According to a report, golf and football face an "unexpected threat", with cricket to be the "hardest hit".
Wetter winters and coastal erosion linked to climate change are threatening the future of sports like golf, cricket and football, a report backed by UK governing body the R&A warned on Wednesday.
Accoding to The Climate Coalition, golf, football and cricket face an "unexpected threat", with cricket to be the "hardest hit". Cricket will be "hardest hit" by climate change out of all the major pitch sports, with more rain resulting in more delays and abandonments, the BBC quoted the report as saying.
The Climate Coalition, which is made up of groups ranging from the National Trust and the Women’s Institute to WWF, the RSPB, Greenpeace and Oxfam, is releasing the latest data as part of its Show The Love campaign, which celebrates things people love but that could be lost due to climate change.
Cricket is facing "disruption at every level" of the game as a result of wetter winters and more intense summer downpours driven by climate change, said the report from the Coalition, which includes 130 organisations.
The BCC report added that more than a quarter of England's home one-day international since 2000 have seen reduced overs because of rain disruptions, while the rate of rain-affected matches has more than doubled since 2011.
"There is the risk that increasingly disrupted cricket will lead to people no longer getting involved in the sport. According to the report, nearly 40,000 fewer people played cricket in 2015-16 than in 2005-06, a fall of almost 20%."
Golf is facing an increase in unplayable holes, winter course closures and disruption to professional tournaments due to increased rainfall, while rising sea levels could jeopardise all the world's coastal courses by 2100.
Football is also affected, particularly at grassroots level, by adverse weather, while the Scottish skiing industry could collapse within 50 years as winters become too mild for regular snowfall.
Extreme weather is made worse by climate change, causing more golf course closures, while wetter, warmer autumns and winters cause damage and disease to grass and greens, the report said.
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