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MATCH THREAD : Crawley Town V Charlton Athletic : Wednesday 1st Jan 2025 : GAME OFF

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  • edited January 2
    Simonsen said:
    Notts county just before xmas in 1984 was hard to take. Got off the train at Nottingham to be told. A small detail in a stressful year/couple of seasons. Pre internet/ camera phones of course, and thousands of opinions as to the correctness of the decision.

    Gutted to lose the £6 rtn rail fare with no refunds given.
    Oh yeah...I was at that one. But for me it did have a silver lining. 

    The replayed game was a Saturday morning (0-0....about as bad as you could get). A few of us decided to stay on for Nottingham Forest v Wimbledon in the FA Cup that afternoon. A random Charlton fan called Pete tagged along with us and we watched another 0-0! (this time, it was actually a good game though). 40 years later Pete is still my mate and he'll be making a rare visit to to The Valley this Saturday. 
    So a 0-0 scoreline is looking a distinct possibility.😕
  • edited January 2
    se9addick said:
    I think it was clear when we were in the pub and saw the video of TWO Crawley ground staff half heartedly pushing a broom there wasn’t much appetite at their end and the outcome was only going in one direction 
    The only upside of yesterday was going to the Brewery Shades which is an excellent pub with great beer and good music. 
    I was in there after leaving the spoons across the road. I was paying £1.99 for forty niner, went to the shades first pint £6.30...hasty retreat back to spoons.

    Glad i did as bumped into Clive and his couple of mates.
  • edited January 2
    There's an eBay seller with a programme from the postponed Notts County game of 22/12/84. He fails to mention it was postponed, which presumably adds to it's value. Instead the focus is on "two of the most exciting teams" in the division .. Les Berry in the rearranged fixture certainly had fans in fits of laughter if memory serves.

    ....."This rare Notts County versus Charlton Athletic match programme from 22nd December 1984 is a must-have for any football enthusiast. Featuring two of the most exciting teams in the second division, this programme is a valuable addition to any sports memorabilia collection. The programme includes information about the season, the clubs, and the league fixtures, making it a great historical reference for football fans. Don't miss out on this opportunity to own a piece of football history."

    https://www.ebay.ie/itm/256660409030
  • seth plum said:
    I had to call off a Sunday league game once on the football pitch next to the Old Brockleians ground down by Badgers.
    What happened regularly in Sunday leagues would be the clubs paid a pitch fee, but the grounds were never touched from September to March.
    Anyway the pitch was churned from other games, hollows and on this occasion areas that had been raised up alongside the hollows.
    Pitches were never rolled flat, so the ground was frozen, and the raised areas of mud became like hundreds of rock solid sharp blades all over the pitch.
    Now when we trained as referees it was emphasised that we could be liable for injuries if we did not take into account safety. Both teams turned up, and bless them they wanted to play yet recognised the awful nature of the pitch. Some players pleaded for the game to go ahead. ‘We will be careful” they said, “we won’t blame you if anything happens ref’ they pleaded.
    But it was simply too dangerous.
    I never took the match fee after inspecting a pitch and calling it off, even though I was entitled to it, it felt too greedy.
    An anorak point:
    Chelsea used to roll their pitch in the 80s. I remember the heavy roller coming out immediately the match while we were still held back. Those of us old enough to remember,  will know how bad it was.
    Absolutely the wrong thing to do, you need to walk the pitch, fork the low spots and replace the divots. Rolling, just compacts the high spots, making an uneven surface, and ruins the surface drainage.
  • Haven’t read it all but surprised I haven’t seen mention of away at Brighton Goldstone Ground when the ground staff left a big puddle in their goal mouth and swept it up at half time. Or am I making that up. Late 70s early 80s maybe. 
  • Haven’t read it all but surprised I haven’t seen mention of away at Brighton Goldstone Ground when the ground staff left a big puddle in their goal mouth and swept it up at half time. Or am I making that up. Late 70s early 80s maybe. 
    It has been mentioned.

    As I recall Keith Peacock needed water wings whenever he went near that puddle.
  • There's an eBay seller with a programme from the postponed Notts County game of 22/12/84. He fails to mention it was postponed, which presumably adds to it's value. Instead the focus is on "two of the most exciting teams" in the division .. Les Berry in the rearranged fixture certainly had fans in fits of laughter if memory serves.

