Slough P-P Hitchin

[Reading Rebel]

I remember back in the 60,s/70's when games were played on snow covered pitches, with just the lines on the pitch cleared of snow, with an orange football and the players wearing trainers. You never see that anymore. Perhaps the time has come to have a mid winter break and extend the season. You've got to feel sorry for the Hitchin and other supporters who make an effort to get to the games with their hard earned cash, only to find that the referee has called the game off because an area by the corner flag is a bit dodgy. Unfortunately it seems to be coming a regular occurence. Cant these areas which we know to be a problem be covered with some tarpaulin overnight just to get a match on , and then I can have my football fix. Guess I'll have to do with watching the over paid prima donnas on Match of the Day tonight.

 

Sounds like a common sense and easy solution Growler. In fact, so easy, it can't be possible.

[mal316]

any how Windsor have postponed some Bedfont Green matches already this season...and they are paying much more in rent than we are ...if your wish is required

hope you will be able to afford the difference ...I am sure the club and the Chairman will only be too happy if you do !

 

Chris, Windsor & Eton have not postponed any Befont Green game. This has been soley done by match officials.

[Ian]

Perhaps the time has come to have a mid winter break and extend the season.

 

If playing just one game since 12th December has taught us anything it's that a winter without football is terrible! A mid season break wouldn't work anyway as when would it be? You don't normally get matches postponed for frozen pitches almost in February.

Edited January 30, 2010 by Ian

[Matt]

Perhaps the time has come to have a mid winter break and extend the season.

 

If playing just one game since 12th December has taught us anything it's that a winter without football is terrible! A mid season break wouldn't work anyway as when would it be? You don't normally get matches postponed for frozen pitches almost in February.

 

Exactly. In recent years how many winters have been as severe as this one? Talk of a winter break is an overreaction.

[growler]

The only overreaction is from officialdom and elf and safety. I remember driving to Hendon a few years ago only to find on my arrival that the game had been postponed, yet peering over the fence saw the players training on the pitch. Did I go to the rearranged fixture - did I ell. I'll never go there again wasting my money. This is from a life long fan who has driven to Saltash on a Tuesday night, Yeovil on a Wednesday night and Southport on a Sunday to watch my beloved Rebels. No wonder clubs are losing money and support. If the game had been played today the pitch would of soon softened up. I wonder how many rug*y games were postponed today because some pompous official didn't want to get his nuts cold . There's nothing like adding a bit of spice to the debate.

[growler]

The only overreaction is from officialdom and elf and safety. I remember driving to Hendon a few years ago only to find on my arrival that the game had been postponed, yet peering over the fence saw the players training on the pitch. Did I go to the rearranged fixture - did I ell. I'll never go there again wasting my money. This is from a life long fan who has driven to Saltash on a Tuesday night, Yeovil on a Wednesday night and Southport on a Sunday to watch my beloved Rebels. No wonder clubs are losing money and support. If the game had been played today the pitch would of soon softened up. I wonder how many rug*y games were postponed today because some pompous official didn't want to get his nuts cold . There's nothing like adding a bit of spice to the debate. I've just seen highlights of the Brighton V Millwall game where about two thirds of the pitch was covered in ice. If they can get a game on then why can't we. You've got to feel sorry for people like Brighton rebel and a chap I know who drives from Swindon to watch Slough play every game.

[Tom]

Whatever happened to setting fire to the contents of a barrel on the pitch to defrost the ground!

[windsorian]

In the long term you lot would have been better off staying at stag meadow, okay the cost would have been more but with bigger attendances surely it would have been better for you.

What are your hosts actually doing for their money ? doesn't look like they are spending any on improving their pitch or making any effort to get games on.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

What did Windsor do about their pitch when we were there - they dug two great big canyons on each side of the pitch which sunk and turned into mud causing games to be called off!

 

And we payed twice as much for the pleasure of playing (wading through the mud) at slag meadow!

 

There is one thing that sets Beaconsfield head and shoulders above Windsor and that is the welcome from their staff and the attiude of their fans!

[Woody SUFC]

Yes but Staines the great big canyons were caused by pitch improvements...which has now come good and is a much wiser spend than on wages or whatever it is SYCOB are doing with it!

