a strange way to lose a fixture. AFC Turnford have been going for six years, formed by a group of friends who attended Haileybury Turnford School in Cheshunt. They now compete in the HSCL Premier Division and are open about their ambition to climb the pyramid, documenting their progress and matchdays on YouTube.

This time, there was no content to post. Just an empty pitch and a darkening sky.

Cuffley FC confirmed to the BBC that the directive was not isolated. They said all clubs in the league had been contacted by the Herts Senior County League and Hertfordshire FA and instructed to move any fixtures that could not be played under floodlights on Thursday because of the eclipse.

The celestial event – with the Sun almost entirely blocked by the Moon – is expected to last around one hour and 50 minutes, from about 18:20 to 20:10, though exact timings depend on location.

Non-league football is used to postponements for waterlogged pitches, frozen goalmouths and high winds. Now it can add “solar eclipse” to the list.