Wirral's independent local news website
Council closures on grass pitches last weekend meant that only one game took place in the Wallasey and District Sunday Football League. The game, a Second Division clash between Park Royal and Shore Villa ended in a draw.
A spokesperson for the league said, “The blatantly obvious error of the council to place a blanket closure all grass pitches on Thursday has yet again caused multiple problems with league and cup fixtures that could affect competitions being completed.
“Qualified match officials inspected many of our grounds on Friday afternoon and found them to be playable and considering there were four days of no rain in the district, the decision was definitely the wrong one.
“The compiling of fixtures is a difficult task at any time, but with weeks running out to use the council facilities and enable all league and cup games to be played, only increases the pressure on scheduling the fixtures for all concerned.
“Following discussion with Birkenhead Sunday football league officials, it was agreed that many pitches would have been playable and that match officials could be relied upon to ensure the safety of all players and the pitches by being allowed to inspect the grounds on the day of the game.
“Calling games off four days before is not a credible format, especially when the forecast is for windy and cold conditions and definitely no rain.”
Park Royal and Shore Villa acquired the use of a 4G pitch to get their fixture played, but at serious cost and a very early kick-off time. The spokesperson continued, “As these facilities are few and far between within Wirral, the cost implications are disgustingly high and teams should not be held ransom by them just to get a fixture played.”
The Moreton Alarms Supplies Second Division game was played in excellent weather conditions and ended in a 3-3 draw as the game ebbed and flowed on the 4G surface in Ellesmere Port.
Ollie Stackhouse netted a brace of goals for Royal and Jordan Major added his usual contribution. But bagging the responses were Blagoy Rodov, Matthew McCullough and Ben Windle to ensure honours ended even.
Image: Janosch Diggelmann
Why not follow birkenhead.news on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to news@birkenhead.news
Sign up for our free newsletter using this form
Facebook comments