A football coach was killed by lightning: why thunderstorms are more dangerous on sports grounds

The tragedy gripped the small Gabriel-Péry stadium in Couriers, in Pas-de-Calais. Jordan Denneulin, a 30-year-old football coach, was killed by lightning during practice Thursday night, and another man was seriously injured. Lightning struck before all the players had time to take cover. Already in 2019, several teenagers were also struck by lightning during a football training session in Saint-Nicolas-les-Arras, in the same department. One dramatic example among others over the past twenty years.

Football fields concentrate risks during stormy weather. An accident study published in 2022, covering 215 lightning accidents in Europe over a decade, found that “just over 10% of accidents occur in stadiums or football fields,” explains its co-author Stephane Schmitt, an expert at Météorage. net. If most of the victims were in another public place, such as a street or park, or working outdoors, the proportion of sports infrastructure in these incidents remains very high, given the area they occupy in the area.

Multiple risks

“The risks are higher in open areas, without any nearby obstructions such as buildings or antennas. On a horizontal, level playing field with no cover, players occupy the highest points on the field, explains Davide Faranda, director of climate science research. Lightning forms an electrical circuit between the cloud and the surface of the Earth and to do this it will look for the highest point on the surface on the ground. » Those present then find themselves at the mercy of this powerful electrical discharge.

However, the risk is gradual and depends on the conditions of the sports ground, in particular “its location in the city”, “isolation or in the city centre”, notes Météo France. “The presence of racks” and “the proximity of the field to the lightning rod (for example, a church)” also play a role. Floodlights located at the edge of the site can also “represent lightning rods, but they are not high.” it is enough that their defensive perimeter covers the center of the field,” raises the question Serge Soula, a teacher-researcher at the Aerological Laboratory in Toulouse.

And the danger doesn’t just come from the sky: lightning can also catch players off guard from the ground. On very large fields, such as golf courses, “the current flows along the ground and goes in several directions, forming sinuous lines,” explains the specialist. Then the surface of the earth becomes conductive, and a person located near the point of lightning strike, without receiving a direct strike, can be struck by lightning. An even greater risk arises during heavy rains, since water left on the lawn is a conductor of electricity, and even more so when wearing metal crampons…

“More prevention”

Experts therefore call for maximum vigilance during sports training in stormy weather, including in the case of yellow alert, as happened on Thursday evening in Pas-de-Calais. According to a 2022 study, the vast majority of accidents occur at this hazard level.

If you find yourself in the middle of a field at the beginning of a thunderstorm, it is recommended to run and take shelter in the changing rooms or, if this is not possible, in a closed car, away from trees. As a last resort, if no shelter is visible, you should “squat with your feet together, ideally on insulating material (leather coat, backpack, etc.)”, trying to “distance yourself from each other.” as much as possible,” explains Meteo France.

But whenever possible, flight remains the number one reflex. “In 75% of accidents, victims experience more than 30 minutes between the moment they see the flashes and the lightning strike,” insists Stefan Schmitt. The expert also calls for “more prevention” in the sporting environment more broadly, following the model of the United States, where “many guidelines (instructions) are planned for storms at baseball and American football fields. During the Olympics, “the weather will be closely monitored to avoid tragedies,” but it will be necessary to continue this way after the competition “to protect everyone,” he pleads.