    ....."This rare Notts County versus Charlton Athletic match programme from 22nd December 1984 is a must-have for any football enthusiast. Featuring two of the most exciting teams in the second division, this programme is a valuable addition to any sports memorabilia collection. The programme includes information about the season, the clubs, and the league fixtures, making it a great historical reference for football fans. Don't miss out on this opportunity to own a piece of football history."

    https://www.ebay.ie/itm/256660409030
    So exciting, that Notts County were relegated, scoring only 40 goals in 42 matches. We were better (we didn't get relegated and had the Barnsley 5-3 thriller plus the Spurs cup games) but overall we were quite shit.
  • seth plum said:
    I had to call off a Sunday league game once on the football pitch next to the Old Brockleians ground down by Badgers.
    What happened regularly in Sunday leagues would be the clubs paid a pitch fee, but the grounds were never touched from September to March.
    Anyway the pitch was churned from other games, hollows and on this occasion areas that had been raised up alongside the hollows.
    Pitches were never rolled flat, so the ground was frozen, and the raised areas of mud became like hundreds of rock solid sharp blades all over the pitch.
    Now when we trained as referees it was emphasised that we could be liable for injuries if we did not take into account safety. Both teams turned up, and bless them they wanted to play yet recognised the awful nature of the pitch. Some players pleaded for the game to go ahead. ‘We will be careful” they said, “we won’t blame you if anything happens ref’ they pleaded.
    But it was simply too dangerous.
    I never took the match fee after inspecting a pitch and calling it off, even though I was entitled to it, it felt too greedy.
    An anorak point:
    Chelsea used to roll their pitch in the 80s. I remember the heavy roller coming out immediately the match while we were still held back. Those of us old enough to remember,  will know how bad it was.
    Absolutely the wrong thing to do, you need to walk the pitch, fork the low spots and replace the divots. Rolling, just compacts the high spots, making an uneven surface, and ruins the surface drainage.
    Weird. Did they hire their groundsman from The Oval?
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  • Remember Walsall away in 2010 being called off, we were on the M6 at the time 
  • edited January 2
    Haven’t read it all but surprised I haven’t seen mention of away at Brighton Goldstone Ground when the ground staff left a big puddle in their goal mouth and swept it up at half time. Or am I making that up. Late 70s early 80s maybe. 
    A two one win I remember in 1973/74 season, Greenhithe. I think Arthur Horsfield scored but not sure if he got both and yes it was pissing down. 
  • At least we will have an up and running fully functional under soil heating system in place in case the Reading game is threatened by a frozen pitch.
  • Remember Walsall away in 2010 being called off, we were on the M6 at the time 
    Yeah....the brazier game. We spent the afternoon in Birmingham City centre boozers. 
  • This thread has morphed into "All Our Yesterdays"...🙄
  • seth plum said:
    I had to call off a Sunday league game once on the football pitch next to the Old Brockleians ground down by Badgers.
    What happened regularly in Sunday leagues would be the clubs paid a pitch fee, but the grounds were never touched from September to March.
    Anyway the pitch was churned from other games, hollows and on this occasion areas that had been raised up alongside the hollows.
    Pitches were never rolled flat, so the ground was frozen, and the raised areas of mud became like hundreds of rock solid sharp blades all over the pitch.
    Now when we trained as referees it was emphasised that we could be liable for injuries if we did not take into account safety. Both teams turned up, and bless them they wanted to play yet recognised the awful nature of the pitch. Some players pleaded for the game to go ahead. ‘We will be careful” they said, “we won’t blame you if anything happens ref’ they pleaded.
    But it was simply too dangerous.
    I never took the match fee after inspecting a pitch and calling it off, even though I was entitled to it, it felt too greedy.
    An anorak point:
    Chelsea used to roll their pitch in the 80s. I remember the heavy roller coming out immediately the match while we were still held back. Those of us old enough to remember,  will know how bad it was.
    Absolutely the wrong thing to do, you need to walk the pitch, fork the low spots and replace the divots. Rolling, just compacts the high spots, making an uneven surface, and ruins the surface drainage.
    Weird. Did they hire their groundsman from The Oval?
    Probably from the pub.
  • That was an enjoyable watch, perfectly illustrates how the game has changed.
    Blood and thunder on a sandy ploughed field, nobody diving or play acting, 18 year old Alan Hudson looking about 35 and showing how footballers interviewed before the days of media training, half-time scores on the ABCD boards around the pitch, goalies with bare hands, a headmaster refereeing, non-sponsored shirts tucked into high waisted short shorts 😂
    All very entertaining.

