And then the water came over the top of my foot ...

With all but 4 of the Sunday league's games declared off as a result of local authority intervention, I had one of the last remaining games subject to referee discretion.

Overnight rain made me think that the field of play inspection was a foregone conclusion and as I pulled up at the field, I had little hope of refereeing my second game this weekend. I noted that the field was elevated (maybe the rain had drained away) and with a slight slope (maybe, just maybe?). I parked the car and walked along the path and began the walk up the hill. The surface was soft with water squelching up under my trainers but it seemed relatively firm.

I entered the field of play at the halfway line and noted that the water was showing in the surface (not good). I walked across the field, heading towards the penalty area where I had spotted a dark patch. I saw the surface water from 10 yards and knew, with a heavy heart, that there was little prospect of play on this field today.

I hoped that we might get rid of it with a fork and decided to walk around the other parts of the field. I saw another dark patch and more surface water. I turned upfield towards the centre circle and there was more water and then on to the penalty area at the opposite end of the field.

There was another dark patch, but no surface water and as I walked towards it, the sun broke through temporarily blinding me. As I reached it, I stepped across the patch but my trainer lost grip and I stepped in it and that's when the water came over the top of my foot. I had found a deep puddle lapping around my trainer.

It was at least 4 inches deep and there was no prospect of clearing it out. The game was off, so I made my way back to the pub from where the team operated and delivered the bad news. I noticed, as I walked into the bar area, that a garden fork, undoubtedly ready to fork the surface water away, was propped against the table which still contained the remnants of last night's karaoke.

I collected my half fee and travelling expenses before heading home. I spent my time clearing out clutter from the conservatory and my daughter's bedroom before making three trips to the local tip, buying a Christmas tree and having said daughter (and boyfriend she now lives with) around for dinner. Much more peaceful than another 90 minutes of abuse like yesterday. I could get used to this ...

An extra weeks rest

The local council have closed all their fields this weekend following heavy rain, with more forecast. So I lose my District Cup game and my Sunday League Division Three game, but I do get an extra 7 days to continue my recovery.

I had hoped to train at a local gym but they want £7 per session just for half an hour on the treadmill! So I might have to do a little road running to get myself ready for next weekend.

Football free

Yesterday was my first football free Saturday that wasn't a closed date as I am still recovering from tweaking my Achilles last Sunday.

Having declared myself injured to my Saturday league, Sunday league, Supply league, District and County FA I offered my help with assessments for our local promotion candidates. I was allocated a game in Huddersfield and set off in time to arrive around 45 minutes before kick off.

The weather overnight and this morning was atrocious with strong winds and driving rain causing travel disruption through flooding. It also led directly to the game being called off by the referee and as I considered heading across the town to watch Fat lad, he phoned to say his game was also off.

I called in at the ground where I picked up my injury last week and found they had been able to play. I watched the referee, who is on his first season on our local Sunday league, for around 20 minutes and then headed home.

This afternoon I took my wife and son to see Disney/Pixar's Up. It was absolutely brilliant!

Off!

Field ruled unplayable by the groundsman so today's run out was called off at 9.15. I then picked up Fat Lad's game after he couldn't make it to his game but Mrs Baldy had a bit of a tantrum having made plans based on my original postponement.

Normally she wouldn't have had the chance but as she had her second work free weekend in a fortnight, she was able to put a block on what could have been a challenging game. So it was back on the phone to CS to say I couldn't help. He wasn't too concerned as he had other referees queueing up for the game - I was just the first one he considered.

So a game free weekend after all and I end up babysitting while Mrs Baldy shops :-(

Me and my big mouth

I was on a conference call at work this morning and my mobile rang displaying "Private Number calling" which usually means Fat Lad ringing from one of the offices at his work so I flipped it to Voicemail.

After the conference call finished I picked up the message and found it was the Parks and Open Spaces administrator for the local council advising that all their fields were being closed for the weekend ... bang goes my District Cup semi final line on Sunday afternoon!

