It's about time decisions should be taken...

The day before a game. This last minute malarky is not acceptable. The costs for the travelling fans will high.

 

https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/news/2024/january/game-on/

 

But the cost to anyone travelling by train etc will be non refundable won't they? Will coach tickets be none refundable too?

 

?

 

Exeter also required a pitch inspection today and the game is on. As did Dumbarton v Rangers and that is on. Yesterday their pitches were not playable. If they'd cancelled them yesterday a lot of people would have lost a lot of money. By waiting until today to make the decision they're able to play the game.

 

Exactly this I’d be more pissed off if I’d had a ticket for Exeter and didn’t go and then found out it could have been played than if I’d got down there

 

I agree that the priority should be giving the game as much chance as possible of going ahead. However, waiting until virtually the entire away support is on its way to or already in Stevenage is a proper sting. Granted, train tickets may well be non-refundable but people driving would have saved a heck of a lot of money. And it's not just the money, but the time as well. My Saturdays are precious to me, so the idea of wasting one on a sightseeing trip to one of the ugliest towns in Britain really doesn't fill me with joy.

It's a bit of a balancing act and I really don't know what the ideal approach would be. I'm assuming that the ref thought the chances of the game going ahead were at least 80% when he decided to wait until so late.

Just for the record, I didn't have tickets but I was quite close to planning an entire family weekend around the match. It's only because something else came up that I didn't. Otherwise my wife and daughter would be in the theatre in London right now while me, @Chef Tyke and his lads would probably be sat in Toby Carvery in Stevenage drinking very bad overpriced beer.

 

My son whos down there said he was told it was one section of the pitch that was unplayable.

 

If you had done that and they'd called the game off last night or at 11 this morning, would it have helped much? Could you have got refunds on hotels, travel and theatre tickets?

 

Don’t heaters exist now ,they made no effort to get the game on get back to non league Stevenage it’s where you belong.

 

I think the 11am inspection should have been the cut off. I accept many would have already set off then but the extra 2 hours was unnecessary

 

That's a fair point. Although for anyone driving down it's clearly better for it to be called off in advance. As I said, I really don't know what the ideal approach is in these situations.

 

I'm of the opinion that the best outcome for everyone is that the game goes ahead. Calling it off early doesn't seem to me to be the best way of achieving that. I also understand that today will have been very frustrating for those who have travelled.

 

I remember a few years back down in London for the Charlton game.We'd had our pre match "lunch" then the game was called off at 1 o'clock.It turned out to be one of the best non football days I 'd ever had.

 

Would this game have have been called off 10-15 years ago?

The pitch looked OK and playable but yet again fans paying out good money have been let down!

 

Exactly my thoughts, no undersoil means decision got to be made day before. Can’t see why anyone would argue against this rule

 

I've never been to Stevenage and I'm a firm believer you have to try and make the best of things. If it was me I'd go have some lunch a few drinks and come back at tea time.

 

I forgot to add our train wasn't due back to Donny until 9 o'clock.