NLP Bad weather has played havoc on all

As I write this editorial, the sun is breaking through the window behind me at NLP Towers. There is a sense that spring time is now finally upon us. And about bloody time!

It doesn’t matter how many football seasons you have under your belt, there can’t be too many that have carried with them a winter of discontent such as this one. From snow to sleet, hailstones and frozen pitches, the Non-League schedule has been hammered by the elements.

In fact, Saturday mornings have followed a common pattern; I’m usually woken with a text message, either from one of our trusted photographers or a fellow member of staff, breaking the news that we’ve lost one of our picture games in Step 4 and more damage is expected to follow. Trust me, the bad weather may give you the blues but it’s been giving us nothing but constant headaches as we battle to fill the column inches left over by empty match reports. From January 20 through to yesterday, we have lost upward of 500 Saturday fixtures. It’s been a shocker.

But while postponements this winter have made life a lot tougher for us at the paper, I still feel for the fans who are let down with a lack of consistency when it comes to calling games off at the weekend. In many cases, the right measures have been taken this winter; when the Beast from the East first reared its ugly head last month, the reaction was fairly unanimous that there would only be one winner and the towels were thrown in early. But still, clubs remain guilty, in my opinion, of leaving the decision too late.

I wrote in this column some months ago about the need for there to be stricter guidelines put in place for postponements, and I still believe we should look to introduce cut-off times for when the final decision has to be made. The absolute number one priority is the safety of the players, but the fans need to be treated with more respect, especially in the National League where travelling costs and time carry with them greater contraints. So again, let’s spilt the inspection into two blocks: an early inspection pre-9am, for any travel over 150 miles from ground to ground, and one later at midday for anything less. There is a 45-minute window period for improvement, but if the ground is not fit to play at that time, then that’s it.

I feel too many clubs drift along with their decision-making. For regional games there is some leeway but by and large there still needs to be a deadline put in place. This weekend, a number of matches started when perhaps they shouldn’t have done and were quickly postponed. For the diehard fan who thinks nothing of braving the worst of the weather to watch the game they love, this wouldn’t be a popular move but I believe more people will be satisfied in the long run knowing exactly where they stand.

One final point, social media is a great tool but it can be a nuisance with the bad weather and again too many clubs still tweet of a game going ahead when they have had no official word from the referee who has to make the final decision. Leave it to a neutral decision-maker, please...