Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Broken truck throws football into chaos
DOZENS of games in Bristol’s famous Downs League have been postponed for the second week running – but it’s not frozen or water-logged pitches to blame.
Today’s games are called off because the truck that delivers the posts, crossbars and nets to set up the pitches has broken down.
Around 24 matches won’t take place – as the particular truck, which is run by the council’s Downs Rangers, is apparently the only vehicle capable of transporting the posts from the little depot near Bristol Zoo up across the Downs to the 28 pitches that fill one section of the wide open spaces there.
It is understood that the axle of this long truck broke last Friday, causing a late cancellation of all the games scheduled for last Saturday.
This week, efforts to get the truck fixed in time to be able to take the posts and nets up for this Saturday’s games have failed, and a second weekend of fixtures have had to be postponed.
“It is a bit annoying – let’s hope it’s fixed for next week,” said the 71-yearold chairman of the Downs League, Bill Arthur.
“But we are in the rangers’ hands, really. They say that it can’t be fixed this week.
“We suggested that all the clubs chip in to hire a truck for a couple of days just to get the posts up there, but apparently that isn’t possible because of health and safety. It’s a long way across the Downs to some of the pitches, and this truck was a special one they use just for it,” he added.
The Downs League is a unique league in British football; it is affiliat- ed to the Gloucestershire FA but sits on its own outside the FA league pyramid structure.
It is also said to be unique as the largest standalone league in Europe where all the games take place in one location.
At its peak either side of the Second World War, the league had scores of teams, and the standard was so high many of its players graduated to the professional game, including Arsenal and England star Eddie Hapgood.
The numbers of teams taking part has fallen slightly over the years, but there are still – as of this weekend – 47 teams competing across four divisions on the Downs, where up to 31 pitches can be marked out.
The 22 league fixtures and various cup competitions are played on a Saturday – but with the fixture backlog now in the offing, it’s likely some midweek games will take place later on this spring when the evenings become lighter for longer.
Already this season, all games were postponed on December 1 because of heavy rain flooding the pitches, and at the start of February because of the snow.
Last season’s champions Sneyd Park won Division 1 by a whopping 14 points last season, and are currently five points clear with seven games to play – with the season put on hold because of a broken axle.
Some teams still have 11 games to play this season, which would take them well into May even without any other postponements.
“It’s not an ideal situation of course,” added Mr Arthur.
“We said we’d explore other ways but have been told it’s just not feasible. We’ve really just got to go along with what we’re told, but what is good is that we’ve been told we can have an extension to the season,” he added.
It’s not the first time large-scale football has been disrupted because of problems with council equipment.
Last year, the largest youth football tournament in Bristol was left under threat just a couple of days before it was due to start because of a brokendown mower meant the grass at Greville Smyth Park in Ashton was too long.
In the end, a team of volunteers went out with mowers and leaf blowers to prepare the pitches.
We are in the rangers’ hands, really. They say that it can’t be fixed this week
BILL ARTHUR