Roshan Nayak

Spare a Thought for the Poor Linesman Stuck Under a Waterfall at Stockport vs Wigan

During what was meant to be a routine football game, a linesman experienced an unbearable event last night.

A large amount of water was pouring down from the roof of Edgeley Park, Stockport County’s home ground. This event occurred during Stockport County’s EFL League Trophy match against Wigan Athletic on November 11, 2025.

The force was so intense that the linesman was fully soaked every time he had to cross the part of the touchline where there was a waterfall-like drop.

The linesman didn’t have time to do anything. He was dry, attentive, and professional one second. The next thing he knew, he would be standing under a waterfall, and he was soaked from the top of his head to the bottom of his boots.

During the game, it was raining like cats and dogs, and understandably so, when the facilities of the stadium are not Premier League level, since it is a League One stadium, you can expect strange things to happen with such types of facilities.

The entire field had become like a swimming pool and the players were finding it really hard to even pass the ball to each other. People online even started it to compare it to be the equivalent of the recently concluded Canadian Premier League final between Atletico Ottawa and Cavalry FC, which saw Ottawa beat the defending champions Cavalry, 2-1 in extra time.

The reason being that — the match was famously played in a heavy snowstorm at TD Place in Ottawa, with the temperature being around –8°C. The field had to be cleared multiple times, including an extended delay before extra time, which turned the game into a unique, and very Canadian sporting event.

But, it wasn’t a leak from any damage to the rooftop or of any damage in the water vault of the stadium. It was just the nature’s way giving the linesman a bath.

As it can be heard in the video, fans were sharing laughs and they actually seemed to enjoy the game, albeit for a different reason.

This light-hearted moment was a great example of the attraction of lower-tier English football: a raw, unpolished, and frequently funny encounter where the facilities and often the weather are just as important as the players. The incident became an instant talking point, showing that sometimes the largest applause come not after scoring a goal, but from the funny things that happen in a stadium too.

The assistant referees for this game were Tyler Dutton and Aaron Hallam, but since the video was taken from behind and the face cannot be seen, there is not any conclusive evidence as to who that linesman was between the two.

The game was won by Stockport on penalties after the game had ended as a 1-1 draw between both the teams. Corey O’Keefe opened the scoring for Stockport County as well as for the game in the 32nd minute and then in 7 minutes it was later equalised by Wigan’s Dara Costelloe.

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