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Short notice games
Views: 4348
That's twice in a couple of weeks we have had games arranged with two days notice. How any club expect people to turn up without giving them any proper notice is beyond me. I am now in a dilemma whether to let down the darts team on Thursday or miss a new ground. Very frustrating.
re: Short notice games
Views: 4411
In circumstances like this, the Club just can't win. With so many games being postponed, we all moan about lack of action and probable future pile up of games. When 2 cup games are hastily re-arranged, we moan about lack of notice.
However, the re-arrangements provide 2 positives - 1) hopefully mitigating pile up problems and 2) more importantly, giving players actual match time rather than practice sessions.
Well done Graham, Gary and Co and good luck on Thursday.
Reality check
Views: 4387
I have just checked the weather forecast for Earlsmead tomorrow and it appears likely to contain rain pretty much throughout the daylight hours.
The rain which fell last weekend meant that Monday’s inspection and postponement was a formality and although it was dry yesterday, it rained for a few hours this morning, so there is almost no chance of the ground being playable either today or tomorrow, had we tried to stage a home match.
By quickly shifting the Maidstone game to last Wednesday and the date/venue for the Corinthian–Casuals to tomorrow (at their ground), means that we will not have to worry about playing twice in a midweek.
The bottom line is that there is no easy solution. This may sound stupid, but north-west London has a history of wetter weather than other parts of London and the south-east (it is to do with the arc of hills at Highgate, Hampstead, Kingsbury and Harrow creating a depression over which low clouds are more likely to spill their contents) and we have had a succession of rather wet winters. The forecast for Tolworth – where Casuals play – is actually better than Eastcote/Northolt, but only just.
Another thing to consider is the cost and effort in postponing games, which is why most clubs hate calling off games and only do so if absolutely necessary.
Re: Reality check
Views: 4210
This still doesn't address for the Corinthian Casual games why the club felt supporters only needed 2 days notice (or 1 in my case, as i only checked the website today), when Casuals qualified on the 10th Feb and this is the first date we have been given for the game. It isn't good however it is dressed up. If it was always the intention to switch the game, more than 2 days notice whatever the circumstances was more than do-able.
Also as we keep playing these ' rained off friendlies' at Silver Jubilee Park and seem to have more than a say in the current running off the place, seems a bit daft that we couldn't have played the London Senior Cup game there, the ground is up to standard for that competition, regardless of not being Ryman League friendly at the moment. And even the north-west London wet micro climate surely couldn't have put a stop to the game there !
Anyway here's hoping we a) win on Thursday and b) it doesn't rain between now and the end of the season, otherwise we could be having this debate every week on here, as the moment it rains at any point 48 - 72 hours in advance of a home game, we all wait for the inevitable postponement!
Re: re: Short notice games
Views: 4532
Agreed that the club needs to sort a fixture backlog out but given that Corinthian Casuals won on the 10th Feb and we qualified for the last round about 6 months ago!, if we were going to give up home advantage and make this arrangement (which we are told is purely to protect the pitch for the Witham game) it could have been done with more than 2 days notice.
Regardless of anything else it does smack of complete disregard for supporters and god knows we don't have enough of them these days! I attended the Maidstone game with it's short notice change last week but no way i can now get to Corinthian Casuals this Thursday.
The main problem at the moment is we seem to call home games off at the slightest drop of rain! The pitch is very heavy and worn at Harrow but no worse than some of the other grounds in the area from games i have attended recently - Hanwell, North Greenford, Hampton who have of late seem to get more home games on than we do.
Frustrating more than anything but you can't arrange a game at this level, just drop a 3 line message on the website and expect people to turn up 2 days later. It's difficult enough to get people through the gate when you make it easy nevermind circumstances like these!
Re: re: Short notice games
Views: 4345
I don't think it shows much disregard for supporters in this situation to be honest. It's no doubt frustrating for those who'd like to go to these games - who given the numbers that turn up at the smaller cup games are obviously our regulars - but frankly we'd be doing everyone concerned a disservice if we didn't make as much effort as possible in these circumstances to get games played.
- As Mike Cox says, the players are desperate for competitive minutes. We've been lucky to get friendlies at SJP on Saturdays, but they only go so far in terms of keeping the players match fit.
- We're running out of blank midweeks we can use for games in the future and by all accounts the Earlsmead pitch is a mess. By getting games out of the way we're reducing the risk of having to play Sat/Tues/Thurs or worse in April and gives us a fighting chance of continuing to perform at the top end of the table rather than falling off because of fixture overload - few people are going to want to turn up to 3 or more games a week to watch a knackered side fall down the league either.
- This decision will only have been made in light of Monday's postponement and continued review of the state of Earlsmead - had we played on Monday night I doubt very much we'd have looked into replacing Thursday night training with a game. It only makes sense in the context of no game on Monday, a bad home pitch and a potentially looming backlog.
Finally as regards the postponements - our hands are more or less tied. Leaving aside the condition of the pitch, all we're able to do is get it inspected; only a qualified referee can make a decision about whether it's fit or not. We could arguably give ourselves a better chance by not bothering with early inspections and risking a late call off, but it hardly shows much regard to anyone concerned to let everyone travel and have it called off just before kick-off when we could save everyone the trouble. It's a no-win situation that will hopefully be sorted if and when we're able to move to SJP but in the meantime we're going to have to try and make the best of things.
