knockersbumpMKII wrote:
So despite the FACT the weather was already freezing not a single method was employed to help bring the temperature of the soil up to ensure the match went on. The suggestion that a groundskeeper was randomly hoping the weak winter sun would melt frost/ice in all areas is completely and utterly ridiculous. Do Club Catalans sit by and not oversee what is a very important aspect of the game, the most important bit in fact (no fit pitch, no game)
I'm not a groundsperson but logic clearly dicatates that the prevailing weather conditions would cause problems from a few weeks beforehand, that it appears that Catalans made not one single prior arrangement to counter the extreme weather conditions is ludicrous. That they left the pitch to one man (with little to no knowledge of pitches in cold weather) whom they already have issues with leaves them being as much culpable as the groundsman's pathetic effort.
The FACT is that the weather at the time wasn't 'freezing' as such. The air temperature was around 4C without wind chill. And the FACT is that the pitch was cleared as fit to play on the Friday and would likely have remained so without further intervention.
You seem to have misunderstood the sequence of events. The groundskeeper was not relying on the sun to melt any existing ice - he (wrongly) assumed that it would prevent any ice forming when he watered the pitch. He clearly made a grave error of judgement leading directly to the abandonment of the game, and I would hope that he is censured at least. Trying to pin the blame on the Catalans club, when they don't employ the guy and have no direct control over him, is stretching things somewhat.
