Darlington

[ianb]

Hour before game on, half hour later off!

On the Darlington forum is the following

Unfortunately not today
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onewayup
Re: Banbury
Post Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:59 pm

This game was a non starter from Tuesday when Banbury all so had a game abandoned shortly before kickoff.the weather hasn't given at all.so got worse not better, crazy of Banbury to not call it off

Think he is mixing the fact re Brackleys late call to cancel against Kings Lynn! When ours was called at lunchtime!

[ianb]

Lots of home Tuesday night games soon, Curzon, Leam, Alfreton and Darlington!

[Sparky]

Playable at 13:10 then an hour later called off, have heard that the Darlington manager had been in the ref’s ear to get the game called off, I’m not one for conspiracy theories but the injury list could be interesting. Feel really sorry for the sizeable amount of travelling fans especially if their manager did have an influence in the late call and apparently the Darlington players were seen having a kick about on the pitch.

[Steve T]

Just found this on the Darlo forum:

Something sounds a bit weird on social media almost that everyone except Alun [Armstrong, manager] was happy to play it. The guidance from the FA to refs is to almost let the managers guide the decision, it's their players that have to play on the pitch and there isn't a hard and fast rule on what is safe or otherwise (weirdly we play on as hard, if not harder pitches in summer without concern).

www.darlofc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51331&sid=e71600ced282b6a580f5a6fdd918b7f0

[geoff95]

Something not right here.

A game cannot be 'on' and then be 'off' 30/40 mins later..?.?

[Sparky]

It sounds like Farnborough all over again with Spencer’whatsisnamto DAY’😂😂

[Sparky]

AW’ s interview was quite open stating 45mins of constant pressure on the ref as soon as they had arrived to find the game had been given the go ahead after three pitch inspections over the 24 hr period. If the case is that the Darlington Manager was predominantly behind this he owes all the travelling support a massive apology.

[crazydarlo]

The only injuries we had were long term ones that are unlikely to be available for the rearranged game.

Even if your managers conspiracy theory had any truth in it, it would make no difference as it’s a refereeing decision to call the game off.

I actually heard the referee explain to Banbury officials why he deemed the pitch unplayable. But hey, let’s not let the truth get in the way of passing the book.

[Steve T]

Much discussion on the Darlington forum about whose responsibility it should be. 'Leave it to the ref' is the majority view but there are dissenters whose view is that refs, having never played the game, know nothing about it and pitch inspections should be left to the players and managers. I wonder how that would work out...

The area in question was at the cow end, a narrow strip sheltered from the sun by the Environment Agency's wonderful floodwall, that great feat of modern civil engineering that keeps the river out and the rain in and has led to numerous postponements since it was installed.

One Darlington fan objected to AW's reference to the team's missing defenders. One of them is Paddy Almond, in hospital after a bleed on the brain suffered last week in the Trophy at Southend but AW acknowledged this. There are also a few 'tin pot club' remarks. FWIW, I was surprised it wasn't called off the day before after four nights of hard frosts.

Not a good day for BUFC...

[Sparky]

As is normal a referee’s opinion is always sort in such conditions and on the face of it the club have acted correctly, I’m still trying to work out what changed in the hour between the match referee passing the pitch as fit to play then calling the game off with the pitch not fit, the weather conditions hadn’t changed in any way with bright sunshine throughout the period in question. AW was happy with everything and no doubt he played on far worse in his career,if the referee had been influenced in any way then this sort of situation needs to be addressed where the match official has the final say with no interference,of course everyone is going to have an opinion but it leaves us as a club open to unwanted criticisms not least from well established clubs with far better facilities than we have and can only at this point in time aspire to.