The upcoming Premier League and EFL game week is set to feature water breaks as England faces another phase of high summer temperatures. The Meteorological Office issued an amber extreme heat warning on Thursday and covers the rest of this week. It spreads over much of the southern half of England as well as parts of eastern Wales, reports DPA.
Reports further add that during any match in the EFL or Premier League where the temperatures reach at least 30 degrees Celsius, there will be a cooling break midway through each half which will enable players, coaches and officials to rehydrate and cool down. Temperatures in the area covered by the heat warning are expected to get into the low to mid-30s.
A pause was called in Sunday’s Premier League match between West Ham and Manchester City while evening games in the Carabao Cup first round earlier this week where Coventry faced Bristol City also featured water breaks.
Whereas, the player welfare lobby group called Progressive Rugby has expressed that they are extremely happy with English rugby union’s lower leagues season to start after a delay amid soaring temperature and deemed the decision “eminently sensible”. A decision could be announced next week regarding the delayed start of the grass-roots campaign because of current difficult playing surfaces, particularly in the southeast region.
“Rugby is an intensely physical sport and we are wholly supportive of any measure that protects the welfare of players,” a Progressive Rugby spokesperson told the PA news agency. “Given the prolonged hot weather, it would seem eminently sensible to delay the season’s start to prevent the risk of players suffering serious injury.”
This heatwave in Europe has been around for the last couple of months where countries are witnessing record temperature numbers. The impact of this was seen in the Women’2022 Euros where England registered a historic win to win the tournament against Germany.