A horrific broken leg force Canberra premier league officials to abandon a game on Saturday because residents living near the venue have complained about light pollution at night.
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Belconnen United's Christian Pratezina shattered his leg in an tackle just 18 minutes into the clash against Gungahlin United at McKellar Park.
Pratezina was left on the ground for 30 minutes waiting for an ambulance, and by the time he left referees had decided it was too late to restart the game because of complaints about the lights at McKellar.
Capital Football has shifted night games away from McKellar after complaints about the brightness of the lights.
But the situation created confusion for players and officials after the game was called off when Gungahlin was leading 2-0.
"Clearly the delay is because of a very serious injury and unfortunately we're not allowed to use the lights," said Belconnen coach Steve Forshaw.
"The referee eventually had to make the decision to call it off and it's a decision that, under the circumstances, I fully support."
Gungahlin was frustrated given they led by two goals after Michael John and Antoni Timotheou scored in the opening stages.
Spectators were left wondering whether or not the game would be resumed for a further 20 minutes until it was announced the game would not continue.
Capital Football rules state 75 per cent of the match has to be played for a result to stand.
But light complaints after a Canberra United W-League game forced the referee to declare there was insufficient time to complete the match 4.10pm.
"I was under the impression it was forfeited," said Gungahlin president Neil Harlock. "I've spoken to the head of participation [at Capital Football] who instructed me what should have happened.
"The fact is under the rules and regulations, the game should have proceeded to a certain point and it hasn't so we probably interpret that as a forfeit."
Harlock concedes that the circumstances were incredibly unfortunate for the injured player, but doesn't understand what followed.
"We understand the circumstances and hope the player has a speedy recovery, but from our point of view play should have resumed," Harlock said.
"My information from Capital Football in the limited time we have had is that the game should have commenced again.
"It's disappointing for us, and we expect the appropriate result of a forfeit. If the game is rescheduled it should be resumed at the point we were at [2-0 up, 18 minutes in]."
