CLAMP DOWN ON LATE CALLS
MARC WHITE reckons it’s time for leagues to get tough over a spate of late postponements which are causing clubs and supporters wasted trips and financial upheaval.
White estimates National League club Dorking Wanderers were out of pocket by around £5,000 when their 470-mile round trip to York City was cut short last Tuesday night (January 16), just an hour before kick-off, due to a frozen pitch.
With the match referee having the final say, it came on a night when no fewer than four other fixtures fell foul to the weather with visiting teams having already arrived at the ground, notably Dartford, who had been on the road for over five hours when they were told that their National League South trip to Truro City had been called off, and Guiseley, whose match at Whitby Town in NPL Premier was postponed just minutes before the scheduled start.
Similar late calls also affected last Saturday’s calendar, prompting managers, players and supporters to express their dissatisfaction on social media.
White, who himself described the York postponement as “Shambles.com” on X, formerly known as Twitter, told The NLP how official protocols for calling a game off have been put in place, but aren’t adhered to strictly enough by member clubs. He insists that has to change.
“The National League have actually got a very good blueprint in place,” White said. “First, they say you must inspect the pitch on the day before, then you must make sure your referee is kept informed of that inspection as much as possible, and must take into account the next day’s forecast.
“The problem is they do not police that. That could be down to resources, I don’t know, but disappointingly not everybody follows that protocol.
Nightmare
“It feels like there are so many different reasons why we still get this issue but what it is resulting in is football clubs, and of course the supporters, out of pocket.
“It’s a bit of an epidemic in our game right now and a nightmare for everyone concerned.
“In the modern world you can get accurate forecasts three hours apart and if the forecast for the game is abundantly obvious, then people have to make a decision based on that.
“Ultimately clubs pay your fees to the league, so when there is a game in doubt then I feel there should be some kind of official sign off or approval carried out the day before because it appears that clubs can not be trusted to do the right thing.
“Last week was a nightmare for us because, my players, they’ve got to take another day off work. The argument in the National League might be ‘tough luck, it’s pretty much a professional league now’, but that argument doesn’t extend down to the league below when you’re seeing teams [Dartford] travel all the way down to Truro to see a rock hard pitch!
“There need to be significant signs to detect clear and obvious mis-management in a game being called off.
“If found, then clubs should be fined x-amount of thousand, plus full compensation paid and within seven days. The fact that it is a bit loose is why teams are a bit loose with it.”