Arlesey Town A-A Slough Town

[Matt]

Looks like the match has been abandoned due to an injury to the referee and no fourth official available. Slough were leading 1-0 through Stuart Swift.

Edited February 5, 2011 by Matt

[Mark44]

From what I heard slough fans are furious as we have to play it on a tues and they didnt get a refund but a free entry to a game they cant get to

[michaelSTFC]

What an absolute joke.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

The irregularities of how Arlesey run their club needs to be questioned.

 

Game called of after ref injures himself and Slough are 1-0 up.

 

Then total confusion from the Arlesey officials with claims of having to phone the FA for a ruling as to if a refund should be paid.

 

Arlesey then try to wriggle out of any refund stating they have "costs" to cover - not the case when we played Horsham and Walton where payment was imediate upon production of the entry ticket.

 

Eventually Manny Cohen issues "vouchers" that can be used for entry to the replay or claimed back via Slough Town having to claim the money from Arlesey.

 

The reason vouchers needed to be issued is that tickets were not issued on entry.

 

The issue on not providing tickets on entry raises a number of questions about the way in which Arlesey "count" the number who attended a game, the recording of income from the gate receipts, the decleration and fee paid to the leauge, and the control of crowd numbers under the ground safety certificate.

 

Or is the reason that Manny only issued vouchers, is that the club has finacial concerns due to the large wage bill they are paying?

 

Overall, this afternoons experiance of Arlesey left a very sour taste and a lot of questions about the legitamacy of how the club is run!

[Ian]

Dave Anderson came and explained that no qualified linesman came forward following a tannoy appeal, Darren Salter was there which both teams apparently would have been happy with but he didn't want to run the line. Arlesey proposed their under-12 coach which we declined so the officials had no choice but to abandon it.

 

Forgetting the shenanigans that Arlesey tried to pull in not wanting to give us any recompense, I'm not convinced we shouldn't have played on with their u-12 coach running the line. We were 1-0 up and it was highly unlikely that they would have troubled us much up to half-time given the strength of the wind behind us. In the replayed game they will have their captain back, we won't start a goal ahead and it won't be blustery which stopped them playing much football. As it happens, the wind had dropped significantly by the time we left which is when the second half would have been starting.

 

The assistant doesn't stop the game so the referee had the opportunity to over-rule any obvious errors by the stand-in lino plus who's to say the real lino wouldn't have made a mistake anyway? I think we should have had more confidence in the fact that we were 1-0 up and playing reasonably well.

[ATFC supporter]

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Edited February 5, 2011 by Arlesey Town FC

[Tom]

I wasn't at the "game", irrespective of the result, I don't think it's fair on both sides for a member of the crowd to run the line - qualified or not - imagine the amount of aggro that could have been caused had Salton or whoever made an incorrect decision.

 

Referees and their assistants are supposed to be unbiased.

[Chris]

Bit disappointed the two sides could not sort out an official between them. They offered their Under 12's manager as has been said, but we were not happy with this but why is this any different to a Slough fan or a Arlesey fan running the line? A lot of people travelled a long way to get there and as Ian said I think we had a great opportunity to win the game, especially being 1-0 up in those conditions. Also bit disappointed the players just rushed back into the changing rooms without acknowledging the fans after a 3 hour round trip for 22 mins of football. Fair play to Chris Seeby and Dave Anderson who were the only people to stay out

Edited February 5, 2011 by Chris

[Ian]

I wasn't at the "game", irrespective of the result, I don't think it's fair on both sides for a member of the crowd to run the line - qualified or not - imagine the amount of aggro that could have been caused had Salton or whoever made an incorrect decision.

 

Referees and their assistants are supposed to be unbiased.

 

In an ideal world that's true but with the game only 20-25 minutes old it was right to try and find a solution for the 50 or 60 Rebels fans who had made the journey.

[Martin]

Just got in after my 190 mile four hour round trip.

 

The issue of the refund is one thing - I left the ground before the vouchers were issued - so christ knows where I stand. But I would point out that this was at least ten minutes after the game was abandoned so many people would have left. I think the fact we were told no refunds would be given is my only real issue with Arlesey.

