At first glance, the image is damning. A sprinkler is spewing a fountain of water onto what looks to be an already sodden pitch during heavy rain.
The photograph, apparently taken from CCTV, shows water flowing from behind the corner flag at King’s Lynn Town FC’s ground, The Walks, and dates from Friday, February 13 — the day before the struggling side from the National League North, the sixth tier of the English soccer pyramid, were due to take on high-flying South Shields.
King’s Lynn Town, who are only four points above the relegation zone, had several players missing for the fixture through injury and illness, with their opponents very much in form and chasing promotion. The footage was time-stamped 10:38am, a couple of hours before a pitch inspection, which ultimately determined that the game, scheduled to be played 24 hours later on the Saturday afternoon, would have to be postponed.
So had the hosts deliberately sabotaged their playing surface to have the match called off?
The images were sent anonymously to the Non-League Paper via email, and the sender apparently did not respond when contacted via reply. The lack of information from both clubs and the National League itself, bar two-line generic statements issued by South Shields and the league, merely fuelled the intrigue around the postponement.
“The National League are aware of the allegations and are conducting an investigation into it,” a league statement read. “We will be making no further comment.”
EXCLUSIVE: The National League are investigating bizarre claims that King’s Lynn Town manipulated the postponement of their game against South Shields last Saturday by soaking their pitch ahead of a planned pitch inspection.https://t.co/7rtvU0fOMo
— The Non-League Paper (@NonLeaguePaper) February 22, 2026
“We are aware of reports that have surfaced over the course of the weekend regarding our postponed fixture versus King’s Lynn Town FC,” a reciprocal South Shields statement read.
“The club has been approached by numerous external media outlets; however, the club will not be commenting further at this time.”
South Shields chairman Geoff Thompson did go further in a comment made to the BBC: “We are aware the matter is being investigated by the National League. We’ve also seen the evidence of the sprinkler system being on for a very considerable time in advance of the referee pitch inspection, which was conducted remotely via telephone with the match referee and hosted by the KLTFC groundsman.”
A deliberate attempt to have a game postponed could lead to sanctions from the league if proven, which probably explains the National League’s decision to investigate. But the mysterious nature of the images and anonymity of the sender — who must have had access to the club’s internal CCTV footage if the images are real in this era of AI and photographic trickery — could suggest ulterior motives.
To add to the mystery, the chairman of the King’s Lynn Town fans’ group, the Blue and Gold Supporters’ Trust, Phil Ellis, has raised doubts over whether there was actually a sprinkler in that area of the ground at all.
“One of the pictures I’ve seen shows a sprinkler from a position where there are no sprinklers in the ground,” he told The Athletic. “I know there is no sprinkler in that corner flag. There are sprinklers in the middle, but there are no sprinklers there.
“If you come to the ground, I could show you. I could put the sprinkler system on and you would see.”
Former King’s Lynn Town chairman Stephen Cleeve (Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)
King’s Lynn Town was formed in 2010, a phoenix club rising from the ashes of King’s Lynn FC, which had been wound up in 2009.
In 2016, they were owned by local businessman Stephen Cleeve and rose from the Southern League to the National League — effectively the fifth division in England. But in 2024, he brought in Singapore-based Turn Sports Investments, owned by media entrepreneur Joseph Phua, to add extra financial clout to the operation.
TSI took over the club fully in November last year, with the Blue and Gold Supporters Trust owning a minority stake in the club.
During the transition between ownerships, several club employees left. In fact, when The Athletic telephoned the club’s main switchboard, there was no response and the messaging was still set up for Cleeve.
The irony about the postponement at The Walks is that the game against South Shields would most likely not have been able to go ahead anyway. The UK has faced a particularly wet winter, with many parts of the country experiencing record rainfalls in January.
Four days before the scheduled game against South Shields, King’s Lynn Town hosted Worksop Town, a game they lost 1-0, with the pitch left in a poor condition. “That’s the ridiculous thing,” said Ellis. “The reason for the early pitch inspection on Friday was to save South Shields from making the longest trip in the league (South Shields, in the north east of England, is 210 miles north of King’s Lynn).
“We had had torrential rain for days. All the way through the Worksop game, the pitch was being cut to pieces, then it rained all day Wednesday, Thursday, and it was raining Friday when the pitch inspection took place.
“I don’t need to tell you that the pitch wasn’t in a good state. There was a drainage system, but it was full. They couldn’t pump any more water off. There was nothing more they could do. There was no way that game could go ahead.”
The Walks during King’s Lynn Town’s FA Cup second round game against Stevenage in 2022 (Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
For the travelling fans of South Shields, who are just one point behind league leaders AFC Fylde, it now means a more awkward journey for the rescheduled game on March 17, a Tuesday night.
“I was probably going to go to the game, but now I definitely can’t,” South Shields supporter Chris May told The Athletic.
“It is just impossible. It is the longest trip of the season. There are only now going to be those who are retired or those who can take some time off work to go.
“We used to take 200 to away games regularly; sometimes 400-500. But the distances in the league are now so long because some teams in the ‘North’ league are not actually in the north. Bishop’s Stortford was in the division a couple of years ago and they are near Stansted Airport, just outside London. You could be talking 500-mile round-trips.
“Whatever has gone on, it is a shame for the supporters who wanted to go because they are having a great season.”
Thickening the plot even more, King’s Lynn’s local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press, reported that the club had spoken to the National League and stated that there had been a malfunction of the sprinkler system, and the league was happy with that explanation.
The Athletic has contacted both King’s Lynn Town and the National League to ask for confirmation that the investigation is already over, but have received no response.
For now, the mystery — and the source of the leak — remain unsolved.