Managers’ have their say on late decision to postpone final
FERMANAGH GAA Chairman, Brian Armitage, felt that the right call was made by referee James Lewis in postponing last Sunday’s SFC Final between Enniskillen and Erne Gaels because of a waterlogged pitch.
The game will now take place back at the Enniskillen venue this Sunday with a 2.30pm throw in.
Brewster Park had held the Intermediate Championship final on Saturday night without any issues and and it was playable early on Sunday morning.
However, a heavy downpour late morning, early lunchtime left a lot of surface water on the pitch and despite the best efforts of a team of Enniskillen Gaels volunteers, the water remained on the pitch.
Referee James Lewis inspected the pitch before 3pm and it was agreed that the game would be put back to 4.30pm if a 3.45pm pitch inspection passed the pitch playable.
However, there was a further shower in the intermittent period and there was no bounce from the ball when it was tried out on the surface.
Lewis appeared then with Enniskillen manager Simon Bradley and Erne Gaels counterpart Seamus Ryder and made the call to postpone the game.
“It was the right decision. In the interests of player safety more than anything else. The two managers were in total agreement that it wouldn’t be wise to go ahead with the game because of the surface water on the pitch,” said Armitage.
“Even though Enniskillen Gaels have made a tremendous effort from early this morning in sweeping water off the pitch and spiking. It just didn’t happen unfortunately, and I would say at least a third of the pitch is totally unplayable.
“The players themselves were out and the ball didn’t even bounce. So that in itself was explanatory.”
And Armitage added that referee Lewis explained that the game had to be called off in case of serious injury.
“James went round and basically said that he didn’t want to take the risk of going ahead in the interest of player safety in case there was a serious injury or anything like that.
“That was his assessment so unfortunately we had to call it off.”
The Chairman also said that because of the timing of the downpour, there was not the time available to switch the game to Ederney which had been on stand by to host the final.
“Well, we had them on standby. But up until that downpour, the cloudburst, everything was going ahead,” he said.
Both Erne Gaels boss Seamus Ryder and Enniskillen manager Simon Bradley, backed the referees decision to not go ahead with the showpiece final.
“It was a very difficult position for James to be in but at the end of the day it was his head that was on the chpping block and the consensus of opinion from both managers and county board officials was that it was the right call,” said Bradley.
“Myself and Seamie had said we would agree with whatever decision James made.”
Bradley was disappointed though that a call was not made earlier and a back up plan in place.
“It was disappointing that the decision wasn’t made earlier and the game moved to an alternative venue but then again that’s alright saying that in hindsight.
“It was unfortunate for people who travelled, and there was people who travelled a great distance, but ultimately, players’ safety has to come first,” said Bradley, who praised the efforts of his club members to try and get the game played.
“The effort Enniskillen Gaels put into getting the pitch playable was immense but unfortunately it was to no avail,” he said.
Erne Gaels manager Ryder agreed with the decision, but like Bradley felt that an earlier call could have been made.
“It was the right decison and both managers and management teams supported it.
“I think there should have been a back up place sorted earlier. It was clear when we landed about 2.15pm and we could have had a 4.30pm throw in somewhere else and it would have given time for spectators; they could have had Ederney on standby.
“I would say it was like that from 1.30pm or 2pm and they would have known it was unplayable.
“There was some amount of water on the pitch but that is neither here nor there now,” he added.
He hopes though that plans will be in place to deal with any issues this weekend.
“I think they will inspect on Saturday and make the call and I just hope they can keep Ederney or Derrygonnelly or wherever on standby and have them ready because it will have to be played this weekend.”
Ryder is happy with the decision to reschedule the game for Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night.
“I think a lot of supporters weren’t happy with the Saturday night fixture, it was very late at 8pm and I would prefer the game in daylight rather than under lights, that’s just a personal preference.
I’m happy with the refixture,” he commented.
And, he says they are ready to go when the ball is thrown in this weekend.
“Everyone is good to go as they were last weekend. We will just do a bit of finetuning and we’ll be good to go on Sunday,” he said.