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News
- 23 Sept 2025
Championship fans outraged as EFL issue official statement after match abandonment
News
Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town's match on Saturday 20 September was abandoned.
It was 79 minutes into the match on Saturday afternoon when referee Stephen Martin felt that, after a sustained period of heavy rain, the pitch had become unplayable. As a result he abandoned the match with Blackburn leading 10-man Ipswich 1-0 thanks to a Todd Cantwell penalty.
The EFL Board then convened to decide what should happen about the game and whether to finish those last few minutes or replay the game and the majority of the board decided to replay the fixture in full with the score starting at 0-0. The date for the fixture will be announced in due course.
Current ETV
Todd Cantwell
M, AM (C)
Blackburn
Todd Cantwell
M, AM (C)
Blackburn
ETV Range
€1.9M - €2.9M
This decision has angered many fans across social media, with many calling for just the last 11 minutes to be played, or some saying that in light of the ruling Ipswich should let Blackburn score straight from kick-off to allow the game to proceed under the same conditions as the original match.
The EFL Board acknowledged that it was an incredibly difficult decision and have agreed to consult with their member clubs to develop and come up with a new set of rules for how to deal with a match being abandoned.
Who are the EFL Board?
The EFL Board of Directors that made this difficult decision to replay the match in full is a group responsible for organising and providing strategic direction for the EFL.
It consists of 10 directors, with 6 being divisional representatives elected by the EFL member clubs. In there are three Championship club directors, two from League One clubs and one from a League Two club.
The other four directors are two independent non-executive directors, an independent chair, currently former Chief Executive of the Premier League and Liverpool Rick Parry, and a chief executive, a role currently filled by Trevor Birch, the man who led Chelsea's sale to Roman Abramovich.
The three Championship club directors abstained from the vote on how to proceed with finishing the match, to avoid any conflicts of interest. However this has done little to quell the anger felt by fans of clubs in the Championship, especially those of Blackburn.
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