Coventry Sphinx (H)

[zeke]

Any chance this game will go ahead? Forecast looks bad.

[jupu]

I can't see it being on, regardless of any snow the pitch will surely be frozen.

[zeke]

Yes. It was the frozen pitch I was thinking of. I think the highest temperature is 4, with mostly sub zero.

[Woodenose]

City will hold an 11am pitch inspection tomorrow
Bromsgrove confirmed there is no snow on the pitch and is currently playable, however, overnight temperatures are expected to be -2C so an inspection is likely

[Tim Munslow]

Match is ON says the Worcester News website, after a lengthy pitch inspection: announcement not made till 11:48

[glevumblues]

Oh no it isn't! Called off at 2.05. According to one of the guys there it wasn't playable this morning either.

[Bonzo Bitburg]

Thanks Worcester City or referee. Just wasted time and petrol going to a game that was obviously never on at any stage cos I doubt the pitch got worse between 11.48 and 2.05. So I'd like to know who f@&%ed up here

[zeke]

Should have realised the doubt in the original "game on" statement. A wasted journey/afternoon. In future any doubt and I'll make alternative arrangements. Got caught like this twice when we were at Kiddy.

[crosscountrymark]

I made the journey from Kidderminster and checked clubs twitter and said the game was on, ground looking marvellous and anyone who wanted to watch a local game this game is on. On arrival at the ground found game was off, I hope the club can learn some lessons from this as it makes the club look like amateurs. Was the pitch ever playable as it took so long for the first pitch inspection ? was the areas in the shade covered by the Bromsgrove grounds staff ? .

[zeke]

It seems as though they were gambling on the sun melting the remaining frost before kick off.

[Bonzo Bitburg]

I want to know what the referee's statement was at 11.48

[leon]

According to reliable sources it was the area by the bottom corner which was off the pitch but deemed a safety hazard for the taker of corners As Kammy would say Unbelievable!!!

[jupu]

According to Andy Mitchell on the WN website:

"It would appear the problem was at the end of the ground next to the main entrance.

The sun was unliklely to hit areas that were still hard which would have affected players taking corners or running full pelt towards the goal line at that end of the ground."

So the suggestion is that the pitch itself was okay but the areas outside the field of play were still too frozen.

I appreciate the referee has to take account of player safety but I've never heard anything like this before.

[zeke]

Artificial pitch at Sixways was frozen, too.

[Bonzo Bitburg]

Fine but how did that get translated to "The game is on" with not even a mention of a further pitch inspection?

[jupu]

The club tweeted after the first inspection: "Game on...as it stands." Perhaps it could have said more.

[zeke]

Feb 2, 2019 17:22:18 GMT jupu said:

The club tweeted after the first rst inspection: "Game on...as it stands." Perhaps it could have said more.

The next Tweet was

[Woodenose]

Ok some good news. Ilkeston and Sporting Khaisa both lost today,17 points behind Ilkeston with 3 games in hand

[Bonzo Bitburg]

WN seems to suggest the first inspection was not performed by the match referee. If true whoever did it misread that one. Still I've learned a lesson. Don't trust early pitch inspections.

[zeke]

The latest news says that local ref said it was unplayable at 11.00. The club made the decision to say it was on. The actual ref turned up at 1.30 and deemed it unsafe.

Therefore the club, not the ref made the wrong decision

[jupu]

Here's an explanation, no apology to supporters however:

www.worcesternews.co.uk/sport/17405242.worcester-city-snape-defends-decision-to-gamble-on-pitch-thawing/

[horseshoer]

At 2pm the pitch was playable. We had team named and players were starting to get changed. It was a shock to all of us, including Cov Sphinx, when the referee started to question the pitch. Having been out on it none of us, even the league representative, thought the game was in doubt. Both clubs wanted to play and were amazed at the decision not too

[zeke]

Still the club's fault. Ref at 11 said not OK and ref at 2 said not OK. Club's decision to say it was on, was wrong.

[Brooksiders Return!!]

Totally the clubs fault, they took a gamble (as John Snape has admitted) and failed to provide the correct information to supporters. After the first pitch inspection the game was actually OFF....as it stands, the ref inspecting the pitch had deemed it unfit for play. At no point was the pitch ever passed playable by an official, and opinion of club staff, or photos of green grass in sunshine are meaningless. I'm sitting on my boat, looking at bright sunshine, and green lush lawns....yet the marina water is frozen over!
The club officials made a bad judgement call in saying that the game was ON...as it stands. Perception from supporters was that the pitch had passed that inspection, and no communication given that any further inspection was likely. Just tell it as it is, "the pitch has failed its initial inspection, but a decision whether the game will go ahead won't be made until the match referee has made a further inspection. We will be giving the game every chance to go ahead!"

[Dodger]

I took the statement about the game being on (as things stand) to mean it was on,barring a severe drop in temperature or a heavy fall of snow!

So, was it 10% of the pitch frozen or just the area around the corner flag that was was issue?

Anyone who has played on a 'frozen' area will know that after a couple of minutes of running on said area, the grass softens up and becomes mushy but definitely playable. From the 11 a.m inspection (albeit 11.40 real time), Mr Snape should have been working on that area to ensure it would be playable when the match referee arrived. If you gamble, you want to get as much chance of winning that gamble as is humanly possible.

Mr Snape, not all fans live 10 minutes around the corner and can just pop back home, many travel from further afield than Worcester!

[Bonzo Bitburg]

Feb 3, 2019 11:54:30 GMT Brooksiders Return!! said:

Totally the clubs fault, they took a gamble (as John Snape has admitted) and failed to provide the correct information to supporters. After the first pitch inspection the game was actually OFF....as it stands, the ref inspecting the pitch had deemed it unfit for play. At no point was the pitch ever passed playable by an official, and opinion of club staff, or photos of green grass in sunshine are meaningless. I'm sitting on my boat, looking at bright sunshine, and green lush lawns....yet the marina water is frozen over!
The club officials made a bad judgement call in saying that the game was ON...as it stands. Perception from supporters was that the pitch had passed that inspection, and no communication given that any further inspection was likely. Just tell it as it is, "the pitch has failed its initial inspection, but a decision whether the game will go ahead won't be made until the match referee has made a further inspection. We will be giving the game every chance to go ahead!"

So simple isn't it? Andy decided to go to the Hereford game after he heard the game was on after the first inspection. Apparently he'd learned from a previous experience not to trust the announcements from Worcester City regarding pitch inspections.

[zeke]

Should have learned my lesson by now 😀. Next time for sure.

[cloud]

An embarrassing pitch inspection mess up I can remember was in the Boddy era; "match definitely on" if I remember rightly.....before turning up to find it off.

...but I think this one on Saturday was worse. The announcement GAME ON - AS IT STANDS was, plain & simply, wrong. What I find unbelievable was what happened after that. With people tweeting wanting to know what AS IT STANDS meant, the next announcements were about; getting neutral fans to come along & watch City if they hadn't got a game, how warm & sunny it was & how the pitch looked marvelous......when all along, the pitch had never been passed as fit to play.

The ref has got some stick but I don't think he did anything wrong whatsoever - & it's not up to Snapper to offer apologies, he's the manager of the football team. I'd have hoped that Steve, or someone from the Board, would have given an interview about the pitch & the announcements, not Snapper.  Perhaps that will come, belatedly, today.

[The Verner]

Something going on the website today, mistakes made, we will learn from it

[Bonzo Bitburg]

Feb 4, 2019 14:22:50 GMT The Verner said:

Something going on the website today, mistakes made, we will learn from it

An apology has been offered. I appreciate that. Let's move on