If rain stops we may get season finished
Will it ever stop raining? You could forgive our local football teams for doubting it – they seem to have nothing but pitch inspections and postponements to contend with since the end of October.
Last Saturday none of the Observer area teams in the Isthmianleagueorsouthern Combination had a match on.
It’s a sorry state of affairs now we are into March – especially with almost all the teams facing fixture backlogs because of earlier postponements.
Rain feels like it’s been falling ever since late October when the first of this season’s deluges hit matches.
It will make for plenty of midweek games to come as teams try to get their games in before the end of April and start of May, when local leagues are due to conclude.
It’s the same in the West Sussex League and others like it.
Only if you are lucky enough to have access to a 3G pitch will you have been able to play anything like regular matches in the past few months – and few teams have such a luxury.
In the Isthman premier
Bognor saw their scheduled Isthmian premier trip to Concord Rangers rained off on Saturday.
And there were no better conditions on Tuesday, meaning they had to call off their planned home league clash with Whitehawk at Nyewood Lane.
The sheer number of matches postponed in the past couple of soggy seasons is one of the reasons the Rocks have come up with plans to remove their muchcherished grass surface and replace it with 3G, part of a wider plan to upgrade facilities at Nyewood Lane and make the ground more accessible to a wider section of the community.
Chichester City were due to go to Merstham on Saturday but that was washed out – though it was hastily rearranged for Tuesday evening and survived the midweek rain.
City are one of the fortunate few – they have now got a 3G pitch at Oaklands Park which at least means they can reasonably sure of not losing any home games to the weather.
Thety host Sussex rivals Burgess Hill Town this Saturday.
Also due to be back on the pitch on Tuesday were Midhurst, hoping to host Crowborough Athletic in the SCFL premier.
In the same division Pagham will have to wait until Saturday, when they are due to be at home to Lingfield.
Also waiting for Saturday, in SCFL Division 1, are Selsey, who are due to visit Roffey.
And spare a particular thought for Daren Pearce’s
Blues, who have now played for just over a month, their last outing having come on February 3.
And in Division 2, Bosham, who have not played since February 17, are due to visit St Francis Rangers on Saturday.
Rugby is not exempt from the perils of wet surfaces – Chichester RFC had a rare match off last Saturday because Oaklands Park was waterlogged. They will hope for better this Saturday when host Farnham in Regional 2 South Central.