TIME TO be facetious and ask a loaded question: Are some clubs doing enough to get games on when the weather is bad?
Take yourself back to December 23 – the last Saturday before Christmas. With a long list of presents to get, going to a game of football probably wasn’t on the mind of many.
Good job too. Just eight matches from Steps 1-4 were on with a smattering of games below. Even Northern Premier League Romulus on their 3G pitch failed to beat the puddles.
It is tempting to wonder how many clubs were upset at no game. With a busy festive fixture programme attendances don’t tend to be high on that particular weekend anyway.
Perhaps more important are the box office fixtures to come.
Non-League football is fortunate that Boxing Day and New Year’s Day bring big derby games, unlike in the Premier League where we get not-so-mouth-watering clashes like QPR v West Brom. Snooze.
So for clubs it can often pay to get the local referee down early, lean on him to call it off and let your star striker put his feet up before the local enemy come to town later that week.
Boxing Day football is a bastion of the game in this country – and it helps put cash in the till. Unsurprisingly, despite lots of rain between the largely wiped out Saturday and Wednesday, most games went ahead.
Clubs were desperate to get it on and go the extra mile to make it happen. Good for them.
Fast forward to Saturday 29 and, while not as bad as the week before, many games fall victim to the weather once again.
Sunday: rain. Monday: rain. Tuesday: Games off, right? Nope. It’s the Boxing Day reverse – time for revenge/do the double. Delete as appropriate. The year 2013 was seen in with nearly a full programme.
So is it too cynical to think clubs are picking and choosing what games they want on at this stage? That they are boxing clever with injuries and suspensions when the games come so thick and fast?
Probably, but surely more could be done to get games on. The 3G debate will probably go on forever and with a six-figure installation fee it doesn’t come cheap – although the benefits of being able to generate income are undeniable.
My colleague on our sister Football League Paper, Chris Dunlavy, reckons he’s got a solution – tarpaulin.
He tells the story of a painting his windows in the summer when it, shock horror, started raining. Twelve quid and a trip to B&Q later he had a nice 4m x 5m piece of tarpaulin to protect his handy work.
Now our Chris had enough time on his hands to work out that the average football pitch can be covered by 357 sheets of B&Q tarpaulin at the cost of about £4,284.
Stitch them together, put a few poles down the middle to make a tent and Robert’s your dad’s brother you’ve got a better chance of getting a game on.
It would stop pitches becoming completely saturated and just maybe would get more games on than otherwise.
Ridiculous maybe, but if it prevents an afternoon traipsing around the shops when it’s not Christmas, it could be worth a go.
