Sunday 25 August 2013

Rain stopped play

Don't worry I've not fallen for the dubious delights of the game where you can play for five days and not have a winner (cricket).

Yesterday at Charlton the referee abandoned the game at half time when he decided the field was waterlogged. Although I've only seen the brief highlights provided on the BBC's Football League Show, there is no doubt the decision was the correct one. When we talk on the Basic Course about conducting a field of play inspection we make reference to very wet fields.

Back in October the referee of the Poland vs England World Cup qualifier was seen going back to basics to test out the surface before postponing the game. Yesterday's referee probably went through the same process but as the rain continued to fall, it became evident that the field was deteriorating rapidly and was becoming unsafe.

The sequence of events which probably clinched it for him was when the ball appeared to stick in the water resulting in a poorly timed challenge that led to the issue of a caution. It was the player's second caution in the game and he was dismissed. For the game to continue much longer would have risked a serious injury through another mistimed challenge.

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