The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

I had to book today off. Not happy.

srusrdfc wrote:Tickets purchased for the original fixture will remain valid for the new one once arranged.

Let's hope it's on a lovely warm April evening when we give them a right old thrashing to cement our place in the play-offs! ;)

This is such a joke! All the excitement, has just turned to anger!

Why can't we just play? If they knew water was coming, why couldn't they have taken necessary steps to ensure the pitch was kept in a good condition. Our game is rapidly turning into a joke. The FA set the fixture lists! If you aren't going to allow any games to be on because of a little bit of snow/rain then why make the fixtures in January in the first place! Absolute Joke!!!!! :evil:

In all fairness the FA can't control the weather conditions and you can't expect clubs at our level to be able to afford under soil heating or top of the range drainage systems. The weather over the past month has been completely unexpected and considerably worse than usual for this time of year; I certainly can't remember a season since I've been a football fan when so many games have been called off. It's frustrating, but there's not a lot we can do about it.

I do think that perhaps the authorities are a little too cautious at times now, and there have probably been some games that in the past would have gone ahead, and could still go ahead quite safely. However, it would only take one accident or nasty injury for people to start getting their knickers in a twist.

davealbon wrote:..... or nasty injury for people to start getting their knickers in a twist.

Which would probably invalidate players personal insurance cover.

Playing in adverse weather conditions and pitch conditions SHOULD be a big part of football. Through my youth, I loved seeing games in snowy/waterlogged pitches. It was part of the game I grew to love. I suppose Football is another victim of the growing 'sue culture'.

Still even a prem match has fallen victim to a 'water-logged' pitch.
Pompy vs blackburn off
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 457302.stm

BringBackDuane wrote: I suppose Football is another victim of the growing 'sue culture'.

I think the refs are under instructions by the FA to be far more cautious nowadays. I recall playing at Portmann Road on a rock hard frozen and rutted surface, although one of my team mates who went on to have a a very good career with the Cobblers broke his wrist and another spent the night in Ipswich Hospital with a head injury.

To be fair, I can't imagine what a sh*t state that pitch must be in after weeks of snow and ice topped off with heavy rain so knew there was almost no chance of it being on. Huge shame we didn't get to play them in their current state though, it still would have been a good game but I think it would have been 3 points for us.

By next Saturday, incredibly we would have had just one league game in a month and a half, absolutely ridiculous!

It does beg the question, "should we have a winter break?". With winters expected to become harsher and harsher over the coming years we can expect these kind of postponements more and more. The planet is changing, perhaps the game needs to change with it?