    Nice for a bit of nostalgia and there are definitely things that have changed for the worse, but at the elite level, the quality of football and the skill on show is so much better now.
  • edited January 4
    Cloudworm said:
    I set off at 1:30pm and thought it would get called off, but foolishly continued the drive thinking better to be safe than sorry.

    Ref should have called it off 4 hours earlier to give people a chance, absolutely dreadful decision. 

    Have to say as well, in all my years driving, that's been the worst conditions I've driven in I can remember. 

    I saw the aftermath of one accident, I think I saw traffic cause of a local-ish one, and was nearly part of one where another driver was driving erratically which caused a car near me to slightly swerve. 

    I genuinely can't stand people who drive like twats in these conditions. You save seconds to at best minutes and it's so risky.

    I never normally do it but I actually had a go at one driver today. Felt a bit bad afterwards but it winds me up how people don't consider others in their cars or the cars they're driving near.

    It's something ridiculous like a 30% increase of a car fatality in even light rain and people swerve and undercut in torrential rains. 

    75% of weather conditions related accidents occur cause of rain, and 45% + happen during rainfall.

    Sorry for the rant but I couldn't believe some of the state of the driving I saw today, winds me right up. Just added to my anger with the postponement 
    Did you have to drive? No public transport options?
    It wasn't raining/raining very lightly when I left Ashford. 

    It was only when I was on the M20 I started to notice it, and it was only just before Maidstone where it was dangerous driving conditions. 

    Just seems a bizarre question tbf. Driving there took me 1hr 10m, a train journey including buses would have been 2hr 30m.

    Why bizarre? You said you had a bad journey in the car. I asked whether you could have gone on public transport. I don't know your circumstances. Is it just the 1 hour 20 minutes that informed your decision? If you were a family or a few mates, I can imagine why driving would be a better option, but driving alone in the rain for the sake of saving an hour or so? This day and age, seems bizarre tbh...
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  • Remember Walsall away in 2010 being called off, we were on the M6 at the time 
    Wasn't there a Burnley game away on a Friday night? Was on the M62 at about 6pm when I heard the news.
  • It'd be nice if we could get a new date soon so I can plan the rematch. Really hoping for an FA cup weekend.
  • Dazzler21 said:
    It'd be nice if we could get a new date soon so I can plan the rematch. Really hoping for an FA cup weekend.
    You think we will exit the FA cup?
  • Dazzler21 said:
    It'd be nice if we could get a new date soon so I can plan the rematch. Really hoping for an FA cup weekend.
    You think we will exit the FA cup?
     Nah I'll take another weekend if we win the FA Cup. 
  • Cloudworm said:
    Remember Walsall away in 2010 being called off, we were on the M6 at the time 
    Wasn't there a Burnley game away on a Friday night? Was on the M62 at about 6pm when I heard the news.
    Tuesday night in the mid 90s. We diverted to Preston.
  • Dazzler21 said:
    It'd be nice if we could get a new date soon so I can plan the rematch. Really hoping for an FA cup weekend.
    We don't have blank FA Cup weekends past the 2nd round. They have league games scheduled for them already .
  • Newport vs Morecambe called off at 12:30pm today, just 2.5 hours before kickoff. You REALLY feel for any Morecambe fans who made that journey.
  • I would guess Tuesday 4th of Feb 
  • Remember Walsall away in 2010 being called off, we were on the M6 at the time 
    10am pitch inspection passed the pitch fit but wanted another one around 12.30, they then called it off.
    The weather had improved as well!
  • Dazzler21 said:
    It'd be nice if we could get a new date soon so I can plan the rematch. Really hoping for an FA cup weekend.
    We don't have blank FA Cup weekends past the 2nd round. They have league games scheduled for them already .
    We might have been able to if both our opponents on 4th round day were still in the cup and we weren't, but Stevenage got knocked out by Mansfield in the last round and Crawley are due to be playing Bolton, who got knocked out by Walsall in the first round.
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