Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:28 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Although I have sympathies for the fans and our players & officials. Some of you really do need a reality check.

Bearing in mind the usual ambient temperatures in Perpignan, it's doubtfull that the local authority (who actually own and run the stadium) have even considered investing in ground covers, heating etc, let alone the considerable investment required for undersoil heating. But just like a couple of years ago in England, when we were hit with the worst winter we'd seen for 20 years, everyone expects the local councils to have all the required equipment to cope with any contingency, stuck in a magical shed somewhere.

Yes there are questions to be asked about the pitch preparation and also the timing of the fitness to play decision. But at the end of the day it was the weather that caused the game to be called off. Adverse weather that happens very rarely and certainly doesn't justify massive public expense, just so a rugby match can go ahead.

Get fooking real

You get real!
We are talking about a top level professional sports club playing in the top division! Not a local park team.
With away fans & clubs spending thousands to get there.
So yes I do expect them to be able cover a pitch from frost & ice at the very least.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:41 pm  

Hull FC since 50s wrote:

Headhunter you're half right, my mistake.

St Esteve Calatalns XIII beat Montpelier 60-26.

Perhaps the 'stadium' where the game was played doesn't hold 9000+ but what does that have to do with it except that the bigger the anticipated crowd and the further the away supporters have travelled, the more effort should be made to ensure the match is played.

Hull's match was called not off for reasons of 'crowd safety' but as a result of a basic failure to protect the playing surface.

Of course it if turns out that the Catalan's Stadium has a micro climate which prohibits such measures which were taken at sports grounds in the 50s and 60s I will stand corrected.

I don't know where St Esteve/XIII Catalan play but it's prefectly conceivable that one field may have been frozen while another might not have been. Tomorrow's Northern Rail Cup match at Hunslet is called off, as far as I know all other RL matches in West Yorkshire are taking place. The fact that Perpignan is in France doesn't mean that the physical process of a pitch freezing is any different, nor does it mean that they should somehow have been better prepared to deal with a week of sub-zero temperatures than clubs in England are. Some of the conspiracy theories on this thread are hilarious. If a pitch is frozen, it's frozen. It's better for the game to be called off than for the players to go out and potentially suffer severe injuries.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:45 pm  

Kosh wrote:

Rumour has it that it was apparent as early as Tuesday that the pitch would likely be unplayable.

How the hell would they know that almost a week before

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:46 pm  

The Reverend wrote:

You get real!
We are talking about a top level professional sports club playing in the top division! Not a local park team.
With away fans & clubs spending thousands to get there.
So yes I do expect them to be able cover a pitch from frost & ice at the very least.

In 2003 Newcastle United travelled to Barcelona for a champions league group stage game. About 5 hours before kick off there was a down pour of biblical proportions and the game had to be called off, meaning many of the Newcastle fans who had travelled just for the game and were on flights back the following day had a wasted journey.

You know, sometimes, poop happens. As has already been stated, flights and hotels are a sunk cost. Covering the pitch would not have make a jot of difference.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:59 pm  

headhunter wrote:

I don't know where St Esteve/XIII Catalan play

Might be wrong, but a cursory check on Google suggest it's 2.5 miles away from the Stade Aime Girale.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:02 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Although I have sympathies for the fans and our players & officials. Some of you really do need a reality check.

Bearing in mind the usual ambient temperatures in Perpignan, it's doubtfull that the local authority (who actually own and run the stadium) have even considered investing in ground covers, heating etc, let alone the considerable investment required for undersoil heating. But just like a couple of years ago in England, when we were hit with the worst winter we'd seen for 20 years, everyone expects the local councils to have all the required equipment to cope with any contingency, stuck in a magical shed somewhere.

Yes there are questions to be asked about the pitch preparation and also the timing of the fitness to play decision. But at the end of the day it was the weather that caused the game to be called off. Adverse weather that happens very rarely and certainly doesn't justify massive public expense, just so a rugby match can go ahead.

Get fooking real

The whole of Europe was forewarned of this weather 2 weeks ago, the high pressure system over Russia named the 'beast from the east' would bring sub zero temperatures to the whole of Europe.
This weather system is a 'freak' as it has caused havoc to all European tidal systems causing them to fall short of their predicted hieghts by as much as 1.4 metres on every tide for the past 2 weeks.
This has been more than enough time for any sporting clubs administraion to put into place the most basic of ground protection to give the game a chance of being played.
Trent Robinson said on Sky last night that they have been unable to train on the pitch for 1 month.
For the club to use water in whatever way on the pitch in the prevailing weather is absolute stupidity/ignorant. Typical French attitude...............it doesn't matter unless it suits them.

It is adverse weather ..............but it's been adverse for 1 month, they should have had protection on it, simple as.

[Kosh]

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:06 pm  

Hutchie wrote:

How the hell would they know that almost a week before

Just a stab in the dark, but most likely by taking into account the condition of the pitch on Tuesday, the available technology, and the weather forecast. It's not actually rocket science.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:10 pm  

The Reverend wrote:

You get real!
We are talking about a top level professional sports club playing in the top division! Not a local park team.
With away fans & clubs spending thousands to get there.
So yes I do expect them to be able cover a pitch from frost & ice at the very least.

Ah great, another know-nowt numptie joins the discussion.

I once refereed a Friday night game at Fartown. I arrived at 6.30pm, an hour before the scheduled kick-off time and immediately put my boots on and the two TJs and I walked every square metre of the pitch. I never used Phil Clarke's "trusty stick a key in the ground" method because I don't know of many boots with key blades for cleats. We and both clubs' coaches decided the match would go ahead: the pitch was flat with no divots and was easily taking a stud. At kick off and throughout the first half, there were no problems at all. Five minutes into the second half I heard the Batley winger running down the touchline, the noise resembled a carthorse on a cobbled street. As soon as he'd been tackled I stopped the game and did another mini-pitch inspection. Frost had started to creep from touch, into the field of play. By the time I'd stopped the game, the ground was solid for two metres in from touch.

I called the game off immediately and although the players and staff were disappointed at not being able to see the match to conclusion, they all understood that it would be too dangerous to continue.

If Catalans had covered the pitch and kept hot air blowers going through the night, there's still no guarantee the game would have gone ahead.

Shit happens, get used to it. Sometimes there really is nobody to blame.

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:12 pm  

Kosh wrote:

And the local council does, so I'm told, posses the equipment required. For some reason it wasn't used.

Told by whom?

Re: Catalans Game to be rescheduled : Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:15 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Shit happens, get used to it. Sometimes there really is nobody to blame.

Only sensible sentence on the thread...