Bury OFF

[stefano]

UNBELIEVABLE. IF THE PITCH WAS UNPLAYABLE AT 12:20, THEN THERE IS NO WAY IT WAS PLAYABLE AT 9AM. THE CAPS ARE DUE TO MY RAGE AT THE MOMENT. THE REFEREE SHOULD BE MADE TO EXPLAIN, ON CAMERA, HOW HE HAS COME TO THAT DECISION AND BE QUIZZED ON IT BY ONE OF THE JOURNALISTS.

ABSOLUTE JOKE

Not the club at fault here as far as I'm concerned, this is all with the referee.

Did the referee actually say the pitch was playable at 9am? More likely he didn't think it was at that time, but with Bury having travelled a considerable distance and understandably keen to play, he hoped that 3 hours of strong winds and no rain plus the ground staff working hard may have made the pitch playable. I expect we were keen to play as well from a financial point of view so a difficult decision for the referee.

[DTG]

I'm just watching the Yeovil vs Leeds game on the telly. That would be Yeovil in Somerset which is underwater yet they can still put on a football game. Everywhere else has a football game today (with a couple of exceptions). The Torquay game is the only one called off in Div 2. Can't possibly be the clubs fault, can it?

[AustrianAndyGull]

The pitch was unplayable at 9am presumably yet the ref chose to wait another 3 hours to see if the pitch could be dried out anymore as it was waterlogged in patches? He may have thought this was a possible outcome but then if it was so touch and go at 9am then what would have happened if the odd downpour arrived during the game itself? Abandonment? Player injury for which the ref would have been blamed for? It all made perfect sense to call it off the moment the ref saw it was unfit.

The ref will be fine financially, he has had all his expenses paid and stayed in a nice hotel but others haven't been so fortunate. He has arrived at the correct decision no doubt in my mind but the game should have been called off at 9am in all fairness. It would have saved quite a few people a bit of money and let them re-arrange their plans for the day. In no way are the club to blame, not at all. Once again a ref takes centre stage at Plainmoor and there wasn't even a game on.

There may have been some coercement from club officials to sway the ref into getting the game on, I understand that but the ref should be able to make critical decisions under pressure for the best outcome.

The pitch was unplayable at 9am therefore should have been called off then IMO.

Anyway, we move on and hopefully now we can get the worst of the wet out of the way and get set for a stonking night on Tuesday with Mr Knill. THIS MATTERS.

[Colorado Gull]

It has to be said, even though I don't think it is the clubs fault, our pitch has be improved with a better drainage system. The whole of the south west has been hit hard with the storm and Exeter's pitch looks absolutely fine today. I'm not saying this is the reason that we don't have a game today, but it is a factor to consider.

[CP Gull]

Clearly with the forecast not looking good for Tuesday, it would be in everybody's interests if an early cancellation was pushed through by the club for that one. I don't actually think the weather has been anything like as bad as was forecast overnight and this morning and I would fully expect Exeter's game to go ahead. Unfortunately, we do appear to have a "problem" pitch or at least certain areas of it! It would appear that the work done on it in the summer, whilst undoubtedly having something of a positive effect up until Christmas, has not been sufficient to get to the root of the problem.

All of this will be having a massive effect on the club and it's cash flow at this time and at the moment you just wonder when will we next see a game of football at Plainmoor!

[Gulliball]

On a positive note we may get a higher crowd for the Tuesday night game. With all the uncertainty today then who was going to turn up and risk it? It's also better to play on a proper pitch next month than 90 minutes on a bog now. It wouldn't be good to watch and the result would be a lottery.

[AustrianAndyGull]

On a positive note we may get a higher crowd for the Tuesday night game. With all the uncertainty today then who was going to turn up and risk it? It's also better to play on a proper pitch next month than 90 minutes on a bog now. It wouldn't be good to watch and the result would be a lottery.

I think the crowd on Tuesday night should be a belter. It's Hargreaves first game at Plainmoor, our first game at Plainmoor for a long time, it is against the bottom club who could be on their last legs should we beat them dependant on what they do today and to top it all off Mr Knill will be returning in the oppo dugout. It has all the ingredients to be a cracker and I reckon the crowd will be a very healthy one indeed.

Tuesday's game must go ahead. It simply must. COYY!!

