Player safety

By David B (legacy user)27/1/2015 13:18Tue Jan 27 13:18:22 2015In response to Re: Thank heavens (which opened last night)

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In the most part, I believe that games should go ahead if possible. One small frozen patch, or a little patch of bad ground, unless in the middle of the penalty area, should not be a reason to call off a game. However, if the overall pitch is in such a bad condition that the players’ safety is compromised, then games should not go ahead. My honest opinion of the pitch on Saturday was that it was not fit. I reckon there were at least half a dozen places where the pitch was unsafe - there is no blame on the groundsman, who had done what he could to get the pitch playable - and that is too many.

There were two examples on Saturday that I feel back me up. A few minutes from the end, we cleared a ball 30 or 40 yards downfield and it went probably 20-25 feet in the air at its highest point. When the ball landed, it bounced not only to less than knee height but also at an angle as if it had been deflected. A couple of minutes later, a Ks player, trying to turn, but under no pressure, went down and got up limping - it certainly didn't look like cramp.

A few years ago a player suffered a ruptured achilles tendon that was almost certainly caused by playing too many games in quick succession on very heavy pitches (that is what the surgeon told him). If we had played last night, any of the starters who made it two full games in three days would not have had sufficient recovery time. This is when players become susceptible to serious injury, and the extra 24 hours for the game next Tuesday will make a huge difference.