Exeter on Tuesday

[blue nige]

Gareth and his lads had been there since early on, they had heaters blowing hot air under the problem area (which were left on even after the other covers had been removed to give it the best possible chance) and another heater even being dropped off as we were leaving. Not much more could’ve been done really.
Also a fantastic response by people to a phone call or text to help remove the covers....which is a very very physical job.

Having said that, and in my opinion there is far too much put on the H&S side of things...even the hard parts of the pitch were far softer than what they play on in the early parts of the season. Would it not make more sense to allow the two clubs, managers & players to decide what’s safe rather than a referee?

Ian when the ground is hard at the beginning of the season it has a bit of give in it when it's frozen it's a different ball game and if there's any little ruts it will rip your skin open,( I can vouch for this !)

[GTBLUE]

[SwearFilter] v Bradford game abandoned at 0-0 after 31 mins

Frozen pitch.

Tin Pot....

Any " sledging" from Bradford.

[holkerboy]

By law, you cannot postpone a game because of a frozen pitch.

Therefore, as soon as the referee has blown the whistle to kick-off, it must be finished.

Interesting post from Jonty

[SwearFilter] v Bradford game abandoned at 0-0 after 31 mins

Frozen pitch.

They've just taken the ref to jail!

[saltcellar]

https://twitter.com/BarrowAFC/status/13 ... 01316?s=19

Referees version of events.

[spirit of 1990]

Gareth and his lads had been there since early on, they had heaters blowing hot air under the problem area (which were left on even after the other covers had been removed to give it the best possible chance) and another heater even being dropped off as we were leaving. Not much more could’ve been done really.
Also a fantastic response by people to a phone call or text to help remove the covers....which is a very very physical job.

Having said that, and in my opinion there is far too much put on the H&S side of things...even the hard parts of the pitch were far softer than what they play on in the early parts of the season. Would it not make more sense to allow the two clubs, managers & players to decide what’s safe rather than a referee?

Ian when the ground is hard at the beginning of the season it has a bit of give in it when it's frozen it's a different ball game and if there's any little ruts it will rip your skin open,( I can vouch for this !)

Well I’m only looking at it from a supporters POV Nige and I (along with others) can tell you hand on heart that pitch is much more unforgiving in mid to late summer....unless it [SwearFilter] it down. It just gets highlighted more when there’s a frost rather than a few weeks of sun. It wasn’t long ago (within the last ten years) we were watering the pitch with garden sprinklers in summer.
A proper frozen pitch is of course totally different, I still maintain it should be down to clubs, players and managers.

[HenneysKnee]

Were Exeter keen to play Spirit?

[spirit of 1990]

Were Exeter keen to play Spirit?

No idea mate, I’d left before they arrived. My point being if clubs (players essentially) can agree on whether it’s safe or not that surely takes a lot of the pressure off the referee - who is basically trying to cover his back.

[barrowaberdeen]

Were Exeter keen to play Spirit?

Apologies for answering on I's behalf but the answer is yes. They were very supportive by all accounts all day. The temperature drop was just too much for some areas that had actually been all right from about 2 onwards, certainly 4.

Bits towards the Pop Side couldn't take a stud at about half 5. At that point both sets of management and the refs team were all in agreement. Folk were absolutely gutted but move on another hour to when we were meant to kick off and it wasn't playable. So it was the right call.

Exeter were very good about it, given the journey.

[Steeley]

Mentioned by a few people but surely there's a better was of working out fixtures, no need for Exeter to travel to barrow on a Tuesday in February. Your winter Tuesday night games should be as local as possible, suppose that's not top priority this season I guess.

[Adam29]

Mentioned by a few people but surely there's a better was of working out fixtures, no need for Exeter to travel to barrow on a Tuesday in February. Your winter Tuesday night games should be as local as possible, suppose that's not top priority this season I guess.

Exeter was already a rearranged fixture
It was supposed to be played the first Saturday of this year but was called off then

[Reginald]

Mentioned by a few people but surely there's a better was of working out fixtures, no need for Exeter to travel to barrow on a Tuesday in February. Your winter Tuesday night games should be as local as possible, suppose that's not top priority this season I guess.

Yes, I agree with you there. Coronavirus was very much around when the computer compiled the fixtures so, I would say that because of covid, the computer should have been switched off and the fixtures compiled by human logic-which is what your post is basically saying-though this method would still have caused displeasure from some quarters at the fixture compilers judgment.

[Richard Ingham]

Mentioned by a few people but surely there's a better was of working out fixtures, no need for Exeter to travel to barrow on a Tuesday in February. Your winter Tuesday night games should be as local as possible, suppose that's not top priority this season I guess.

Exeter was already a rearranged fixture
It was supposed to be played the first Saturday of this year but was called off then

Perhaps all the more reason to have made it a fixture in August-October or March to May, rather than even a Saturday in January then?

[April1972]

https://twitter.com/BarrowAFC/status/13 ... 01316?s=19

Referees version of events.

Excellent to hear from the Ref. Much better communication than the Premier League can muster!

On a different note why are all the midweek games scheduled for evening kick offs with no crowds at the moment?
This game was playable at 4pm.
At this rate we’ll end up playing 3 times a week to get all the fixtures in.

[holkerboy]

Excellent to hear from the Ref. Much better communication than the Premier League can muster!

On a different note why are all the midweek games scheduled for evening kick offs with no crowds at the moment?

Agree about the ref interview - he came across well, and thanks to him for the explanation.

Your point about afternoon kick-offs is also a good one. I wonder if the EFL is concerned that providing iFollow at that time may cause a drop in income from those who might be working away from their home.

[Richard Ingham]

Given they see to be very flexible with kick off times, Carlisle trying to kick off at 2.30 yesterday as an example, I doubt ifollow has very much scope in the decision.

I think the prioirty will be getting games played, not doing so at a time that is helpful in boosting ifollow numbers.