The first thing Jamie Amendolia’s boys ask him when he picks them up from school every afternoon is the same: “Is training on? Is the game on? Has it been called off? Are we playing?”
Both of his sons, Sebastian, 10, and Alexander, eight, play football at Enfield FC in Sydney’s inner west. They’re footy fanatics. Except both have had their season thrown into chaos by the wet weather that has hit and bogged down Sydney’s weekends for months.
Since March, 12 of 19 Saturdays in Sydney have been washed out by rain, leaving amateur and semi-professional schedules in chaos. All four Saturdays in May were blitzed by rain, followed by four in a row in June.
Competitive football divisions, usually under-13s and above, have had to reschedule matches. But that has just caused a traffic jam of rescheduled dates at booked-out fields. For children playing under-12s and below, their matches are just cancelled. It has been a huge disappointment for children and parents.
Amendolia says nearly half of his sons’ training sessions and matches have been called off because of the weather. While sometimes the matches are rescheduled at synthetic grounds, in most cases Sebastian and Alexander are left with a big hole in their weekend.
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This is a clear indication of the kind of future we will have if we do not take necessary precautions on time.
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This is quite alarming..the Relevant authorities ought to act fast to deal with the issue of climate change.
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This is devastating for young football enthusiasts like Sebastian & Alexander. Constant cancellations are breaking their hearts and disrupting their love for the game. Hope they does find interventions for this, asap!
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@gorffly_mokua sure, this is a devastating scenario