HENDON GAME IS OFF!

[Rob_the_Saint]

Postponed due to waterlogged pitch.

 

Oh well, 'spose I'll have to go down the pub now <img src="/forums/images/icons/frown.gif" alt="" />

 

[Wilf Woodend]

Got to the ground at 12.20, went into the bar, got some drinks in, rumour has it the game is off.Nobody at HFC has announced it, no notices up, complete contempt for everyone going to the game.

 

Looked at the pitch and it was clearly not playable all morning long. If HFC cannot provide a decent pitch then they should be barred from 'hosting' holiday games around which people make other arrangements. Complete waste of an afternoon.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

They should be forced to start the season with nothing but home games until about November then play away every week until about April.

 

I'm getting sick of Hendons pitch it's a [censored] discrace, they should be fined for it or forced to play away from home, it's been like this for years now!

[Guest]

Now listen here, England's First Muppet. If I remember correctly (and I do), we turned up at your gaff last Boxing Day to find out that the game was off. No announcements, no signs, nothing. Just off.

 

We arranged for a ref to arrive asap, he called the game off and it was on Teletext five minutes later.

 

It may have escaped your notice, you moron, but we're 4th in the table, going like a train and the prospect of whipping your sorry arses yesterday was every bit as appealing to us as it appears to have been to you.

 

So, why don't you go back to throwing beer cans at referees and calling Lee Harding or John Gibson (or whoever's turn it is this week) names.

[Wilf Woodend]

I was at the slum you call a ground and nobody took the time to mention the fairly significant fact that the game was off. They were happy to take my money in the bar, and other Saints fans, under the pretence that we were to see a game of football.

 

I had no need to go to the Park last Boxing Day because the announcement was early enough to be on Teletext, we could call that efficiency, HFC would call it an opportunity for bar money missed.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Hmmm well St.Albans had one game postponed last season as far as I can remember, it just happened to be yours.

 

How many did you have postponed - I know our game with you was twice - I'd take a wild guess at 10, a couple of years ago you had so many games postponed the season wasn't finished. You had to play home cup draws away. It was a general rant at your [censored] pitch.

 

As for the Hendon steam train, EFM were going to leave a cider can on the track and derail it!

[Guest]

Wilf, me old mucker, me old mate, me old china, me old inbred. I need you to look deep into your soul and ask yourself this question. Is there any chance (no matter how small), that the kindly bar staff who serve so diligently behind our bar, might (just might) have taken your money in exchange for serving you with the alcoholic beverage of your choice?

 

Muppet: you can keep your adolescent trap shut.

[mdetaylor]

Ignoring the relative merits of Hendon's and St Albans' organisational skills when calling games off and the discussion about the price of a pint I think you have missed the point Simon.

 

As pointed out, Hendon's pitch is rubbish being either waterlogged or so ploughed up that in cold weather it is dangerous. There must be a point where the league says enough is enough and forces Hendon to play elsewhere if season after season they cannot produce a pitch fit to play football on [i would hope that the football league would do something about Walsall as well having endured 90 minutes there in Boxing Day].

[Hendonboy]

I would suggest that you compare our pitch ten (or even two) years ago, with our pitch now, and note the vast improvments. I would also suggest that you note the five figure sums put into improving the pitch year upon year, despite the possibilities each year of moving away, building a new ground etc. I would also suggest that the league have actually noted the efforts made by the club and three different pitch contractors (including Watford's and QPR's and Gravesend's) in recent years to improve matters.

 

I would suggest also that you try and prepare a pitch at Claremont Road, perhaps on the Clitterhouse pitches yourself and note the problems faced by the club, and the difference between two pitches just yards away from each other. I also suggest that you simply read the numerous threads on this subject on our board, but I should probably point out that there's nothing you can say that hasn't already been said by a Cambridge City or Aldershot fan.

 

I leave you with a quote from Kingstonian's report of their visit to Claremont Road earlier this year "As the 8.00 start time approached, the foul weather picked up again as the gusting winds swept the rain across the sparsely populated ground. The clear winner tonight was to be Hendon’s new drainage system and pitch, providing a fine playing surface for the game."

[SteveR]

I do wonder whether anyone actually listens to what we say!!

 

The game was called off at 11.50am - within minutes of the referee arriving at the ground from Luton. By 11.55am the postponement was on teletext. As for the comments about no notices around the bar/ground - fair comment, and this is something I will feed back to the club in the new year.

 

Last season on Boxing Day I was just about to leave home (in Watford) to go to Clarence Park - it was just after 12pm for a 1pm kick off - when the phone went and I was told that the game had literally just been postponed. OK, so I'm lucky that I get called by the club secretary cos of doing the website, but I know plenty of our supporters were caught out just like some of yours were.

 

Remember, only referee's of the relevant level can call the game off, otherwise I would have done it as a qualified referee, but only Level 7, not the required Level 3, and you would all have known by 10.30. However, our referee was travelling in from Luton - and we were in the hands of his arrival as to how soon the game would be called off.

 

As for the continual slagging of our pitch - I understand why we've got the reputation, but it is a hundred times better this season than in the past few years, and is certainly not ploughed up. The new drains are doing the job - just not quite quick enough, but my understanding is that the league are happy that we are trying to do something about it. For the rearrangement - I'll make sure that we call the game off the week before, so that you can all rearrange your social lives. However, I didn't hear any complaints from your players, management or club officials, all of whom were pleasant and polite - unlike some of the fools we get on here.

 

As for future seasons, hopefully our new pitch at Copthall Stadium - for which we are getting grants and suchlike, will live up to expectations as a decent quality playing surface.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[ESG]

Hendon people

 

have to say this is one of the dullest threads going.

the bottom line is you have a crap pitch end of...

 

Nowadays one is going to set off to Hendon without first checking that the pitch is playable (i got stung one Easter so i know how others feel)

 

Any chance of your lot losing a few games

regards

SSL (as seen in this months FHM)