Normally after a game-day I would be re-watching, dissecting, and basking in the glory that is Union Omaha’s brand of lower division soccer. However, August 12th 2020 did not afford me such an opportunity. On a hot summer afternoon in Chattanooga TN, much like many other hot summer afternoons, rain and lightning graced CHI Memorial Park with a prolonged presence, resulting in a rain delay.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “a rain delay, that’s no problem, why not wait it out and play late like Union Omaha did at their first home match”? Simple answer, lights.
The work teams across the USL have done in creating new, vibrant, and expensive soccer specific stadiums, has been down right impressive and frankly, needed. Soccer has never looked more ready to become a stakeholder in the lives of your average American sports viewer than it is now. Third division soccer teams playing in USL League One like the Chattanooga Red Wolves and South Georgia Tormenta are creating great spaces for professional soccer to thrive! This impressive rush to build stadiums across America leads me to the point of this rant… rushing.
As everyone reading this will know, 2020 is a year unique for many reasons, not least of which is the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. When the decision to play was made a season by the League One board of governors, it was not in a bubble, it was not without fans, it was going to happen throughout the nationwide footprint of the third division league. Our lads were going to be taking buses, planes, travelling to areas where the impact of the pandemic might be higher, all for the sake of playing the sport we love to watch them play.
Why, if players and staff are risking more than their pride, would you create a place that not guarantee travel was wasted? Chattanooga did just that by failing to look at lighting options.
A 5 minute internet search finds a plethora of light rental options for modular, generator based lighting options for affordable prices in the Chattanooga area. If I can manage that in 5 minutes, given a month of lead time from schedule release to your first and second home games, wouldn’t you think a front office would look into that option?
My issue is not that the stadium is unfinished, delays happen. It is that our players spent 3 days in Chattanooga, during a global pandemic, for a game that did not happen due to a fully avoidable circumstance. How is that acceptable? How were Union Omaha not awarded the 3 points for a forfeit? At the end of the day, it was human error, not weather, that caused the cancellation. I’m pretty sure that’s grounds for a forfeit.
It seems as though the Red Wolves and league took near immediate action following the postponement of the game, by rescheduling the remainder of Chattanooga’s home games for 1pm ET. The questions now moves to, was it hubris that games were not initially scheduled for that time? Is the schedule change fair for your sponsors who are expecting evening games? Is it fair to your fans who were expecting evening games out of the hot sun? Is it fair to the players, who are now playing in that same hot sun? The questions are out there and I’m curious to find the answers.
Unless something changes, our lads will be travelling again to Chattanooga during this pandemic to play a game that should already have happened. Something that renting some lights would have solved.
Who Gives A Hoot? 
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