I don't think anyone involved with the club are under any illusions that it's a good situation for fans (it's hardly ideal for anyone at the club either; home or away, people are having to change their plans to make sure the necessary jobs are covered), but I think we'd be doing fans a bigger disservice by not giving the squad the best chance they have of completing the season in good shape.
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www.hendonfc.net
Hendon FC Supporters Trust
Re: re: Short notice games
Views: 4488
Totally agree with getting games played and giving players minutes on the field but still can't work out why this game (which isn't a re-arranged fixture) could not have been arranged with more than 2 days notice. If it is purely to give the players a game and has been requested by the management fair enough but i stand by my comments it isn't supporter friendly in the slightest. And given our crowds at these cup games could fit in the current Silver Jubilee Park stand never mind the whole ground comfortably, surely would make more sense to move them there. Given we move 'rain-buster' friendlies there at very short notice on a Saturday morning - it must be do-able with pre -planning on a weeknight.
Re: re: Short notice games
Views: 4158
I think Hendonboy explained why only 2 days notice - game would not have been arranged if we had played on Monday night. I, like you, am curious as to why this game couldn't have been played at SJP - it seems likely that tomorrows game will be called off if weather forecast correct which wouldn't have been the case for SJP.
Re: re: Short notice games
Views: 4324
That is a good question. The only two things that I can think of would be that it's in use on Thursday evening already for too long to allow for the hosting of a game there or simply that no-one thought of it as an option! If the latter, then I'd hope that's something that could be rectified in the future for cup games.
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www.hendonfc.net
Hendon FC Supporters Trust
SJP
Views: 4395
I believe the club was looking into possibly playing the tie at Silver Jubilee Park, but the pitch is booked some time in advance and to “jock off (a horse racing term for a better jockey taking a ride from a lesser one)” another club is not nice.
I think the club is to be praised for showing the initiative to actually get out and play the games and if it is at somewhere other than our home, so be it.
It is a bind to have fixtures arranged/re-arranged at short notice, but the important thing is to get the games played. Too often our playoff hopes have been dashed by fixture congestion, so if we can get the League Cup and London Senior Cup quarter-finals both played on days other than our regular ones, then this has to be a good thing (especially if we can win). Last season, if you remember, we played Staines in the Middlesex Senior Cup at the 3G pitch at Beaconsfield Road, Hayes & Yeading United FC, because their ground was unusable.
It is no one’s fault that the Earlsmead pitch is in such a poor state at the moment – it doesn’t help Harrow Borough and it certainly doesn’t suit us – but we have to get on with it.
LSC v Corinthian Casuals - Match postponed - but at least we tried
Views: 4338
“The best laid plans
Of mice and man
Are aft gang aglee”
so said a famous Scotsman.
Well, we tried to shoehorn in the home Corinthian-Casuals London Senior Cup tie, by moving across the water to Tolworth, but the water coming down from above has proved the winner – again – and the match is off. There is no reward for our enterprise.
Maybe we can play double-headers against Margate (League and League Cup) and Witham Town (two League) somewhere warm and dry – how does Qatar sound?
At least.....
Views: 4081
....Paul won't have to miss his darts night!
Re: At least.....
Views: 4066
Won my singles in a 13-1 team win, played like a tit but the other bloke couldn't hit a double, lucky me!
Home or away?
Views: 4221
Having conceded home advantage for Thursday will it still be an away game when rescheduled?
Home or away - definitive answer
Views: 4621
We have not ceded home advantage, but the match against Corinthian Casuals will not be played at Earlsmead. On Thursday 26 March 2015, kick-off 7.45 pm, we will play our second-ever competitive home match on an all-weather pitch when we play the London Senior Cup semi-final at Silver Jubilee Park, Townsend Lane, London NW9 7NE (postcode added for those who will make the trek using satnav)
For those with very long memories, Hendon played Taunton Town at QPR FC, Loftus Road, on Sunday 17 January 1982, an FA Trophy tie, we won 5–1 with our goals coming from Bobby Gough, Martin Sperrin, Dermot Drummy, Pat Morrissey and Peter Anderson (the 2nd).
It is one of my favourite Hendon stories because we won the game even before kick-off. One of the keys to the Loftus Road boot room went missing, and somehow the Currie brothers, Tony of QPR and Paul of Hendon, found themselves with access to the correct footwear. As Taunton players floundered on the Astroturf (Barnet and AP Leamington had played out a truly awful 0–0 draw in the Alliance Premier League as the curtain-raiser), we were able to play as normal and ran out easy winners.
The above is one of my favourite Hendon stories, the below is in the opposite category.
Our reward was a trip to Northwich, where former Walton & Hersham player and Witton Albion player-manager Russ Perkins – who had scored when the Swans crushed Brighton, managed by Brian Clough, in the FA Cup – set up the only goal. Referee Bert Newsome gave us nothing, but Witton gave us a kicking and, just after the final whistle, Tony Bennett was heard to swear about the injustice of life (or the match), Mr Newsome dismissed him. Within three weeks, half of the squad had been released and the first Hendon financial crisis was in full swing.
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