The KWFF yesterday announced changes to kickoff times in some WK League Round 19 matches due to an extreme heat wave currently affecting much of the country.
Tonight’s match between Hwacheon and Gyeongju, and both of Saturday’s fixtures, have had their kickoff time pushed back by 30 minutes, starting at 19:30 rather than 19:00. Incheon’s home match against Sejong at 19:00 tonight remains unchanged.
This news follows a similar move by the (men’s professional football leagues) K League this week, which saw upcoming matches moved from 19:30 to 20:00. Furthermore, the KBO has cancelled all professional baseball games this week, with conditions deemed dangerous for players and spectators. Both football and baseball in South Korea have seen recent instances of play being stopped to allow medical staff to attend to fans taken ill in the stands due to the heat.
Following confirmation that some WK League kickoff times would also be changed, questions have been raised about upcoming W Korea Cup fixtures, as well as the ongoing National Women’s Football Championship.
Round 2 of the inaugural W Korea Cup is set to take place in the final week of August, with two of four matches scheduled to kick off at 16:00. The other two games are slated for 20:00, prompting concerns not only about the heat itself, but the potential disadvantage suffered by some teams with mere days to recover from playing in the afternoon heat before their next league fixtures.
More pressing is the National Women’s Football Championship, currently underway in Chungju. Youth teams from across the country are gathered for this important tournament, and while the KWFF assured interested parties that conditions at all venues would be under constant review in order to improve upon previous editions, there have been matches this week starting as early as 17:30. As the competition reaches its later stages, there are still games scheduled for 18:30, prompting the question: if it’s too hot for the WK League at that time, why isn’t it too hot for youth matches?
Some have taken to social media to voice their concerns and call on organisers to make changes. Footage shared on Instagram by the mother of one young footballer shows several players being transferred to hospital in an ambulance to receive treatment for heat-related conditions. The same individual pointed out that in the U-15 tournament, some teams played all but one of their five group stage matches at 17:30, while other teams had only later kick-off times.
The federations in charge of the W Korea Cup and the National Women’s Football Championship are yet to make any changes or announcements regarding the scheduling of matches and current weather conditions. In response to this summer’s extreme heatwaves, the Korea Professional Footballers Association (KPFA) has strongly urged the adoption of a ‘Heatwave Cancellation and Postponement Protocol’, launching a survey of their members to assess current conditions from the players’ perspective.
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