LIGHTNING STRIKES BUT ENGLAND CAN'T

Lightning certainly struck in Florida last night as England’s match against Honduras was suspended for 40 minutes when a “sub tropical” storm passed over the Sun Life stadium in Miami. This interrupted the pre World Cup friendly and assured that England would not strike accurately and they could only draw with their Central American opponents, 0-0.

In 1998, a game in South Africa between Moroko Swallows & Jomo Cosmos was suddenly interrupted by a blast of lightning striking the pitch, sending players and supporters from both sides scattering. Two Swallows players were kept in hospital with their injuries, whilst the game was understandably abandoned.

In the same year a match in the Democratic Republic of Congo between Bena Tshadi & Basanga in the Eastern Province of Kasai ended in tragedy when a lightning strike killed eleven players, leaving thirty others seriously injured. Football can be a less important matter than life and death.
In 1967, Highgate, from the midland league, played Enfield in the quarter-finals of the FA Amateur Cup. Midway through the first half, which was being played in heavy rain, a lightning strike saw several players collapse. One player, the Highgate centre half Tony Allden, did not recover consciousness and died the next day in hospital. Local professional club, Aston Villa, agreed to host the replay of the game concerned. They donated a new set of Aston Villa kit to Highgate United to use in the match, which ended with a 6–0 victory for Enfield. The replayed game drew an attendance of some 31,000 at Villa Park. He is commemorated by one of the Midland Combination's cup competitions, the Tony Allden Memorial Cup.