Wild weather at a Vegalta soccer match

My friend Keith and I went to another soccer match. This year we are going about once a month. This was an afternoon game with the kickoff at 1 p.m.

 As the players were warming up, the sky started getting darker and darker. Then after the kickoff it began to look like this.

 Then about 10 minutes into the game it got really dark. I do not think that I have ever seen a day that was as dark as this.

 Then it started hailing. The hailstones were between a half centimeter and a whole centimeter. There were sound and visual effects, thunder and lightning, accompanying the stone attack. The officials sent the players off the field. Keith and I were under the roof so we had no problems but the people in the front rows started moving back.

 Then the rains came. Parts of the pitch flooded. It was like standing at the base of Niagara Falls.

After about 20 minutes the rain let up and the sky clear somewhat. After about 40 minutes the officials restarted the game and Vegalta went on to lose 1 - nil, but it was an interesting game to watch. The teams below Vegalta in the standings cooperated by appropriately losing or drawing, so Vegalta remains in first place in spite of the lose.