Views from the Sieve

The fuss is there was no communication, even Ilford in the Essex senior league managed to confirm a pitch inspection time and that the game was off. Someone at our club even told Bromley FC they were confident the game will go ahead at around 11am, unprofessional shambles.

Diggerthedog wrote:The fuss is there was no communication, even Ilford in the Essex senior league managed to confirm a pitch inspection time and that the game was off. Someone at our club even told Bromley FC they were confident the game will go ahead at around 11am, unprofessional shambles.

Did you get to the ground before you knew it was called off ?

I did. I wasn't aware there was a pitch inspection; as far as I knew it was all systems go and there was no question the game wouldn't go ahead.

ARNU wrote:

Diggerthedog wrote:The fuss is there was no communication, even Ilford in the Essex senior league managed to confirm a pitch inspection time and that the game was off. Someone at our club even told Bromley FC they were confident the game will go ahead at around 11am, unprofessional shambles.

Did you get to the ground before you knew it was called off ?

Yes. If I'd checked my phone while driving to the ground I would have known, but I'm a good boy ;)

I got to the ground as well ...

I got to Essex.

It isn't really good enough that pitch inspection time wasn't announced, or that an early one wasn't scheduled. It wasn't going to get any warmer and the temperature overnight wasn't a surprise.

Lots of smaller clubs than us managed to update their fans regularly by twitter and get decisions on the pitch earlier than us to save people a journey.

Definite mistake by the club not to communicate any of this better, but does anyone remember the same situation with the Charlton replay? As far as we were concerned it was going to go ahead and thought the pitch was playable, only for it to be scuppered last minute.

All we can hope is the club learn from it and do a better job next time.

TomMc wrote:Definite mistake by the club not to communicate any of this better, but does anyone remember the same situation with the Charlton replay? As far as we were concerned it was going to go ahead and thought the pitch was playable, only for it to be scuppered last minute.

All we can hope is the club learn from it and do a better job next time.

To be fair though, that replay was always in doubt due to the weather, its just that they were trying to get hot air blowers and all sorts on there to save it for the TV. I was disappointed when the game was called off but not surprised.

ARNU wrote:

Diggerthedog wrote:The fuss is there was no communication, even Ilford in the Essex senior league managed to confirm a pitch inspection time and that the game was off. Someone at our club even told Bromley FC they were confident the game will go ahead at around 11am, unprofessional shambles.

Did you get to the ground before you knew it was called off ?

I was on the train having already shelled out for that train journey.

Mike the Dagger wrote: To be fair though, that replay was always in doubt due to the weather, its just that they were trying to get hot air blowers and all sorts on there to save it for the TV. I was disappointed when the game was called off but not surprised.

I'm probably mis-remembering, but although we had to work hard to get the pitch playable (with the hot blowers etc) I swear I remember everyone thinking we'd easily done enough to get it on, only to then be told we hadn't and a lot of people being both surprised and aggrieved. I'm probably wrong though.

On balance.... yes the club should have acted as early as possible to at least informi you of a pitch inspection and possibility of a postponement.

I was in France but I knew about the game being called off before my son who was about to leave for the game.

The lack of updates on Twitter was picked up by Jeff on Sky Sports who ridiculed the lack of updates given by the club on Saturday.

Whether you love or hate social media its now pretty much THE best communication tool out there.

The club currently has unrestricted, direct, FREE access to an audience of 26,500 followers.

People / Institutions who, whilst all obviously don't attend games, nevertheless have some kind of interest in the club.

And frankly, the way that free tool is under-used is embarrassing and speaks volumes about the "drive-less" (John Still's words) board - the club has had working for it, for years now.

Even when they link it to articles on the official website now it's just to a story that could have been written by a 10 year old*

*refer to the previous Chris Assombalonga thread.

Fingers crossed Mr Hopkin knocks some heads and people into shape - that's all I can say!

Diggerthedog wrote:Had they checked same time Friday they could have made a decision it would have been worse Saturday as Friday night was colder. Some people live further away than Bromley. The whole episode was a shambles. The lack of updates was the thing. Only positive spending the afternoon in the pub.

If they'd called it off on Friday you'd have complained that they did it too early and didn't give enough time to see if would get better.
It's not the clubs problem that people choose to travel along way.

Adrian wrote: If they'd called it off on Friday you'd have complained that they did it too early and didn't give enough time to see if would get better.
It's not the clubs problem that people choose to travel along way.

They have these things called "weather forecasts" though. So you ask a local ref to look on Friday, and based on that, and the forecast, you decide whether its on, off or needs another look. You then let people know. Most likely is "needs another look" probably at that point in time. You can then warn people that there will be a pitch inspection at whatever time and they'll be looking to the result of see that before heading out.

Let's not forget that this has cost the club real money as they will need to re-imburse Bromley for their expenses, potentially have to re-print programmes (or sell out of date ones next time), have catering costs etc. It doesn't help anyone to get it wrong.

As for people chosing to travel a long way, all this sort of shambles does is encourage them not to bother in future.

Adrian wrote:

Diggerthedog wrote:Had they checked same time Friday they could have made a decision it would have been worse Saturday as Friday night was colder. Some people live further away than Bromley. The whole episode was a shambles. The lack of updates was the thing. Only positive spending the afternoon in the pub.

If they'd called it off on Friday you'd have complained that they did it too early and didn't give enough time to see if would get better.
It's not the clubs problem that people choose to travel along way.

The club ****** up accept it.