The Ref Stop

Would you play this tomorrow??

Some idiot VAR gave a penalty in another thread from a LOTG they we all are not privy to, so what's your selective point??
Weather hasn't changed, if anything, its slightly better, pitches are better, boot technology is better, why the rush to get your feet up bleating health and safety!!! Who died, nobody, total over reaction....

Every year. 160,000 people die from heart and circulatory disease. 73,000 people die from coronary heart disease (CHD). 42,000 people died prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD), shall we ban McDonalds??
Fair enough then. I guess the national league games have all been called off because they are pussies. My mistake
 
The Ref Stop
Like it or not times have changed. In the 80s they often played on frozen pitches, but back then two footed challenges were allowed, you could rugby tackle a player through on goal and only get a yellow, teams (Liverpool) could kill games by repeatedly passing it back to the keeper who then picks it up, and so on.

We're not in the 80s anymore, it is 2019 now and the expectation is that games are called off when the pitch is frozen or snow covered. It rarely happens at the top level as they must have undersoil heating, but there are lots of games off today that would have been played in the past.
 
We didn’t play on frozen pitches in the 80s, frozen has always been frozen, it’s the sniffles of snow, a few puddles, it’s cold and the surrounding area argument that’s pretty lightweight.
It’s namby pambyism gone mad.
 
We didn’t play on frozen pitches in the 80s, frozen has always been frozen, it’s the sniffles of snow, a few puddles, it’s cold and the surrounding area argument that’s pretty lightweight.
It’s namby pambyism gone mad.
Agreed. Frozen has always been frozen!!
Only one Spartan game got the green light today. Bit surprised by that because much of the region only saw a few cm of snow. Can't comment on individual decisions, but it does show the trend of looking after pitches and risk aversion
 
Interesting that across the same region, 9/13 games took place in today's grass roots league, whist only a couple of games survived at steps 5 to 7
I should imagine that the pyramid pitches were in a better state than the recreation grounds. This shows that safety is not the only consideration when assessing postponement. No problems have been reported from the nine games which took place in my regular league
 
Better qualified refs than you and I played in these types games for years and will continue to do so.....I'd say your last statement is totally insulting to millions of colleagues all over the world that don't buy into this H&S garbage... You'll be telling me next that man created global warming!!!

Mr. Trump, don't you have a country to be running? :drown:
 
These arguments are boring.

We live in 2019 not 1980, and as Rusty has already pointed out, there are plenty of things which were acceptable in the 1980s which would t be now.

In my area last weekend I had 2 games called off, my game on Sunday apparently the pitch still had standing water at 0900 so the groundsman called it of (it was an afternoon kickoff). My wife and I went to watch her team play, probably no more than 2-3 miles from where my game would have been, and the pitch was fine.

I have seen photos from games recently, maybe Sheffield and they played in snow, but the lines had been cleared and were marked with red so they were visible

Conversely I called a game off a couple of weeks ago because one penalty area was frozen solid. We even spoke to the league to get authorisation for a late kick off and it was still frozen so I called it.

The other 2 pitches were in almost the exact condition, but the refs played them. Maybe it's no confidence that they were both of the "older generation"
 
Just because I think something is boring doesn't mean I can't chip in with my 2 pence worth.
So I'll assume that it's the discussion regarding how times have changed, which is boring. Not sure why. I personally think that games get cancelled a lot more easily these days. I think perceived player safety is more significant than actual player safety when calling games off. At grass roots, it's rarely the referee's decision anyway, because councils and private facilities are all too keen to abandon (for a variety of reasons). Once on the ladder, various expectations change and the groundsmen have significant input. It all adds up to many games readily cancelled, with a lot of enjoyable playing conditions rarely experienced
 
So I'll assume that it's the discussion regarding how times have changed, which is boring. Not sure why. I personally think that games get cancelled a lot more easily these days. I think perceived player safety is more significant than actual player safety when calling games off. At grass roots, it's rarely the referee's decision anyway, because councils and private facilities are all too keen to abandon (for a variety of reasons). Once on the ladder, various expectations change and the groundsmen have significant input. It all adds up to many games readily cancelled, with a lot of enjoyable playing conditions rarely experienced

It's boring because it's the same old circular argument that never goes anywhere, one side slags off the current generation as being pussies the other side say they're out of touch etc.

