Floods can have a devastating impact on sporting organisations, causing significant damage to both changing and social facilities as well as to sports pitches.
The floods in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and more recently 2020 – caused significant damage to buildings and machinery on many sports facilities as well as depositing harmful sediment and waste on pitches..
Floods as large as these are relatively rare but are becoming a more common occurence in recent years. However, many organisations are affected by more regular flooding, such as on the far corner of a playing field or in the grounds shed.
There is much that can be done to help reduce the risk of flood damage and mitigate its impact when it occurs.
Sport England, working with a number of national governing bodies for sport (The FA, RFU, RFL, ECB, LTA and EHB), has produced a set of information sheets and a downloadable template for organisations and facility managers to help them find out whether their facilities are at risk of flooding and if so how to develop a flood plan and other strategies that will help reduce the impact of flooding. The guidance documents include:
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How to plan ahead – what to do to minimise the impact of future flooding of sports facilities
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Developing a club flood plan – making sure everyone knows what to do in a flood
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Flood resilient design – how to make sports facilities more resilient to flooding
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After the flood (buildings) – how to recover from a flood safely and quickly
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After the flood (pitches and courts) – how to recover from a flood safely and quickly.
The ECB has also produced flood relief case studies, which can be viewed on the ECB website.
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