- Heavy rain on Sunday caused a huge sinkhole at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane
- The club has received donations in excess of £100,000 to help repair the damage.
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AFC Wimbledon released a video update on the state of the pitch at Plough Lane on Wednesday afternoon.
Heavy rain on Sunday night caused a huge sinkhole in the playing area, transforming the football field into something that looked more like a golf course full of bunkers.
Wimbledon were due to host Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday but that match will now take place on Tuesday 1 October and will be moved to the Premier League side’s St James’ Park stadium 450 kilometres away.
Newcastle donated £15,000 to help repair the damage and the total fundraising has since passed the £100,000 mark.
Wimbledon confirmed on Wednesday that the club’s home match against Accrington Stanley had been cancelled after attempts to find an alternative venue proved unsuccessful.
Heavy rain on Sunday night caused a massive sinkhole at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium
In addition to damage to the pitch, the club shop and museum were also affected by the flooding.
Wimbledon’s home game against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup was moved 280 miles north, before Saturday’s League Two clash with Accrington Stanley was postponed.
A brief statement said: ‘Despite significant efforts made at AFC Wimbledon over the last 48 hours, it has not been possible to secure a viable alternative venue for Saturday.
‘It is with great regret that the EFL has postponed the match against Accrington Stanley.
‘Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled date. Further details will be provided in due course.’
About an hour later, the club posted a video on social media and issued another statement titled: ‘Update on field damage and donations.’
The video begins by showing the state of the pitch before work began to repair it.
He then showed a large excavator removing chunks of earth.
The club’s second statement said: ‘Since the most recent update issued on Monday evening, we wanted to provide more information and images to supporters.
‘More than 100,000 litres of water were removed from the pitch late on Monday evening by tankers. Since then, a number of independent experts have been on site to inspect the pitch at surface level. In the meantime, club staff and volunteers have begun the clean-up operation at ground level, including the shop, museum, offices and tunnel area.
Wimbledon shared a video on Wednesday showing an excavator removing soil from the stadium.
Plough Lane is currently unfit to host football matches but work is underway to resolve this.
‘(First team manager) Johnnie Jackson and his technical team visited the stadium yesterday to inspect the damage and speak to staff on site. Since 6am today, excavators have begun excavating the pitch area.
‘All stadium staff have returned to work, ahead of the stadium’s planned reopening on Friday, and our fundraising comedy night will go ahead as planned – tickets are available to purchase from our online store if you’d like to join in and support us.
‘We have been overwhelmed by the generous financial contributions from Wimbledon supporters and a number of other clubs to the Justgiving page set up by supporter Graham Stacey.
‘Donations now total £100,000 from over 2,000 donors, including a significant donation from Newcastle United.
“On behalf of the entire Club, we would like to thank each and every person and organisation who have done their part. We will be eternally grateful. Keep up the good work, Dons!”