[brucie]

But Tuesdays game won't go ahead because the issue is with our pitch. With more rainfall forecast it might as well be called off now.
We will get the same farcical situation on Tuesday - yet again the club will say the pitch is playable and it will get called off about 3pm.
How can the club say that the pitch was perfectly playable yesterday afternoon - then we have basically had a dryish night and a dryish morning then the match cannot be played because the pitch is waterlogged?
Call me old fashioned but something doesn't add up here. Whether its the ref,the pitch,the club it doesn't matter.
This game should have been called off yesterday - it was never,ever going to go ahead. Our pitch is a bog in certain areas.
Its shameful that Bury fans were turning up at twenty to one only to find the game was off. The club shouldn't be putting out statements like "the pitch is perfectly playable" or for the Burton game "we are fairly confident the match is on".
They are basically lying to away supporters and giving the impression that matches are going to take place when the opposite is the case.

[Dutchgull]

We now have a thunder and hail storm in Kingsteignton !!

[Fonda]

Lots of criticism of the ref 'what changed between 9 and 12'. Perhaps our pitch is the problem? Maybe, the ref thought it was unplayable at 9, but with anything approaching normal drainage/drying, it might be by lunch time. Unfortunately we know better than to expect that.

[Dave_Pougher]

I do feel more can be done though. probably teaching my granny to suck eggs here but if, temporarily, strategically placed gullies are dug, water will take the easiest route. Small water ways can be easily covered and the effect on surrounding ground can be dramatic. Obviously it has it's limitations. I may be wrong little seems to be going on other than the ground staff doing their very best to mop up.

[Dave]

Anybody who wants to know why Yoevil's game was on today the answer is here..http://www.ytfc.net/news/article/060214 ... 43387.aspx Chris Hargreaves was on telly last night saying you can these covers for around £15k and the pay back would be in 3 games saved from postponement, surely this is the way forward for our club, we do have covers , but not full pitch covers.

[hector]

Plainmoor has always been prone to being waterlogged. This problem stems back years, if not decades. We are not a wealthy club who can afford a high-tech pitch and we are positioned in a coastal region that over the last few days had taken a particular battering. This is almost unprecedented weather yet there seems some surprise that we may have a waterlogged pitch.

Like others have pointed out, it was fairly obvious that the early inspection suggested more than some doubt and I guess the hope was, that a weather situation at the time that was sunny and windy, may save the game. The officials, the club etc, had to try that, particularly as Bury were here. Both managers agreed at 9am that the ref got it right and if the pitch is showing no improvement at 12, then the ref has no other option but to call the game off.

You cannot expect clubs to call a game off 36 hours before the game 'just in case' it rains and quite often, clubs simply do not know if the weather takes people by surprise. It may be that the rain due over the next couple of days makes the Tuesday game academic but I don't suppose the club are letting opposition teams travel and then call the game off for the fun of it.

[hector]

Anybody who wants to know why Yoevil's game was on today the answer is here..http://www.ytfc.net/news/article/060214 ... 43387.aspx Chris Hargreaves was on telly last night saying you can these covers for around £15k and the pay back would be in 3 games saved from postponement, surely this is the way forward for our club, we do have covers , but not full pitch covers.

Yes, something like that could be a sensible investment for the club.

[Jeff]

I think there is some hysteria on here today. I know its disappointing, but every football fan in the land has been let down by a postponement at one time or another.

The way I see it, this is the situation. The drainage of the pitch has been damaged/compromised following the construction of the Bench. This wasn't evident last season as we had an "average" winter - sure there were some postponements and sticky pitches, but nothing out of the ordinary so it wasn't looked at any further.

Fast forward the clock to this year - we have winter of record rainfall, the like of which has never been seen before and the pitch struggles to cope. Hardly surprising. This highlights the problem with the drainage, but at this stage there is nothing we can do other than cover, work on the pitch and hope for the best. Its not the clubs fault - I just don't think there was the data there to identify a significant drainage problem last year. This is why Yeovil, Exeter etc can get their games on but we can't; neither of them have had significant redevelopment work done so they know they have a long standing, functioning drainage system.

With regards to todays postponement,, I think the flaw was they should have reported exactly what the situation was at 0900 and what they were monitoring. I'm not sure how they assess a pitch, perhaps they should have monitored the rate at which it was drying out. If it had improved between 9 and 12, and the weather was consistent between 12 and 3 then chances are it would have continued getting better. When the weather is like this, its hard to call whats going to happen - for example, near me in Hertfordshire the council pitches were under about 3in of water yesterday afternoon as the river had burst its banks. Went down there today and they have improved sufficiently to the point where they are probably playable! With spells of sun and such a breeze, its not impossible for pitches to dry out.

If the pitch was going to be sticky today, and with the wind, I'm quite glad its off. Its a 6-pointer no question, the last thing we need is it to be reduced to a lottery.