 

The facts of the game first off, we were leading one nil after a cracking free kick from Swift and were well on top in the game. They had just had a penalty appeal turned down and forced Fanner into a fine save when the referee injured himself but that was their only chance. Then after twenty minues of debate the game was abandoned.

 

Apparently no-one within the ground came forward to offer themselves as a qualified official. Then three options were proposed. The first was Darron Salton who I understand ruled himself out quite understandably. The second was the Arlesey under 12 coach who we objected to and the third was Dave Anderson who they objected to.

 

Apprarently our rationale for objecting was that this game was too important, that their guy would be under too much pressure and that he wouldn't have a sufficient grasp of the laws to make the decisions correctly.

 

I have to say I think that this is a paranoid, negative and illogical decision. We were already winning one nil. We should have had faith in our ability to defend properly and the inherent honesty of anyone who is asked to run the line. The fact we have objected in a game that we were winning is ridiculous. We showed a lack of faith in mankind and our own abilities.

 

Also there was absolutely no consideration for the supporters who had made the trip and the fact that they are now being asked to do it all again on a Tuesday night whenever the fixture can be shoe horned in. The supporters were informed of the decision as an after thought when it was too late to influence the decision in anyway and effectively told that the management know best.

 

Why is it whenever decisions like this are made the supporters are at the bottom of the heap? It really did add salt to the wounds when we were then told there would be no refunds and we could get in free to the rearranged match thereby just assuming that we would all turn up like good little people.

 

Congratulations to Stuart Swift for scoring one of the best goals that never was.

 

The only positive was that I got to hear the second half of the amazing Newcastle Arsenal game on Five Live. But then of course it did occur to me that I could have saved my time, effort, petrol and money and sat at home and done that for free.

 

Good luck to all who go to Cambridge City - I shan't be there.

 

Just as a final thought perhaps in order to prevent such a farce happening again the league should consider imposing a rule whereby each side must nominate a replacement official who steps in the event of injury etc . Instead having to agree to who does the job the decision is made on the toss of a coin determining which one to use. Still that sounds too much like common sense and consideration of the fans to actually come to pass. Either that or I could qualify as an official and then I would have that magic bit of paper that means I am totally impartial and able to make all correct decisions just like the referees we see week in week out. I am told incidentally that Phil Dowd got both penalties, the sending off and the disallowed goals wrong so maybe his magic bit of paper wasn't working.

[chris sliski]

Martin ..I have to agree with your points and can not offer defence ..this was a [****!!****] up on all fronts..

 

I will ensure at least you will get a refund or a voucher which ever you want..

 

I also hope that Arlesey will learn some important lesson on customer service ..appalling to expect our Chairman to face the Slough Crowd.

 

It was only after about 20 mins that Steve managed to get an official to explain , and then not really giving any proper information.

 

Also I guess we will need to discuse this at our new board meeting to ensure if it happens at Slough we will be prepared too..

 

Chris Sliski - Personally

[Ian]

Chris, I think that's very important. As a club let's make sure that we learn from this, know the FA guidelines on how to respond and make sure we treat people in the right way if this happens to us at a home game.

 

Arlesey seemed to have little consideration for the Rebels fans who had travelled. Their initial response was to make a tannoy announcement saying everyone will be let in for free when the game is replayed. Justifiably many people felt that was an inadequate response, not least of all me as I cannot make Tuesday night games due to work. Maybe against 99% of teams in our league it wouldn't have mattered as they would have been dealing with two away fans.

 

Credit should go to Dave Anderson for taking time to explain what had happened (even if I disagree that we shouldn't have played) plus Steve Easterbrook for firstly getting an answer then managing to find someone from Arlesey to talk to us.

[Matt]

Chris, I think that's very important. As a club let's make sure that we learn from this, know the FA guidelines on how to respond and make sure we treat people in the right way if this happens to us at a home game.

 

 

It DID happen to us at a home game last season - if I remember correctly, we were losing at the time, and one of our supporters ran the line for the remainder of the game. And I think we still lost!

 

But if we had to abandon the game, that's a different matter. Do we actually give out tickets or just those raffle ticket stub things? The rule about no refunds and the replay being on "cup-tie" terms is just one of those things clubs can't do anything about.