Tonight the Secretary for the home club from my Saturday game called to say the game was on - at the moment! By the time it gets to Saturday, he fully expects the groundsman to refuse to let us play. So it's one down and the other teetering on the verge of postponement. At least I have Day One of a Basic Course for New Referees to attend on Sunday

All quiet on the snowy front

I had a game set for Thursday which was due to take place on the same field as Fat Lad was taking care of a re-arranged cup game on Wednesday. I got a txt on Tuesday telling me it was off and he didn't receive his phone call until later that day. End result snow kills football.

I rang the local council on the off chance that they could give me an early indication of their plans following heavy snowfalls on Monday and more on Tuesday. The nice person on the end of the phone even sent me a copy of their press release by e-mail so I could pop it on the Full-Time website I help maintain on behalf of the Sunday league. The message was simple ... all fields closed.

Around the same time Chuckle Elder got in touch to offer a trip to see Tranmere vs Orient, a game on which he was Assistant. I still had a game on Saturday to look after so explained this but thought that it might be off as well because of the weather. It was in the same area as the game that was postponed on Thursday, so I was fairly confident that I'd have a game free weekend.

I contacted the council who look after the fields in the local town and they confirmed, like my local authority, they had closed all fields. The club secretary was on the phone within a few minutes confirming the same info, so I was free to go watch Chuckle. Mrs Baldy was less than happy at the prospect of my leaving around 10 and getting home around 7.30, so she made me an offer I couldn't refuse ... beer and pizza while watching The Dark Knight on DVD. It might seem that I'm an easy touch but this is the first weekend since July (maybe earlier) when she hasn't been working and I haven't had a game/course.

No lie-in though as my soon to be 4 year old son decided we needed to get up and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. I'll be reminding him of this in 14/15 years when he's been out late and fancies a lie-in. Parents have long memories :-)

Game 45

Perseverance pays off! I had a Sunday League Division One game until Tuesday when the County FA asked me to look after a FA Women's Premier League Reserves game. On Friday I got a call from the home team's secretary who advised that the host club had declared their field unfit.

In their view there was a likelihood that the Ladies game would cut up the field of play and they, the hosts, has their own men's first team game booked for 48 hours later. The potential for damage which may have resulted in the Ladies game was too much, perhaps meaning the men's first team game having to be postponed. I advised the County FA who confirmed that I was released from my commitment and I chased another Sunday League game. I got one in Division Two!

An early departure for me as I'd been tipped off on Saturday that there might be a problem with the home field and a second venue had been pencilled in just in case the usual field was unfit. Unusual action by a Sunday League team but welcome all the same. On arriving I saw why, as a field of play inspection at 9:50 revealed the field was soft all over the park with a very soft area with a small amount of standing water close to the centre circle. In the goal area at the bottom of the hill however there was a puddle a few inches deep and about 1m sq. in area, too much to sweep out and too dangerous to play.

The home team had, as mentioned, already made loose arrangements for another field to be used but these were scuppered by an U14 team, both fields nearby were occupied and a fifth slightly further away was also occupied. They checked out 5 different fields in an attempt to get this game on. Finally at 10:25 we gave up trying to find a field and declared this one off.

So I headed off to watch Fat Lad at a nearby Division One game. When I got there I noticed a junior team getting ready to play a game. I asked the home manager if he needed a referee and he was only too happy for me to help. I was soon greeted by Chewitt's dad. He had a little chuckle and said he would tell Chewitt that I'd been involved in his team's game. After I had changed (only needed my shirt and boots on as I'd changed into the rest at the earlier postponed fixture in the hope that we might have played that one) I jogged back to the field by way of a warm-up. So I did 30 minutes each way of U11 football. I was frozen to my core as an icy wind and horizontal snow bit hard in the second half. It didn't stop the home team from winning comfortably with a 6-1 score.

I only had to speak to one player who I thought had used an offensive word, but on being challenged, he denied it and explained what he had said - we parted on good terms. I burned an embarrassing 598 calories, max hr 77%, average 60% in this game and I couldn't feel my fingers for a full 15 minutes after I got back into the car. Summer football anyone?