 

As for attitude of fans it was Slough's lot that rubbed many windsor fans up the wrong way in the first place but that's all in the past. Isnt it?

[A Rebel and a Saint]

Absolutely gutted that the game was called off yesterday. I travelled across London on the tube to Paddington and so did not find out the game was off until about 12.30. Not sure I would have been able to get there anyway though because they suspended all trains to and from Paddington at around the same time.

Was really looking forward to the game, looks like it's going to be Saturday-Tuesday games for the rest of the season. Hopefully this will not affect our form, at least the number of games played is pretty level now.

[windsorian]

What did Windsor do about their pitch when we were there - they dug two great big canyons on each side of the pitch which sunk and turned into mud causing games to be called off!

 

And we payed twice as much for the pleasure of playing (wading through the mud) at slag meadow!

 

There is one thing that sets Beaconsfield head and shoulders above Windsor and that is the welcome from their staff and the attiude of their fans!

 

 

 

What we did was invest money in the pitch which if you had stayed you would have had the benefit of instead of looking for the cheap option, remember cheap doesnt mean better, i really believe given your good league position this year your attendances whould be certainly in the 300-400 mark, whereas at the moement you have not capitalised on your improvement. As long as you get a welcome thats ok then what about getting some games played instead of playing catch up and having to win your games in hand.

[Ian]

What did Windsor do about their pitch when we were there - they dug two great big canyons on each side of the pitch which sunk and turned into mud causing games to be called off!

 

And we payed twice as much for the pleasure of playing (wading through the mud) at slag meadow!

 

There is one thing that sets Beaconsfield head and shoulders above Windsor and that is the welcome from their staff and the attiude of their fans!

 

 

 

What we did was invest money in the pitch which if you had stayed you would have had the benefit of instead of looking for the cheap option, remember cheap doesnt mean better, i really believe given your good league position this year your attendances whould be certainly in the 300-400 mark, whereas at the moement you have not capitalised on your improvement. As long as you get a welcome thats ok then what about getting some games played instead of playing catch up and having to win your games in hand.

 

I'd rather play Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday for the rest of the season than go back to Stag Meadow. Horrible, soulless place.

[Woody SUFC]

 

I'd rather play Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday for the rest of the season than go back to Stag Meadow. Horrible, soulless place.

 

 

Where as SYCOB'S place is a world class veune with an atmosphere you could cut a knife with!?!?!

 

I'd say Stag Meadow, from an unbiased point of view, is better due to full length covering down one side and terracing around the whole ground. Yes it's abit tired but so is SYCOB's ground!

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Take the rose tinted glasses of woody! the toilet facilities at stag meadow in the main stand are little more than a hole in the ground, the cover down the side is rusty old tin, the stand is falling down and was built around the war (not sure if it was the first or second), the only decent terrace is the park end where the barriers were supplied by those north of the M4, the changing rooms and bar are in a shed, the burger bar also was repaired by those north of the M4.

 

Beaconsfield does not have terracing at both ends, but it does have cover at the main end, unlike windsor that has none - however windsor did have the opertunity to have cover as I myself offered to contibute towards the cost - but windsor declined to make the improvement!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Like Ian I would take Beaconsfield over windsor anyday!

 

"Great to see we had one of the higher crowds in the league today." - posted by Woody following yesterdays gate busting 209 at the stag yesterday. When are you going to extened the capacity at Stag meadow to deal with the record crowd from Saturday?

Edited January 31, 2010 by Staines Rebel

[Ian]

Where as SYCOB'S place is a world class veune with an atmosphere you could cut a knife with!?!?!

 

I'd say Stag Meadow, from an unbiased point of view, is better due to full length covering down one side and terracing around the whole ground. Yes it's abit tired but so is SYCOB's ground!

 

Nobody claimed it was a world class venue but it has one thing that Stag Meadow never had - character. As for covering down the side - so?! Worthless if most fans stand behind the goal although as SR pointed out Windsor could have had some covering if they hadn't had such a chip on their shoulder about us offering to do it.

[GarySTFC]

Having read some of the posts on here and on the Hitchin forum, just wanted to clarify a few things from the weekend.

