A&H

Barrow vs Bradford City Postponed

C

ChrisBLD

New Member
Level 7 Referee
https://twitter.com/x/status/1761395870707167388

Interesting postponement today in League Two. Obviously it's impossible to say for sure just from photos but this looks like a pretty cracking pitch from what I can see.
Thoughts on this? Are there unseen reasons why a pitch like this may not be deemed playable? Anyone have any further info on this decision?

There's a part of the field at the start of this video that looks worse for wear - wondering if this might explain it?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1761376713626271821
 
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GraemeS said:
Exactly - if that's a muddy puddle that's a) borderline in and of itself and b) probably indicates the pitch is pretty sticky in multiple places
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Looks like a patch of sand at the very start, haven't seen that since the mid 90s at the local village green 🤣
 
You just can't tell from looking at a photo or video. I once called a step 3 game off where the pitch looked perfect, but there was one patch that when you stood on it the ground actually moved. It was impossible to run over it without losing your footing and would have been very dangerous to play on. I got the same treatment as the referee here, with photos of the pitch put on social media to show what a terrible decision I'd made, but I was absolutely comfortable with that decision.
 
There's been a lot of Clubs unhappy with postponement decisions this weekend.
If both Clubs have arrived at the Ground, are of the opinion that the pitch is playable and the Groundsman is not 'kicking off', it would take something quite exceptional for me to postpone (frozen ground aside). My game yesterday was a good example of this criteria. An opportunity to roll the clock back and play in challenging conditions. An enjoyable and safe experience, albeit with added difficulty to Referee
Generally speaking, I firmly believe that games are called off far too readily as a result of wet weather. Safety is barely a consideration... I'm merely guarded against allowing a farce to ensue
 
Big Cat said:
There's been a lot of Clubs unhappy with postponement decisions this weekend.
If both Clubs have arrived at the Ground, are of the opinion that the pitch is playable and the Groundsman is not 'kicking off', it would take something quite exceptional for me to postpone (frozen ground aside). My game yesterday was a good example of this criteria. An opportunity to roll the clock back and play in challenging conditions. An enjoyable and safe experience, albeit with added difficulty to Referee
Generally speaking, I firmly believe that games are called off far too readily as a result of wet weather.
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That's what the guidance says essentially. That if you arrive and everyone is there then it should only be postponed under exceptional circumstances.

Clubs will be getting twitchy at the min with number of games left and number of weeks remaining. The northern premier League have asked for a season extension. But it's not just that. There's a couple of clubs near us that have no games being played at home for months. As it stands to complete they could be looking at Sat, Tue, Thu - which with a volunteer workforce is really challenging asking them to give up all that time on a voluntary basis.

This has been far and away the worst season I can remember for postponements and we've had another load of biblical rain here today so we'll be off for anything in the week too I expect.
 
JamesL said:
That's what the guidance says essentially. That if you arrive and everyone is there then it should only be postponed under exceptional circumstances.

Clubs will be getting twitchy at the min with number of games left and number of weeks remaining. The northern premier League have asked for a season extension. But it's not just that. There's a couple of clubs near us that have no games being played at home for months. As it stands to complete they could be looking at Sat, Tue, Thu - which with a volunteer workforce is really challenging asking them to give up all that time on a voluntary basis.

This has been far and away the worst season I can remember for postponements and we've had another load of biblical rain here today so we'll be off for anything in the week too I expect.
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I'm not sure this guidance message is communicated effectively enough (not Level 4s anyway)
It's mad, playing games every few days at the end of the season is likely to cause serious injury! Then there's the summer concrete to factor in
Admittedly, it's much more difficult when the inspection is conducted before the away team travels
I'm also keen to do the inspection myself whenever possible
 
With the cut off dates in the Non League System due to play offs and relevant administration for restructuring etc. , it creates a tight window in which some teams have dozens of games to play. With 3 games a week looking possible as @JamesL mentioned, the pitches aren't actually going to get any time to recover.

A wet spring and we're knackered!
 
george.g said:
With the cut off dates in the Non League System due to play offs and relevant administration for restructuring etc. , it creates a tight window in which some teams have dozens of games to play. With 3 games a week looking possible as @JamesL mentioned, the pitches aren't actually going to get any time to recover.

A wet spring and we're knackered!
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Same thing happened last year. Winters are set to get more unsettled in the UK due to Climate Change (not wishing to get into a climate debate), so this problem is likely to get worse
 
Big Cat said:
Same thing happened last year. Winters are set to get more unsettled in the UK due to Climate Change (not wishing to get into a climate debate, but trust me, the experts seem confident of this), so this problem is only likely to get worse
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Its been gradually getting worse. Last season was bad too but this one is unreal. Since October 15th I've reffed 2 games. All off. And I'm not the only one in that position.
 
JamesL said:
Since October 15th I've reffed 2 games. All off.
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I’d be climbing up the walls..

Agree with comments on the pattern though, it’s got progressively worse (and being in the North West it rains enough already!!)
 
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