New Rule required for Late Postponements.

[portugull]

Driving to Plainmoor today I listened to BBC Radio Devon concerning the ludicrous very late Postponement of the Boreham Wood v Torquay United Match last Saturday and the Exeter City v Barnsley Fixture on Tuesday 24th Jan with a 19.45pm KO.

Boreham Wood called it off 75 minutes before KO and Exeter City 3 hours before KO with 600 Barnsley Fans already in Exeter.

This has got to stop. A New Rule must be introduced for Leagues 1 & 2 and the National League as all Clubs I assume do not have, or can afford, underground heating.

My suggestion is that every Club Appoints a Qualified Referee who must live within 15 Miles of the Ground to make an Inspection of the Pitch and the Stadium and announce a decision a Minimum of 6 Hours before KO when the Club deem an Inspection is necessary.

In a few cases Carlisle, and the 3 Devon Clubs, which for some fixtures are over 350 miles away ( Gateshead v Torquay United) a Special Rule may be required because 6 hours may be deemed insufficient.

If the Club fails to arrange an Inspection and the Game is Postponed there should be a Table of Fines. This would ensure the Home Club takes the matter seriously and is not complacent as it appears Boreham Wood were.

Something needs to be done for next season.

[North Curry House]

300 grand to install. 1000 an hour to run it. Would bankrupt all clubs at this level for the sake of 1 game a year. No business sense at all.


All clubs have a registered local referee on hand to carry out pitch inspections before actual referee turns up.

Pointless.


Just get over the fact games get postponed stop being entitled Karen.

Go cry and fume on mumsnet.

Blimey. Maybe build a roof on all grounds maybe make football if it's cold and pitch unplayable move it to the car park on concrete with jumpers for goalposts.

Wtaf.

The Tosser returns !

[Midlandgull]

Definitely an area to consider for change across lower leagues.

What about a pitch inspection 24-48 hours before if certain criteria are triggered, eg:

1. Heavy downpour/winds due in run-up to the game

2. Ice/snow/freezing temps due

3. Pitch condition in doubt

4. safety concerns for supporters

Then with 24-48 hours to go, they could make an educated decision with everything available to them like the forecast and current situation. Could save a lot of time and money.

[Willowgull]

Somerset. This isn't a pointless thread, it has a lot of merit. The cost to lower league clubs of travelling and hotel costs when games are called off late is massive. This is money they can not afford to loose. In addition, the costs to supporters who have already made the journey.
It is very difficult though as the pitch could be playable on a Friday night but not on a Saturday morning. There is no easy solution. But to call a game off 75 mins before ko is a pisstake!!

[Cheddargull]

No easy answers to this one. If you take too cautious an approach (such as making decisions 48 hrs in advance) you might end up calling off matches that could have gone ahead with special attention from the ground staff.
Boreham Wood clearly made a bad call, they should have had a pitch inspection a lot earlier given the knowledge of what was happening in that part of the country, but they ended up paying for Torquay United's travelling expenses anyway.
So I think the situation we have now where it is up to the home club to order a pitch inspection (which can be done early by a local referee anyway) and the home club paying the visitors expenses if the game is postponed late is as probably as good as it gets.
As for travelling supporters, well maybe they should consider the risk of a possible cancellation and decide whether or not it is worth that risk, after all it is not compulsory to attend the game.

[Admiral]

300 grand to install. 1000 an hour to run it. Would bankrupt all clubs at this level for the sake of 1 game a year. No business sense at all.


All clubs have a registered local referee on hand to carry out pitch inspections before actual referee turns up.

Pointless.


Just get over the fact games get postponed stop being entitled Karen.

Go cry and fume on mumsnet.

Blimey. Maybe build a roof on all grounds maybe make football if it's cold and pitch unplayable move it to the car park on concrete with jumpers for goalposts.

Wtaf.

What a misery of a life you must lead

[United62]

Someupsetgull logs off from streaming ‘Greenstreet – The PopSide Years’ and logs on to the Torquay United forum……but wait….

‘Mum!... Mum!!... Muuuuummmm!!!

‘Tchh. What is it son?’

‘Some stupid man on my internet called Portogull has said that there should be a new rule for late postponements’

‘Well, son, he does have a point. It’s not very nice for people to have to travel hundreds of miles to watch your favourite team Torquay Town and then have it cancelled’

‘But, but mum, he says that there should be a qualified referee who lives at the ground and I’ve looked on Ask Jeeves and it says that they don’t actually have to live at the ground, but be within the local area so I put him right on that.’

‘Then this idiot said we should all have undersoil heating for when it gets cold. So I put him straight and told him that it would cost at least £3 million quid to do this and we can’t afford that.’

‘Then I bravely told him to go and cry and fume on Mumsnet and I called him a Karen… which I think was very funny. Don’t you think so Mum? … Muuuummmm!!!???’

‘Yes dear. Well done. Your dinner’s ready now. And can you bring down those crusty socks from under your bed and I’ll wash them for you.