Somebody on their forum says its off

They've three players out with COVID, but when it's rearranged they'll be mid table and not a worry to us.

 

You obviously seem to think Stevenage are blameless here.

Do you honestly not think that if the ref had Stevenage staff in his ear sucking their teeth and telling him it’s still frozen on that touchline, they would be no influence? Do you not think that’s a distinct possibility?

Their pitch looks like a perfect bowling green. Not a muddy patch in sight. Meaning they have to be looking after the turf between games using the heat lamps, as there would be bare patches in the six yard boxes and centre circle etc if not. Pitches are green all season these days due to having this equipment - so they must have those. Might the use of that for a few hours this morning not have defrosted the problem area?

The match is off because Stevenage haven’t done enough to make their pitch playable. I’d argue there’s a good chance they’ve done everything they could to make sure the pitch wasn’t playable.

Temps have been above freezing in Stevenage since first light. It wouldn’t have taken much help to thaw out the ground.

Our manager has walked the pitch and said it was perfectly playable in any case. He’d have told the ref as much.

It is I assume pure coincidence that Evans has been bairning about injuries and three players having covid all week? It is a huge convenience for them to postpone the game so at the very least they’ll have done nothing at all to get the pitch ready, and then in the inspections make sure their forks weren’t getting through.

Nothing will be done, but it stinks. As soon as he was moaning about missing players and then there was a pitch inspection there was never any prospect the ref was going to have it played.

 

It is time clubs got dealt with for being tinpot enough to get games on. Also should be a rule anyone missing when the game would originally be played cannot play the rearranged game

 

My thoughts were similar to that; if they were desperate to play I suspect the pitch would have been playable, isn’t this what Collins was alluding to?

 

Or just give us the 3 points as compensation.

 

https://x.com/BarnsleyFC/status/1748719064409588066?s=20

 

I agree with all this, but the only thing that doesn't compute for me is, if Steve Evans wanted it off, why didn't they organise an inspection last night or even get it called off at 11....why wait till 1 to whisper in the ref's ear?

 

Your post is based upon a conspiracy theory and other random assumptions, but more pertinently it trashes the character and and integrity of the referee.

I presume that you do not know this bloke, yet you have decided that he is basically no better than a cheat. Someone unfit for his job. Caver in to influence and pressure from the home side's manager. Prepared to ignore the truth. Basically a disgrace. Presumably he'd have reffed in exactly the same way, deciding everything in favour of the home team, and does so every week.

Yet there were 4 out of 12 matches in our league called off today.

And 6 out of 10 in the league below.

Doesn't that suggest that perhaps the more likely reason for the postponement was the rather chilly recent weather?

 

No, because they can be watered.

 

Having listened to our manager’s interview he seems somewhat annoyed that the game hasn’t gone ahead.

The person with possibly the most to lose, risking a bad result on a dodgy surface or player injury comes out and says the pitch is playable. I don’t think he is questioning the integrity of the officials I think he is questioning the criteria on which the decision is made.

I thought he spoke well and showed a concern for our fans.

As has been said on here it would be good if the referee could be explicit about the reason for the postponement and what was the issue at 11am that didn’t resolve by 1pm.

 

That’s why I said not so much at the top level.

Football does exist outside the professional game, I’ve never ever heard of a game off in the summer for hard ground.

 

I think the difference is that in summer it may be hard but the players still have very good traction, in winter it's rock hard and slippy, so dangerous.

 

Also you can water it to soften it up

 

Going round in circles

 

I haven't a clue how much effort Stevenage put in. To get the game on.
But
the main concern must be player safety and, whilst consultation may have taken place with others involved in the match, the final decision must be the referee's.

 

I don't think the idea that a ref might be influenced by a coach in his ear about the safety of the pitch is particularly trashing his integrity. If one coach was making a case to him that it was unplayable (and we don't know if that happened, not heard anything from Evans as far as I can see), then if the ref is undecided or naturally cautious then it will have an effect.

 

Absolutely, seems to me the Ref has given the game every opportunity to be played, but if he had one in his ear saying unsafe, dangerous, risk etc and the other saying let’s crack on, it can have an influence on his thinking.
Personally I’m of the opinion it was in Stevenage interest to have the game called off.
If they were desperate to play there is no way Evans wouldn’t have been on calling the Ref decision wrong etc if it was close to borderline as Collins has intimated.

 

Last year I was lucky enough to spend my holidays travelling around the American south west. When we were in Lake Tahoe, it was 20+ degrees and I was standing at the side of snowdrifts over 6 feet tall - and the weather had been the same for weeks...

Something very large and very cold takes a long time to thaw out.

 

The post included this:

" As soon as he (Evans) was moaning about missing players and then there was a pitch inspection there was never any prospect the ref was going to have it played."

In other words, the ref would no longer have an opinion or judgment of his own because of what one manager wanted, and for reasons which did not relate at all to the state of the pitch.

That is trashing the ref's integrity.