Dr Who?

I feel good, even with a migraine and earache!! 'We are going up, say we are going up'!!

So this is it... top of the league here we come!

How we playing now, are we looking happy for the 3-1?

People just do it for attention, I ignore it. Loving it at the moment but would be nice to get a 4th and a 5th, and then not to get one back!! COYS!!

ha ha ha ha, classic!

Not trying to defend them, but referees are always a great scapegoat. Just stating the facts, and Charlton must have really wanted the game to go ahead even though it was not realistic. No other games played in the area at all yesterday outside the premier league. It really is a no win situation.

I love Vespa's and I will get one, just not sure when. I have a short journey to the station to make soon, so it will be a push bike or a scooter I think, but probably a push bike. I never seem to be able to justify getting one, as we have kids and need a car to get them to the childminders, and cannot do that on a scooter!! Not fair really want one, but also really want to live in Brighton, and that is not going to happen either!!!

With so many games not going ahead due to the weather, I just wanted to gage how people would react to a summer league? I am talking about changing the league season so it starts in March and runs until the end of November, still 9 months of football. This way you would get games that go ahead and also clubs at the lower end of the league ladder would not have to worry about fitting games in before it gets dark. During a World Cup and Euro Championship you would just take that month off in the middle of the season, and carry on afterwards. In the leagues that I referee in you end up with a huge fixture pile up at the end of the season when you can fit in evening games again because of all the games that are called off at this time of year, and the fact that they do not have floodlights. A summer league would just make sense to me, but not sure how you could bring it in without having a huge gap from May until the following March!!! Could this work and would any of you vote for it IF it came up.

The game is only called off for the safety of the players not the assistance. As you say they could run the oppersite lines. You would be very unlucky to get injured just running the line or even refereeing a game, it is for the players running at a high pace, and sliding all over the place. They are worth a bit of money. As I have said many times if the game was called off at 9am by the club and you found out that it was 4 or 5 degrees by 1pm you still would not be happy. It seems that the club said they thought the game had a chance, once the ref gets there it is his choice, and once he is there they will try and get it on but only if it is safe for the players.

Right this is what we have left. 4) 32 W G (P B) 11) 1764 F T S 15) 5 A on a S 19) 49, C C for G (P) 27) E, 2 S U P 28- Q, G of 5 P 29) 2 E in a H H 31) The 1 P C (D or N D) 32) D, 10 on M S 33) 5 P R J F (R, B, Y, W, and R) 37) 28 D in a D S 40) 8 C T B in E 44) 42, E L T F 45) 7, A N of N 47) S, 1085 M H 48- C N A, 24 Y A 49) 301 is S P on S M 50) S P D, M 17 51) B, 5 in S 54) M S is D W N 11 56) 1 G T D A 69) 3 L P 72) 2 G of V (W S) 73) G M, 0 D L 86) 20 S in a P (B D) 87) 1471, N of L C (P) 92) F 451, N by R B 93) 24 C G 96) 4 J on S C D (L, B, C and A) 97) 1982, P W B 100) The 7 S, C C

Seems that you have all been beaten by my wives 'Pink Board' Hmmm!!

billiards

Ended up another great day after a cagey start. Looking forward to posting a 500 + lead then making them bat again!

Amazing what can happen when the Sky Sports camera are there!!

Again it is 100% the safety of the players, for the game to go ahead. You are never going to please everyone ever!

This, and why if both managers and sets of players agree, then they should sign something, and get on with it.

Charlton football club can contact the FA and say that the pitch is not playable up until the referee arrives at the ground, and then it is up to the referee. I should amagine the referee did not think the game would go ahead but when in all be it later, and tried to give it time. I would have done the same, once I have arrived at the ground you have to see it as close to fit to play as you have travelled in yourself. It is the worst thing arriving at the game only to call it off, we all want the game to go ahead as fans, players club officals and the referee and his assistance. They are all there at this time so no reason not to go ahead apart from the area of play not being safe to play on for the PLAYERS as this is the main thing that is drilled into you at your training for the game to go ahead. Him as a referee, he must have been bloody good to get to the premier league, but god knows why he has done so bad over the last few seasons to be in league 1? But it is the same as players they slid away to the lower league if they do not stay on top of their game.

