Got out of jail today! Apparently decision of the stadium Health and Safety manager and not the referee - lightning had hit the Dreams Stand. Given that the pitch was waterlogged and serious effecting play. Having watch football for many years I have never been at a game where it has rained so heavily - the 20mins or so played in the second half was like a tropical storm. Hope that Waddock uses this as a lucky wake up call. The team was poor in all areas - and possibly too many of our younger more inexperienced players in - two of Rovers goals down to inexperience. But not a lot going on in midfield / up front either - generally too slow and second to the ball. Let's hope we get the team sorted for the re-scheduled game and get a result.
would be unfair if we were to lose the rematch. game was abandoned due to health and safety concerns of the thunder/lightening.... not pitch conditions. so in principal, the score should not be effected and it would be nice to see a bit of fair play shown by wickham and give us have a 3-1 head start. think its bad that the health and safety officer was worried about the lightening hitting the away end etc yet in the spell where they were deciding what to do, they kept the away fans where it was apparently not safe! well that makes sense.
if you were 3-1 up your safety officer wouldnt have abandoned the game. therefore we wouldnt need to discuss if we would or not give you a 3-1 head start. safety officer abandoned the game due to thunder and lightening claiming too dangerous for players and fans. but this safety officer allowed the game to start the 2nd half with thunder and lightening happening contradicting his reasons to abandon the game. this safety officer allowed subs to stay on the pitch during the 10 minute break although it was apparently 'too dangerous'. this safety officer claims lightening hit the away stand twice which has been denied by those who attended. even wycombe fans have admitted this. if it was too dangerous for the away fans in that stand then why did this safety officer allow the fans to stay in that stand during that 10 mins break and for some time after it was announced? radio even said that no official came out during that 10 min break to check conditions if it had improved or not. fact is the safety officer has abandoned the game due to thunder storms and we all know thunder storms dont last long. in fact it actually stopped during that 10 min break and 20 mins later sunshine and no rain. could of easily waited like todays aldershot vs cheltenham game did which finished. if the ref made this call or an independant official then just 1 of those things. but it was a wycombe official who decided to abandon the game which is why all of this stinks. so again, asking me if i would give you a 3-1 lead if you were 3-1 up is irrelevant as if you were 3-1 up your safety officer wouldnt of stopped the game anyway.
After watching schoolboy defending in the first half a great bit of management by waddock at half team talk rage up a storm and bring on a double substiution of thunder and lightning
I can understand your dissatisfaction with the decision but and this is a Dawn French of a big BUT, i remember being two goals up against Barnet at Adams Park when the match was abandoned due to fog (mist) for safety reasons, so in answer to your question if we were leading would they have called it off the answer is, yes they probably would. Furthermore the pitch was becoming waterlogged and there was a chance one of the players was going to mistime a tackle sliding through another and do some serious damage added to the lightening i genuinely believe it was a good call. What wasn't so good was the reaction of some of the rovers supporters as there is no history of emnity between the clubs i thought a minority and i emphasise a minority of them acted like a bunch of to**ers. lastly the rearranged fixture will be just that 90 minutes plus injury time starting nil nil. COYB
As you were well worth your 3-1 half time lead and the score didn't reflect any poor defending we will again try our hardest to give you a two goal half time lead it is just up to your brilliant forwards to take the chances that our defenders will give you and can you ensure your magnificent defenders do not let our greedy forwards score more than the one they our allowed I personally will not be going to the game until after half time as I have already seen the first half and do not like watching repeats
fog/mist can stay for hours. thunder storms pass quickly. yes the pitch was very wet but the pitch had nothing to do with the game being called off. it was lightening that hit the stand which has now changed to hitting the pylons behind. as for the trouble after, it should never have happened. we all have a minority of idiots. i think if i paid £50-£60 in travel, getting in, food and drink and see us lead 3-1 and then hear a club official had abandon the game, i am not sure how i would of reacted being there. im pissed off and i wasnt there. and bare in mind the if the game was abndoned 7 mins earlier then full refunds could have been given as if the game didnt make 60 mins then refunds must be given. so the fans are cheesed off and i could hear on the radio them singing "we want our money back" so i can see why fans reacted very angry epecially if alcohol was involved. im not saying its acceptable but i can understand. and it wasnt until much later when it was announced about refunds etc. add to this hearing reasons why it was abandoned due to the lightening, that had already stopped during the 10 mins break so the danger was already gone. again it wasnt acceptable and it was stupid. but also the reasons given by the safety officer wasnt acceptable and waiting 10 more minutes would of been suffice as radio said sunshine came out. came could of resumed just like the aldershot/cheltenham game did yesterday.