 

Having left my house just off the A355 at 9.30 to go to work, I saw the frost on the cars/ground and also saw that it was clearing from that which was in the sun. With clear blue skies, I did not anticipate any problems for the pitch to be ok at 3pm. Having subsequently left my mobile at home, I got in touch with Chris Sliski around an hour later to be informed how solid the ground was. I then rang around to find a local referee to inspect the pitch, without thinking there would be any significant problems.

 

Having found a referee I headed to Beaconsfield via home to collect my mobile. Around 11am I received a voicemail from Beaconsfield to advise me the pitch was solid and it would be extremely unlikely it would be called off. I spoke with my counterpart at Hitchin, Roy Izzard, who had also left me a voicemail and informed him of the situation. Roy advised that Hitchin were departing at noon, so we needed to make a decision prior to this. Having not seen the ground I was still optimistic, but also informed we had arranged for a pitch inspection to take place.

 

I arrived at the ground at 11.20 to find it was firm, but the sun was on 95% of the pitch, just the far corner which was still in the shade. There were mixed feelings from the Beaconsfield staff as to if it would go ahead or not. The referee arrived at 11.35, having been delayed from other pitch inspections he'd conducted in the morning (we were his fourth) and conducted a thorough inspection of the pitch. He then contacted the match referee to report his findings and discuss how they wanted to proceed. They agreed due to the corner of the pitch to postpone the game and this was susbquently conveyed to Hitchin shortly before 12pm. The league were also informed and had displayed the information on their website shortly after 12pm.

 

Now, whilst we are obviously disappointed to have to postpone any game, this was a significant high profile clash between two well supported sides which would have brought a big attendance through the turnstiles at Holloways Park. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with the decision to postpone it on the state of the pitch, I can understand why the officials have made their decision. In today's society, where accidents no longer happen and someone is always to blame, match officials must now also take into consideration the fact they could be liable in the event of a serious injury to a player due to the state of the pitch and them passing it fit to play. A few of the Beaconsfield players, including Wilko, had a good look over the pitch and understood the decision and also why the referees had taken it. They agreed the pitch was in good condition and could very well have been played but we're in an unfortunate position of referee's now having to consider such "health and safety" aspects and their possible liability.

 

I can only apologise to those who had made the journey, but we had conveyed the information as soon as it was available to the league, Hitchin and around some of our supporters to pass the information on. As stated above, I was in regular contact with Roy between 11am and noon and had been as honest with him as possible conveying the information from Beaconsfield with their doubts as I received it. It was also made worse for the fact we were due to present a cheque to the Breast Cancer Campaign following on from our "pink day" in April.

[chris sliski]

Yes but Staines the great big canyons were caused by pitch improvements...which has now come good and is a much wiser spend than on wages or whatever it is SYCOB are doing with it!

 

As for attitude of fans it was Slough's lot that rubbed many windsor fans up the wrong way in the first place but that's all in the past. Isnt it?

 

Attitude was a 2 way thing ....from some ....at Windsor...too...

 

 

I found most at Windsor to be very nice too, the staff and the help given by Peter Simpson was second to none ...The cost was the problem caused by the want of some to get extra revenue from us ...and the playing surface when we were there was worse than it is a Beconsfield right now...our crowds remain much the same , and this is after Slough 's poor seasons stuck at the bottom ...

 

Also a important point is that we are now running a successful youth team , which plays at Beaconsfield's ground, and we would never be allowed to do that at Windsor ...so all in all to pay more money and have less ..does not add up...we have been more than welcomed at Beaconsfiled and the changing rooms and faclities are more upto date.... I do grant the fact Windsor pitch has improved 1000 % since we were last there...but all in all ...we are happy with the arrangements we have...

 

chris

Edited January 31, 2010 by chris sliski

[Windsor Rebel]

 

I'd rather play Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday for the rest of the season than go back to Stag Meadow. Horrible, soulless place.

 

 

Where as SYCOB'S place is a world class veune with an atmosphere you could cut a knife with!?!?!

 

I'd say Stag Meadow, from an unbiased point of view, is better due to full length covering down one side and terracing around the whole ground. Yes it's abit tired but so is SYCOB's ground!

 

Woody: we are not interested in your views

[windsorian]

Ah the truth hurts.