Seems like most clubs that have waited until now for a pitch inspection have been rewarded with their pitches passing in line with the milder, forecast weather. Would be interested to know the state of the Vale Park pitch right now.
Refs take advice from club grounds men and also from the local met office to check if conditions are likely to improve or get worse. I think Eric Plant makes a good point about early postponements if the local forecast suggests that there’s unlikely to be a change in the weather. I have no idea what happened in this case.
Early postponements make sense where possible. In this case the pitch has been above freezing for over 24 hours.
Port Vale clearly made the decision before the referee. At midday yesterday they informed staff it was off. At 1pm yesterday a pitch inspection took place.
Very much doubt if the pitch had been even a couple of degrees above freezing yesterday and, after more than a week of severe overnight frosts and daytime maxima only a few degrees above freezing, the frost would have penetrated well below the surface.
Common sense clearly prevailed and, frustrating as the decision must have been for Pete Couhig, BM etc to receive the news en route to Loughborough yesterday - not least because of costs still having to be covered - (and to a lesser extent those of us not due to travel), it was helpful that a positive decision was made in a situation where the prospect of a significant improvement was no better than 50/50.
I’ve not checked if other matches have been postponed because I’m planning to watch (from around 3pm) whichever Premier League match has been recorded this lunchtime and I obviously don’t want the score to catch my eye !
The best thing about an early call off like this is the squad don’t have to travel on Friday and can have a w/e with family at a busy time on the season.
Sensible decision in all likelihood although it’s obviously hard to know without details. I am a very very long way from any degree of expertise in freeze-thaw, but I have assorted memories of football pitches being inconsistently frozen/thawed so I’m sure there are plenty of variables that mean it was unlikely to be fit to play by 1500 today.
The apparent request (any reliable source?) to play tomorrow was never going to be possible as I would imagine there are numerous obstacles (police, security, catering, etc) to prevent it.
LX1 trying to escape from a locked room! Begs all kinds of questions as to why/who locked you in and what, if an legal threshold (pun intended), you might have crossed.
Twas just that. Go hand in hand with bowling alleys these days it seems. We had to sign a form before being locked in absolving them from any responsibility...
Disappointingly, Richard O'Brien wasn't outside playing his mouth organ.
Afraid I don’t have details of the time Wycombe set off relative to the time Port Vale themselves made the decision to call the match off or if, as has been implied elsewhere, they did so ahead of the referee’s decision.
From the picture (on ‘X’ I assume) of a slightly bedraggled looking Pete Couhig sitting opposite BM and a cloudless blue sky visible through the coach windows (hence his initial comment to the effect that you can’t beat a good day trip no doubt) I had the impression (from the frustrated comments posted shortly afterwards) that they’d been well on their way before learning that the match was off. I could be completely wrong of course.
Comments
I'm in Crewe and it is very mild
Seems like most clubs that have waited until now for a pitch inspection have been rewarded with their pitches passing in line with the milder, forecast weather. Would be interested to know the state of the Vale Park pitch right now.
I applaud Port Vale for their early decision and preventing travelling fans making a unnecessary journey in potentially dangerous conditions
Refs take advice from club grounds men and also from the local met office to check if conditions are likely to improve or get worse. I think Eric Plant makes a good point about early postponements if the local forecast suggests that there’s unlikely to be a change in the weather. I have no idea what happened in this case.
Early postponements make sense where possible. In this case the pitch has been above freezing for over 24 hours.
Port Vale clearly made the decision before the referee. At midday yesterday they informed staff it was off. At 1pm yesterday a pitch inspection took place.
Port Vale did not make the decision. Port Vale do not have the authority to make the decision
Port Vale informed people the match was off before the ref made the decision. They do not have the authority to do that, I agree.
Very much doubt if the pitch had been even a couple of degrees above freezing yesterday and, after more than a week of severe overnight frosts and daytime maxima only a few degrees above freezing, the frost would have penetrated well below the surface.
Common sense clearly prevailed and, frustrating as the decision must have been for Pete Couhig, BM etc to receive the news en route to Loughborough yesterday - not least because of costs still having to be covered - (and to a lesser extent those of us not due to travel), it was helpful that a positive decision was made in a situation where the prospect of a significant improvement was no better than 50/50.
I’ve not checked if other matches have been postponed because I’m planning to watch (from around 3pm) whichever Premier League match has been recorded this lunchtime and I obviously don’t want the score to catch my eye !
To be fair, I was a bit cross yesterday that it was called off so early.
Seeing Stevenage’s game getting called off at 1pm with 1200 Barnsley fans already arriving makes me think Port Vale probably made a sensible call.
“Very mild” in January is 13 or 14 degrees.
6 degrees feeling like 2 degrees in the wind is definitely not.
The best thing about an early call off like this is the squad don’t have to travel on Friday and can have a w/e with family at a busy time on the season.
Someone had probably popped out and seen that the ground was rock hard
ps the air temperature has to be quite a bit above zero for the ground to start thawing out, and it takes ages
They were already travelling weren't they?
Pete C did some post on the coach talking about loving a road trip.
This is the farcical thing. Port Vale decided the game was off before Wycombe travelled.
Sensible decision in all likelihood although it’s obviously hard to know without details. I am a very very long way from any degree of expertise in freeze-thaw, but I have assorted memories of football pitches being inconsistently frozen/thawed so I’m sure there are plenty of variables that mean it was unlikely to be fit to play by 1500 today.
The apparent request (any reliable source?) to play tomorrow was never going to be possible as I would imagine there are numerous obstacles (police, security, catering, etc) to prevent it.
I also meant to say it’s strangely relaxing Saturday afternoon
Down to 18th as it stands, although still 7 points above the drop zone.
Those two games vs Cheltenham in Feb are looking very important.
I wasn't judging the decision. Just passing on information.
I had an enjoyable afternoon bowling and trying to escape from a locked room. More fun than stressing and freezing haha
LX1 trying to escape from a locked room! Begs all kinds of questions as to why/who locked you in and what, if an legal threshold (pun intended), you might have crossed.
Anyone else I'd merely think it was one of those Escape Room puzzle jobs, but....
They didn't. They don't have the authority to do that
Twas just that. Go hand in hand with bowling alleys these days it seems. We had to sign a form before being locked in absolving them from any responsibility...
Disappointingly, Richard O'Brien wasn't outside playing his mouth organ.
Would like to see what the Saw Escape Room is like.
This one was called 'Alcatraz..but it did have the feel of the toilets from 'Saw'!. I was a little scared.
Afraid I don’t have details of the time Wycombe set off relative to the time Port Vale themselves made the decision to call the match off or if, as has been implied elsewhere, they did so ahead of the referee’s decision.
From the picture (on ‘X’ I assume) of a slightly bedraggled looking Pete Couhig sitting opposite BM and a cloudless blue sky visible through the coach windows (hence his initial comment to the effect that you can’t beat a good day trip no doubt) I had the impression (from the frustrated comments posted shortly afterwards) that they’d been well on their way before learning that the match was off. I could be completely wrong of course.
With no Wycombe game I went to Beaconsfield Town’s game against Salisbury who are second in the table and captained by Sido Jombati. Finished 0-0.
Did you get a chance to say hi to Sido? One of the nicest people to ever pull on the quarters in my book.
Sadly they did in this situation. Hence my annoyance.
The game got called off. Move on.
How? A referee called it off, not Port Vale.