Dangerous Pitch

[Southend-ref]

It's widely accepted that a frozen pitch is a dangerous pitch, but since we have just skipped winter and gone straight from Autumn to Spring and it's getting warmer, can you postpone a game for a 'baked' pitch - rock solid from the sun?

 

[DanCohen17]

Not unless you want to be killed by 22+ players!!!

 

[HullRef]

Well yes you can if you think it will endanger the players' safety, but it's a hard one to sell and you probably don't have to worry about it in early/mid march after almost 40 days and 40 nights of rain

 

[Matthew]

Can you imagine, an embarrassing surgical procedure involving a whistle comes to mind

 

[Ross]

Good luck with that one mate, although saying that, I have seen it done. Lets just say the referee in question wasn't very popular

 

[haywain]

it's a hard one to sell

clearly

 

[Aled]

it's a hard one to sell

No pun intended?

 

[micky2001]

I heard of a referee who had a game on 3g and the sun was sorching (here in Scotland that is quite rare). As you can imagine, 3g in the sun starts heating up and smelling a bit plus everyone was exhausted. After conversation with both captains, the referee agreed to continue the game but have regular breaks in play when the ball was in a neutral position, just to give everyone a rest and keep hydrated.

 

[Mick.]

Done that a couple of times during ladies games at the tail end of last season. Well appreciated by the players.

 

[Top man in the parish]

Parched earth might offer the danger of wide cracks in the surface that (because they are solid at the edges) if a player's foot/heel got caught or twisted, but the main accepted difference is frozen ground has no give in it where it's full of frozen water, making it like concrete. Hard dry ground is at least likely to have more than a little 'give' in it when players fall on it.

I'm remembering a slide tackle graze I picked up in '76 on hard ground, went from my left shoulder (I didn't have moobs then as a 17 year old!) via my hip bone to my left thigh and knee. It wept for 2-3 weeks and stung like a demon in the bath...........stayed on my feet till the end of the season, and ALWAYS tucked my shirt in properly. Grazed boob, not good!!