You see similar things in exforces groups, the old and bold saying standards have slipped etc, the younger guys saying the old and bold are out of touch etc.

Times change, whether that is for better or worse is up for debate,
 
It's boring because it's the same old circular argument that never goes anywhere, one side slags off the current generation as being pussies the other

Those arguments aren't genuine arguments imho, they're just statements made in bad faith and are ad hominem fallacies that completely ignore the relevant issue.


In my area last weekend I had 2 games called off, my game on Sunday apparently the pitch still had standing water at 0900 so the groundsman called it of (it was an afternoon kickoff). My wife and I went to watch her team play, probably no more than 2-3 miles from where my game would have been, and the pitch was fine.

Just one of those things I guess, you never know how the pitch reacts at times.

I had a local match which is notorious for being waterlogged, which is very frustrating for everyone involved. Yet, during our stormy weather back last year, theirs was the only game to be still on! Somehow the pitch drained for that one match absolutely perfectly, none of us could believe it!

Anyway, I saw in another topic re: Council pitches that it's 'health and safety' gone mad, and I disagree in part. Sure, there's a safety element that we're all meant to consider, but in my experience a lot of games are being called off by the council in order to try and preserve the pitch as well.

In other words, the pitch is playable but playing on it will do lasting damage that will impact on the rest of the season, so they call it off early. My local leagues had to start 1.5 months late because of the weather we had last year that impacted on the ground-quality - the council wanted to delay the season until October and officers of the league had to fight to get it commencing in reasonable time.

A lot of remarks on twitter put the council's decision down to funding cuts. If pitches aren't maintained regularly, they can't cope with the weather and then it just has more knock on effects. The council pitches I use have about 8 fields (I think), but the changing rooms are in disrepair, it's very old, there's a lot of maintenance needed and not enough money to do it... One or two clubs have moved away from them to secure better pitches and facilities. So, that'll be less revenue for the council I guess, ergo more disrepair, or higher pitch fees. Not ideal I guess. But this ends up being a political funding matter in the end.
 
Every generation knows better than their descendants. Fact!
For lots of reasons, games are cancelled far too readily for my liking. I found it intriguing across the same geographical area, my local grass roots league got three quarters of our games played, yet there was only two (from dozens) step 5 to 7 games that survive the same weather. Either my immediate colleagues were wrong to play, or it shows the forces acting upon referees at the next level up
In my experience playing, home groundsmen were always keen to 'protect the pitch' when we knew they had a weakened team that day
Grass always recovers, especially when tended to do so. Wet weather followed quickly by a very dry spell causes problems, but that's not our problem.
VAR, HB, Dissent, inclement weather, rub of the green.... What 'football expects' these days, is an exact science, but that's not what sport should be about
 
Apart from the obvious answer of, no, because I never played on dodgy conditions..

Anyone any experience of anything bad actually happening on, say, a puddly pitch, which the majority of referees on here can relate to?

The only pitch equals injury (alledged) of late I can think of is certain players saying 4g is bad for their joints, or folk saying injury was caused in a tackle due to a false bounce etc

Anyone drowned on a park?
 
Apart from the obvious answer of, no, because I never played on dodgy conditions..

Anyone any experience of anything bad actually happening on, say, a puddly pitch, which the majority of referees on here can relate to?

The only pitch equals injury (alledged) of late I can think of is certain players saying 4g is bad for their joints, or folk saying injury was caused in a tackle due to a false bounce etc

Anyone drowned on a park?
Was running the line on a game a couple of weeks ago where the pitch was quite boggy, I slipped while flagging for offside, it seriously bruised my pride.

I can't remember exactly where I read it but I'm sure there was something from the FA with considerations when conducting pitch inspections.

One was something along the lines of the conditions making the game a farce
 
My wife fell over the dog out walking the other day. She bruised her ironing hand.... Can’t see Crufts happening this year... it’s an outrage!
 
Was running the line on a game a couple of weeks ago where the pitch was quite boggy, I slipped while flagging for offside, it seriously bruised my pride.


To determine whether it was the pitch though, or just a slip, we need to know if a linesman has ever slipped whilst on the line at a deemed ideal park to play on...which of course, they have...
 
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