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How the heatwave has impacted ground staff

EFL kick off

Jared Evitts

BBC Newsbeat

While players get to enjoy a few weeks off over the summer, the hard work's not stopped for others at football clubs up and down the EFL.

And a summer consisting of five heatwaves has been a nightmare for one set of workers - the grounds staff.

BBC Newsbeat went to Gillingham's training ground ahead of their League Two opener against Walsall to chat with head groundsman Haydn Lawrance.

"It's not been ideal no, it gets to a point where, at 38 degrees, there's only so much we can do," he says.

"We are out here all day, sometimes 12 to 13 hours a day."

The 29-year-old says they usually get in at 07:30 BST but have been turning up two hours earlier during this summer.

"Just to get the moisture down before the sun's up," he says.

"When you're watering when the sun's up it's evaporating quicker than it's getting into the ground so you're not actually doing anything beneficial."

So do the players ever try and blame Haydn's pitches for bad performances?

"They tend to try, [but] we give as good as we get," he says.

"If a player starts giving me lip about how the pitch performed, I will tell them to look at their own review of the game.

"And say: 'Listen mate no-one's perfect so you might want to sort yourself out before you come to me about it'."

Two promotion chasers clash

Barnet v Salford (15:00 BST)

Barnet know what winning feels like. Since the summer of 2022, they have picked up 99 league victories out of 184 games, a win percentage of 53.8.

It’s enabled them to mount three successive promotion challenges in the National League, culminating in claiming the title in 2025, before finishing eighth on their return to League Two last season.

Their new signings include players from rival League Two clubs which should lend them even more experience of this level.

Salford City, beaten in the play-off final last season, have made it clear that promotion is their aim. They sacked Karl Robinson and replaced him with former Malaysia boss Peter Cklamovski (pictured).

Macaulay Langstaff, brought in from Millwall, should be a fantastic signing for this level.

Lindsey looking for lift-off

York v Bristol Rovers (15:00 BST)

York City are back in the EFL for the first time in 10 years, but it’s been a far from conventional summer.

Stuart Maynard, who led them to that dramatic National League title win last season, was sacked a few weeks before the start of the new campaign, due to a "difference in direction and vision for the football club".

His replacement, Scott Lindsey, hasn’t enamoured himself to his new supporter base after defeat in the EFL Cup preliminary round against his old team Crawley Town.

The last time York were in League Two, Bristol Rovers went on to gain promotion. They will be aiming for a similar challenge this time, after finishing last season strongly under boss Steve Evans.

If they can harness that momentum from the start, they will be among the teams eyeing a top seven finish.

New season, new rules...

EFL kick off

The 2026-27 season will feature an unprecedented number of new laws, mostly designed to tackle tempo disruption and make the game quicker.

These rules were all initially rolled out at the World Cup, but still caused confusion in the first round of the Carabao Cup last weekend.

These changes will be deployed right through English football, from the EFL kick off today, Sunday's Community Shield, to the Premier League and right down to Sunday league - apart from the video assistant referee (VAR), of course.

The idea is to cut out those moments which cause supporters real frustration, and get more football played without adding on loads of stoppage time.

Click here for more.

Titans & underdogs - League One club-by-club preview

League One

League One has some titans joining the fray this season.

Leicester lifted the Premier League trophy a decade ago but now they return to the third tier for the first time since 2009, while Sheffield Wednesday are back to kick-off a new era under brand new ownership.

But with such recent, rich history comes mammoth expectation and for the Foxes in particular, nothing else will do other than promotion.

While for a club like last season's League Two champions Bromley, who have already reached a new height in securing promotion to League One for the first time, the pressure is off.

Could this be another year of the underdogs?

Click here for our preview of the 2026-27 season in the third tier.

High-flying Ravens aim to stun Tykes

Barnsley v Bromley (15:00 BST)

Another treat for us. This will be the first ever competitive meeting between Barnsley and Bromley.

The League Two title winners have previously spent 132 of their 134-year existence in non-league football while Barnsley have been in the EFL every season since 1898, made the Premier League in the '90s and were in the Championship as recently as 2022.

The Ravens have a proud record against Yorkshire sides in their two seasons in League Two.

They have taken 16 points from eight games against White Rose clubs and kept six clean sheets.

The Tykes kept just four across their 46 matches last season, four fewer than any other side, and only relegated Northampton conceded more goals than their 73 (74).

Greens and Hatters aim to hit ground running

Plymouth v Stockport (15:00 BST)

A promotion six-pointer on the opening day of the season? Not going to argue...

After a positive end to last season under Tom Cleverly, some eye-catching summer signings and with a wealth of experience in the squad, Plymouth are tipped by many to compete for automatic promotion back to the Championship this season.

Stockport were in the hunt for automatic promotion for much of last season but ultimately fell short in the play-off final against Bolton to mark the end of the Dave Challinor era.

Jimmy McNulty is now in situ after guiding Rochdale into the EFL last May but faces a tough opening fixture at Home Park where County have taken just a point from their past four visits, losing 4-2 here last season.

Argyle looked impressive as they saw-off Devon rivals Exeter in the first round of the EFL Cup on Monday night while the Hatters lost on penalties after drawing with Doncaster two days earlier.

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