 

I might not have been able to travel to Arlesey today, but I still feel angry. Not with them, but with us. I'm with Martin on this completely. I'd have had faith in whoever they offered to run the line. We were after all winning 1-0 and playing well by all accounts. I can understand the concerns, but to me it sounds like the club has let the fans down on this one by not applying common sense.

Edited February 5, 2011 by Matt

[Mr Rebel]

pretty sure it happened at 2 home games for us last season.

 

didn't go today but yeah i too feel a bit annoyed we didn't just play on. lets hope we don't get walloped in the replayed game. whats the worst the youth coach could have done running the line?

[Matt]

Thinking about it, a lot of games I've been to seem to have had a referee's assessor present. Is he/she allowed to run the line? Were we just unlucky that there wasn't one at today's match?

[Martin]

Thanks Chris, that is appreciated, to be honest I am more worried about the potentially lost three points. We will just have to wait and see what happens in the replayed game though.

 

I do appreciate Dave Anderson speaking with me but I was a bit too riled by the decision to thank him at the time.

[GarySTFC]

STANDARDISED RULES

These Rules have been compiled by the Sanction and Registrations Committee of The Football Association in conjunction with the Members of the Standardisation of League Rules Working Group for the mandatory use of all sanctioned Competitions at Steps 1 to 6 inclusive of the National League System. It should be noted that where the Rules have been printed in [ ] they are optional and where a gap has been left the appropriate word, figure or amount needs to be inserted.

Whilst additions may be allowed to the Standardised Rules these must first be approved by The Football Association.

 

8.3.2 In the event that a match is abandoned before half time the Club playing at home will issue a voucher to spectators valid for free admission if the match is ordered to be replayed. In the event that the match is abandoned during or after the half time interval the Club playing at home is not obliged to issue such a voucher.

 

8.3.3 In the event that a match is abandoned for reasons over which neither Club has control the Club playing at home shall retain the gate receipts for such uncompleted match and the Board shall determine the terms upon which any replayed match shall be played.

 

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/RulesandRegulations/~/media/Files/PDF/TheFA/FAHandbook10-11.ashx/FAHandbook10-11.pdf - Page 505

 

The above is word for word in the rule book for the Southern League also as the Standardised Rules heading for this section would suggest.

 

The referee's assessors are generally those who have come to the end of their time on the park and are now assisting those coming through so would not have been an option.

 

For those who left the ground before vouchers were issued, please see Steve Easterbrook who has a small number of additional vouchers from Arlesey.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

The whole thing was absolutely disgraceful and embarrassing. Most fans clocked up at least 3-4 hours of travel time for that game, some a lot more, for a game abandoned when there was a simple solution.

 

Where has the trust gone in the game? Firstly we can't trust someone from the oppostion to run the line (as both teams objected to the other team's suggestions), then we cannot trust our own team to perform at a high level so that we wouldn't have to test any chosen official more than having to decide which way the throw in goes, then we cannot trust the officials who run Arlesey to do the decent thing and refund money to people who clearly would not all be able to make the rearranged game, and being fobbed off with excuses over costs from the club that is supposedly the richest in the league.

At the very least, could we not have put the ref on the line with a flag half way inside the half? He may not have been able to run but he would have been able to see most things.

 

Thanks to Dave Anderson (and Steve Easterbrook) for explaining the situation, but I think we should have taken any opportunity to play on, even if we were to eventually lose. The backlog of games is getting ridiculous when you consider Arlesey still have 5 or 6 games in hand on Hitchin. We were playing well and had Arlesey on the back foot for most of that 20mins, and as it turned out the wind died down a bit at around 4pm.

 

Well done to Swift for netting that free kick, a great strike, a shame it now counts for nothing.

[3spirit]

Can anyone tell me the Slough line up for the 25 mins it lasted? Did David Woozley replace Steve Perkins? Just curious.

 

 

[A Rebel and a Saint]

Fanner, Sweeney, Murphy, Woozley, Perkins, Seeby, Sinclair, Coyne, Burnell, Sonner, Swift.

Subs were Martin, Logie, Herron, Porter and Jackson I believe.

 

So we lined up with Seeby in the midfield, and Perkins (who I think turned up late) and Woozley at the back.