Simply not good enough.

[Beachboys]

After the harsh winter who in there right mind would get a game called off as we all well know

the weather has caused severe financial difficulties to most clubs !

[Kel]

I should like to take this opportunity to explain what happened last night, and to pass on some information arising from numerous conversations this morning.

 

When the floodlights were first switched on last night, the pylon in the corner of the ground nearest to the clubhouse failed. We decided to switch the lights off, wait 20 minutes (it is important to allow halogen lamps to cool before switching them back on again), and then switch them back on again to see if the pylon came to life. In the event the pylon still failed, as did the pylon next to it. Further switching off and on of the lights would almost certainly have caused more pylons to fail.

 

Havering Council is responsible for the maintenance of the floodlights and nobody at the club has access to the electrics governing the operation of the lights. A special key is required to gain access, and only the Council have one. The only action the club could have taken was to attempt to contact the officer at the Council responsible for the stadium. Repeated calls were made and voicemail messages left to no avail.

 

We finally made contact with the council officer this morning. He explained that the athletics club had reported the failure of the floodlight pylon to him yesterday morning. He and the Council's contractor went to look at the problem yesterday, and discovered that a part was required to fix the fault. The part was not in stock and the repair could not be undertaken. Unfortunately, neither the council officer nor the contractor advised the football club that there was a problem.

 

The electrician referred to in the opening post of this thread was one of our supporters. He would not have been able to gain access to fix the problem and certainly would not have had the required part.

 

The officer at the Council has guaranteed us that the floodlights will be fixed tomorrow (Thursday) morning. The Capital League President's Cup game will therefore go ahead as planned tomorrow evening, and the league game on Saturday will kick off at 3pm.

 

During a conversation I had with the Secretary of Hastings United this morning, he mentioned to me that he had received an anonymous email concerning last night's events and Saturday's game. As you might expect, he was quite happy to forward the email to me.

 

The email, which was also sent to Aveley FC and Nick Robinson at the Ryman League, was sent from email address nobody@dizum.com by, in my opinion, a particularly loathesome, odious coward who claims to have been involved at the club for many years and says he attends virtually every home and away game.

 

In his email, the coward states "The match last night we believe was called off deliberately due to injuries, which if true was unfair on Aveley, who could well have won and earned 3 valuable points."

 

He/she goes on to say "In fact the electrician had not even arrived and told us fans that it could easily have been fixed. In fact other lights that could have been turned on were kept off."

 

He/she also says "we believe it is now the intention to get Saturday's match moved forward by one hour in order that a function can take place in the clubhouse under the guise of faulty lights."

 

He/she also makes accusations against two individuals (giving names) involved in the running of the club. The email is, of course, unsigned.

 

I can assure all who read this forum that the match last night was not called off deliberately, and that it would have been impossible to fix the floodlights. With regards to Saturday, when I called the League Secretary last night to notify him of the postponement he advised me to make provision for an early kick off against Hastings United.

 

I would like to say that, having been a long term supporter of the club I took on the role of Match Secretary for the 2006/07 season, and then took on the additional role of Club Secretary at the end of the 2008/09 season. I love this club and our supporters. If, however, odious individuals such as the coward whose anonymous email may yet bring the club to it's knees are amongst our ranks, then I seriously wonder why I f@cking bother. Thanks a lot you t0sser.

 

Kel