So most of you are saying the game should have been called off early while a few are saying why not leave it a couple more hours. Now by delaying the decision the referee was trying to see if he could get the game on, now if you leave it another 3 hours how woud you feel if the game was still called off after all that time? You cannot win. Not easy at all the -4 from sunrise can change to well up to 7/8/9 degrees by lunchtime, and you would not be happy if the game was called off before you leave at 9am only to find out that it was frost free come lunchtime and 4 or 5 degrees? But you could get rid of all the grey areas and say right all games have to be called off if the pitch is frozen at 9am, but you will find that much more games will be called off if you do it this way during the height of the winter. There is no easy solution.

Health and safety outside the area of play is nothing to do with the FA, but the area of play is. You will find that most games will be called off nice and early when it is to do health and safety issues, but when it is down to the area of play the referees who are employed by the county FA's under the directives of the FA, the they are encouraged to try and get the game on, but also HAVE to above all take the players safety into account. So as I have said early in this thread or another one, you will have the groundsman saying they can get the game on and to give a bit more time. You may have the players saying they want to play and both cluns. At this stage I would bring in a clause and say they players sign it if they and both managers agree that they think it is fine to play, but this does not happen, and if the referee decides if the area of play is not fit for a game and above all the safety of the players are not 100%, then the ref has to call the game off. There are so many different parts to it, but the ref may have thought that the game had a good chance of going ahead, only to find out that it did not in the end. You can never tell, a couple of Sundays ago a game was called off the night before the game and the next day the ground frost had gone and the pitches were fine. You just cannot win really! Say the game was called off first thing in the morning but then the weather warmed up and the pitched cleared. Of course you as a supporter would never know this so I suppose this would be the better option. Then you get into the winter break issue, but when would you have that? December - end of Feb? All begining to point towards a summer league!! March - December every season. None of us want this do we? Think about it though it would make sense!!

Get a room!!

Could not believe it when I saw that they were bowled out for 98, but at the time i did not know what our score was. Now when I saw our score I could not have asked for more.

To go from the Premier league to league 1 suggest to me that he should be banned from refereeing, but he got to the premier league so must had been a really good ref to get there. I also think that most supports do not know a lot of the laws of the game, and what referees HAVE to carry out. You should go on the basic referee course it is an eye opener. When I am at games now and everyone is losing their head I just say to myself, but the referee was right to do that under the directive of the FA, but maybe not in common sence! I always find that when I am refereeing a game you have 11 players that love you and 11 players that hate you, and this flips sides all through the game depending on which team feels hard done by. I often get 'that is a top decision ref' at the same time as 'what the **** was that for, are you blind'. This is also the same for managers and fans, and you just have to carry on as you feel best. The gap is closing and referees try and get the players involved and build up respect, but referee decisions in games seem to be getting worse... perhaps the focus should be on this and also one referee in each half or on the pitch as it moves so quickly, and in Sunday league one end to the other with one hump of the ball!! Great fun though!!

AGREED! I think the managers and players from each side could sign something to say they are happy to play, but you will find that some players just want the choice made for them!

Yes for the fans point of view I 100% agree, and as a fan I would not have wanted to make the trip for the game to be called off. On the flip side the FA again tell all referees that they must try and get the game on and give it time. So really they cannot win!

Oh they do, just take a look at todays ref for example and how he has fallen!! They get relegated for their errors and that has a huge finacial inpact just like when players keep making mistakes and lose their place get sold and keep doing it slide down the leagues. You tell me a player who never makes a mistake, they are all human. I agree that referees need to be more approachable, and explain why they have made a decision, and also say when they get something wrong, but this is starting to happen with the respect campiagn. http://www.thefa.com/leagues/respect