EFL have handed Coventry City a suspended five-point deduction due to three postponed fixtures in August 2022 caused by an unsafe pitch.
Coventry were forced to postpone Championship fixtures against Rotherham United, Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield in August, due to an unsafe pitch caused by poor maintenance of stadium officials at Coventry Building Society (CBS) Arena following Rugby 7s at 2022 Commonwealth Games.
EFL officials consequently charged Coventry for following breaches of the regulations; EFL Regulations 32, 33.1 and Appendix 1, Part 3, Regulations 2.1 and 27.4.
Regulation 86 however allowed Coventry and EFL to engage in an transparent ‘agreed decision’ from which the club accepted the following punishments which were also punished on EFL.com;
- Suspended five-point deduction for remainder of this season plus 2023-24 season, although the suspended points deduction would ‘be applied immediately’ upon any further missed fixture across next 18 months or if a charge is proven.
- Coventry will pay the £6,000 cost of EFL’s investigation into their breaches.
- Rotherham, Wigan and Huddersfield will receive compensation for their suspended fixtures in line with Regulation 32.4.
Coventry City Chief Executive, Dave Boddy issued a statement in which he criticised Wasps RFC for their “broken promises” of a new pitch, whilst the Rugby 7s left the pitch in an “unsafe, dangerous and unplayable” state and necessitated major repair work.
Wasps eventually went on to enter adminstration in October for two months but Boddy described their “debacle” as “an indication” of their “financial plight” which the club weren’t aware of amidst impact to the Sky Blues’ “cashflow problems, reputational damage and inconvenience” this season.
Boddy also iterated that the pitch issues also impacted their sporting performance with the club winless in their opening seven matches, of which only one game was played at home – as Coventry lost 1-0 to Preston in late August.
Nevertheless, Boddy concluded that the club didn’t adhere to regulations, as he said: “Despite the nature of our tenancy at the Arena, and the lack of any control of pitch maintenance at the Arena, it remains our responsibility as an EFL club to adhere to the regulations of the competition.”
Boddy proceeded to state that their agreed punishments were made with view “to minimise the sanctions” which the club faced, whilst he hopes that the matter is now concluded but iterated that the CBS Arena should ensure that this situation can “never be repeated at the Arena.”
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