Have to say I am slightly embarrassed by the whole fiasco, as within half an hour the storm had passed and things had brightened up. If we had been 3-1 up the safety officer would still have been concerned yes, but probably wouldn't have made such a quick decision. And as many have commented if there was such a safety issue then why were people not evacuated? That said the no doubt minority of Rovers fans causing problems were moronic and they should be punished appropriately. However, we too have been shafted before back in 1997 against Peterborough when 2-0 up with 25mins left to play and suddenly Peterborough players struggled to keep on their feet, when conditions were no worse than when the game had started. However, we did win the replayed match 2-0! I personally wouldnt be against letting Rovers take a 2 goal lead and starting from there but in reality that isn't going to happen. Football is one of the few sports where when there are abandonments/halts in play the game has to start from scratch. Tennis and cricket pick up from where they left off when halted. Logistically it may not be simple but maybe it should be considered that the game gets halted, that we carry on from the time and score at which it was halted, even if that means resuming the next day behind closed doors.
This is a difficult one isn't it. Continuing the game where we left off is not really an option as it wouldn't reflect what might have happened given players had already been running around for 60 mins. Subs come on late and change games, some teams come on strong towards the end whilst others weaken (relatively). A goal 10 mins from the end can change the mentality of the entire team that needs just one more for the draw/win, just as it can rattle the team that once had a clear lead. There is no way that can be replicated. If there was a danger and the H&S Officer allowed the game to continue, whose head would be on the block if lives were lost? One option would be to regard the game as a game of 2 legs with the aggregate score deciding the outcome. But this does have the same problems as the "continuing where we left off" option Maybe the safety officer should have discussed it with impartial officials and made a joint decision. But that does undermine the responsibilities and authority of the H&S Officer. Despite the problems of the various options it is not acceptable, in the interests of fair play, for a match to be decided by an official of the home side as it begs the question "Would the same decision have been made if the home side were winning 3-1?" The obvious solution, as has already been mentioned, would have been to announce that the match has been suspended, for a maximum of say 60mins, due to weather conditions creating a hazard and that play would continue if, within that 60 mins, the hazard had gone away. It would then be the referee's decision to decide if the pitch was safe to continue playing (just as it is their decision before the start). Given what has happened I suspect WWFC will need to give an account and await the outcome. It is difficult to see how anything other than a re-match will be the outcome but surely there needs to be some ruling/guidelines to be put in place as regards who should have the responsibility to make decisions in such circumstances. It would be interesting to see what is in place (if anything) at present. Did the H&S Officer exceed his authority? Did the referee disagree with his decision? It will be interesting to hear the views of those officiating the match.
Football like any sport played outside will always be affected by the great British weather and moaning about it will change nothing.Still no excuse for idiots to attack the police and people working in the ticket office who must have been frightened for thier safety.
finchy and ron, good comments may i just add what has happened shouldnt have any impact between both sets of fans towards each other. it wasnt your fans fault or our fans thought why the game was abandoned. all rovers fans are only cheesed off as it was a wycombe official that was allowed to decide the fate of the game. its hard to believe that the decision would therefore be unbiased. and the reasons why he stopped the game adds weight to the belief us gasheads have over it. his reasons were thunder/lightening - not waterlogged pitch. he thought there was a risk to the health and safety of fans and players. fans were safe in the stand. otherwise why were they not evacuated. players were safe on the pitch. otherwise why did the ref allow play to continue from 45mins - 67mins where it was all thunder/lightening. during the 10min break if it was unsafe to be on the pitch why let the groundsman with a metal fork be on the pitch and the subs kicking the ball around on the pitch warming up. all of the facts show it was the wrong decision which comes across that it was a very biased decision. the actions of some rovers fans were not acceptable but i can easily see why they re-acted the way they did.
how would you re-act if you spent £60 on travel, ticket, food and drink all for nothing? be 3-1 up and playing well then hear the decision to abandon the game was from the losing teams club official whose reasons to end the game was invalid? i completely agree, their actions was not acceptable and i hope they are dealt with. but people handle circumstances in different ways. i wouldnt have re-acted that way but i can see why some do. they follow their club spending hard earned money to basically feel like they been screwed over. i hope the rematch is won by us. otherwise unfortunately i can see more trouble by our fans who would be feeling very angry with the injustice shown. i hate twitter. i think players shouldnt use social media to vent theirs views in things like this as asking for trouble. and some of our players have vented their anger on twitter at the decision to end the game. i hope they channel this frustration and use it as motivation in the rematch to make sure we win instead of feeling sorry for ourselves on the pitch and lose the game. see what happens. anyway, all the best until our next meeting
I'm sure some ill feeling will continue right up to the next game, and beyond if Bristol don't win (perish the thought of it costing Bristol promotion). Now that we have given this a fair old bashing, how about we consider this scenario. The match continued amid horrendous conditions and Wycombe scored 2 quick goals in the next 10 mins and then scored from the spot to take the lead with 5mins to go and it ends 4-3 to Wycombe (not inconceivable). We can think ourselves lucky and feel sorry for the Bristol fans but we will never know what might have happened. Even Man Utd have lost a 2 goal lead in the last 7mins.
with our defence i wouldnt be surprised but the way the game was going we were more likely to score the next goals. but we will never know.
if i demanded a refund and if they wouldnt give it then i would have a go. im honest enough to admit that. not their fault i appreciate that but they have my money and wont give it back so i would have a go at them. wasnt until much later when it was announced they will give refunds but not on the day.
