The weather put paid to last Saturday's assessment when a severe frost forced the postponement of every game in the league.
The weather forecast for this week suggested that the snow would start falling on Thursday and would continue until Sunday, meaning the chances of any football being played were remote. My pre-match call to the referee and e-mail reply from the home club did little to allay my fears as both were less than optimistic. As a precaution I contacted both of my assessment co-ordinators for Saturday games and got a similar glum response from them.
My usual league ended up with another complete wipeout, while my other league had one game not covered. The co-ordinator was sure it would be off and asked me to contact a referee in the next town to advise I would be at his game. I phoned him on Friday and he wasn't hopeful. Saturday morning arrived and so did the expected text advising that the game was off, so it was an afternoon in front of the tv but the evening that didn't go to plan.
I managed to catch the second half of Manchester United vs Liverpool on Sky, followed by the 6 Nations game between Italy and England on the BBC. My original plan had been to watch Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United on Sky but I remembered I still had a few weeks left on my ESPN subscription, so caught most of the Blackpool vs Portsmouth game where the referee was one of our RDOs. That game finished 1-1 but I missed a stellar performance by Spurs as they hammered Newcastle 5-0.
This is where plans went a little astray. As my wife and I settled down with a couple of ice cold pints of Guinness to watch France vs Ireland in the 6 Nations, it was obvious from the demeanour of the match and club officials that not everything was well. The stadium at which the game was taking place did not have undersoil heating and with the game taking place at 9pm local time, temperatures which hadn't been much above zero centigrade all week were again plummeting.
A similar situation arose earlier in the day at Ipswich vs Middlesbrough where the club had worked hard to get the playing surface defrosted so the game could kick off, but as they reached 37 minutes, it was evident that it had frozen again. The referee abandoned the game on the grounds that player safety was paramount.
Back to Paris though and some very serious looking officials made the decision to call the game off. Cue 80,000 fans inside the stadium being very, very unhappy! That wasn't a problem I faced this morning!
The referee of the game I was supposed to assess had phoned me on Saturday afternoon to say that the ground was unfit with little prospect of the game going ahead. In hindsight, he might have been better off delaying that decision. I set off this morning to check which of our Sunday League teams had managed to play their games. At the first venue I had two home teams and three away teams. At the second venue I had three home teams and two away teams ... there was obviously a misunderstanding.
A few phone calls later and the spare home team went to the first venue and their game was played. Meanwhile I had made my way to a third venue, this time to watch a game - a County Cup Quarter Final. As I parked, my phone rang and it was the manager of one of the teams at the first venue I had visited - their referee hadn't turned up!
I started the car up, headed over there and refereed the game. As usual I had been carrying my kit in the back of the car and despite having not cleaned my boots and no match record cards in my wallet, I managed to get through. Next weekend is closed as I am taking a family trip away for my son's 7th birthday. My elder son was 22 on Friday (where does the time go?), so happy birthday Kieron for Friday (last) and happy birthday to Liam for Friday (next).
Continue reading...
The weather forecast for this week suggested that the snow would start falling on Thursday and would continue until Sunday, meaning the chances of any football being played were remote. My pre-match call to the referee and e-mail reply from the home club did little to allay my fears as both were less than optimistic. As a precaution I contacted both of my assessment co-ordinators for Saturday games and got a similar glum response from them.
My usual league ended up with another complete wipeout, while my other league had one game not covered. The co-ordinator was sure it would be off and asked me to contact a referee in the next town to advise I would be at his game. I phoned him on Friday and he wasn't hopeful. Saturday morning arrived and so did the expected text advising that the game was off, so it was an afternoon in front of the tv but the evening that didn't go to plan.
I managed to catch the second half of Manchester United vs Liverpool on Sky, followed by the 6 Nations game between Italy and England on the BBC. My original plan had been to watch Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United on Sky but I remembered I still had a few weeks left on my ESPN subscription, so caught most of the Blackpool vs Portsmouth game where the referee was one of our RDOs. That game finished 1-1 but I missed a stellar performance by Spurs as they hammered Newcastle 5-0.
This is where plans went a little astray. As my wife and I settled down with a couple of ice cold pints of Guinness to watch France vs Ireland in the 6 Nations, it was obvious from the demeanour of the match and club officials that not everything was well. The stadium at which the game was taking place did not have undersoil heating and with the game taking place at 9pm local time, temperatures which hadn't been much above zero centigrade all week were again plummeting.
A similar situation arose earlier in the day at Ipswich vs Middlesbrough where the club had worked hard to get the playing surface defrosted so the game could kick off, but as they reached 37 minutes, it was evident that it had frozen again. The referee abandoned the game on the grounds that player safety was paramount.
Back to Paris though and some very serious looking officials made the decision to call the game off. Cue 80,000 fans inside the stadium being very, very unhappy! That wasn't a problem I faced this morning!
The referee of the game I was supposed to assess had phoned me on Saturday afternoon to say that the ground was unfit with little prospect of the game going ahead. In hindsight, he might have been better off delaying that decision. I set off this morning to check which of our Sunday League teams had managed to play their games. At the first venue I had two home teams and three away teams. At the second venue I had three home teams and two away teams ... there was obviously a misunderstanding.
A few phone calls later and the spare home team went to the first venue and their game was played. Meanwhile I had made my way to a third venue, this time to watch a game - a County Cup Quarter Final. As I parked, my phone rang and it was the manager of one of the teams at the first venue I had visited - their referee hadn't turned up!
I started the car up, headed over there and refereed the game. As usual I had been carrying my kit in the back of the car and despite having not cleaned my boots and no match record cards in my wallet, I managed to get through. Next weekend is closed as I am taking a family trip away for my son's 7th birthday. My elder son was 22 on Friday (where does the time go?), so happy birthday Kieron for Friday (last) and happy birthday to Liam for Friday (next).
Continue reading...
