Miserable weather meant an early end to play for the Fort Langley United over-60 soccer team.
Their last game of the year turned out to be on Sunday, Dec. 13, a trip to play North Delta, and it was no picnic.
United player Ron Waller described it as a “game where mother nature was harder on us than our opponents.”
Possession was equal throughout the first half, where Fort Langley played a ball out of the corner and found an onrushing Albert Lum who hit a well-placed shot behind the North Delta keeper.
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There had been a constant wind from the beginning of the game but, as the second half started, it got worse, with bursts of hail pelting players.
North Delta found a way to even the score within the first 10 minutes of the second half kick-off and then found the go-ahead marker shortly after that.
The referee at one point suspended the game due to injury and safety concerns, but eventually allowed the gameplay to proceed.
Soon afterwards, North Delta tallied a third marker and before the final whistle sounded, they had scored a fourth.
Final score: a 4 -1 win for North Delta.
Both teams were happy to hit the dressing rooms to “be away from the wind and hail,” Waller said.
Fort Langley’s next game, set for Sunday, Dec. 19, was canceled due to snow on the fields.
The team expects to be back on the field in January, weather permitting.
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Waller said it did not appear that new restriction on some sporting events, imposed Monday, Dec. 20 in response to the Omicron variant, are not likely to affect the B.C. Masters Soccer League, a recreational soccer league that has been promoting the game of soccer for 42 years.
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