Wimbledon’s pitch was ruined by heavy flooding (Picture: Micah Crook/Getty Images)
Repairs to AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium could cost up to £1million after a huge sinkhole opened up on their pitch.
Heavy rainstorms overnight on Sunday caused the nearby River Wandle in southwest London to overflow as floods caused chaos across the capital.
The pitch at Wimbledon’s home ground Plough Lane, officially named the Cherry Red Records Stadium, suffered ‘extensive flooding damage’ with huge holes appearing in one corner, leaving the turf resembling a ‘crazy golf course’.
The damage saw Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round tie between the Dons and Newcastle United postponed.
A crowdfunding page has been set up with the aim of raising £50,000 for damages – a target that has already been reached with Newcastle themselves donating £15,000.
Wimbledon were scheduled to host Accrington Stanley on Saturday with Crewe Alexandra their visitors next week. The club’s vice president Ivor Heller had admitted they ‘don’t now when we’re going to play another home game’ with the full extent of the damage being assessed.
‘We don’t know the full extent yet,’ Heller told talkSPORT. ‘You know, there’s so much water.
There will be no games at Plough Lane for the forseeable future (Micah Crook/Getty Images)
‘There’s so much going on that it’s going to be investigated and a route map to get back to Plough Lane will be put in in the coming days and we’ll know what the route map is and how we deal with it.’
He continued: ‘We have no idea [how much it’ll cost]. But for a new pitch, which I guess it’s gonna be a new pitch, it is a lot of money. Everybody knows that.
‘You know hybrid pitch like ours was you know, they’re £1million plus.
‘But yeah, we’re insured and that’s the good news. You know, in fact, we’re insured by someone that also insures Newcastle.’
Tuesday’s game has been rearranged for next week at Newcastle’s home ground of St James Park, with Wimbledon set to get 45 per cent of the gate receipts from that game.
‘We don’t know when we’re going to play another home game. But you know the money that we’ll get from splitting the gate with Newcastle will be more I think than the money we would have got down at Plough Lane,’ Heller said.
‘So that’s a positive and thank you to Newcastle for doing what they’ve done by putting the game on. You know that is a great gesture and the stuff that’s happened since this horrible incident shows the football family coming together once again.’