Post
by Suffolk Blue » Tue Feb 27, 2024 11:51 am
Just getting back to the postponement for a moment.
I've looked at the FA guidelines on pitch inspections and as you might expect it gives a great deal of interesting if not necessarily pertinent advice to refs at all levels about how to assess the pitch. As has already been stated many times above however, the referee doesn't appear to be accountable for the decisions made or when they are made (though guidelines state they should be mindful of travelling fans). As long as a reason is given then the decision is the decision. It can be as subjective as you like partly because referees have quite clearly no qualifications or accreditations in assessing ground quality. If this were the case then asking an independent groundsman to make the decision would be a better solution.
And as far as I'm aware referees assessors confine their criticisms to the refs on field performance. Finally, to let a game that should not have been allowed to proceed to do so probably creates a higher level of potential risk in the mind of most referees than to prevent a game from starting that is considered marginal. When all else fails, wave the risk card - subjectively of course and without doing any visible risk assessment.
However two factors were in play on Saturday that could have changed or possibly avoided the mess that ensued. Firstly I believe the ref was staying in the town overnight and therefore could have made an earlier pitch inspection if he had turned up. Secondly and to some extent in defence of that, the ref would claim that he was not requested to inspect the pitch by BAFC, who believed that there was no need to do so.
Without trying to apportion any blame for what may therefore have been the product of an innocent if avoidable shambles and given the known state of the pitch for the foreseeable, would it not be prudent on the part of the club for each of our remaining home games (or at least those taking place in the next few weeks) to insist/automatically request an initial inspection to be done at a time in keeping with the scheduled kick-off time and the distance to be travelled by away supporters? Clearly if this means a local referee has to be involved before the match officials turn up then so be it.
This is not the first time that the club has found itself at odds with a referee on what constitutes a playable pitch. No doubt our ground staff had indicated that in their view the pitch was playable. What this shows however is that view even if made by an experienced professional with an intimate knowledge of the playing surface is sadly irrelevant. You cannot make a referee accountable but you can make them overtly responsible. Or am I completely missing something?
