How to Approach Pitch Inspections
27/11/09 17:31
Dear Colleagues
I have been asked by Wirral District Council to pass on a request to you as referees….
Last week the council left the decision to ‘Play or not Play’ on local pitches down to the ‘expertise’ of the Referee.
Unfortunately even though it was quite clear that some of the pitches were not playable due to the heavy rainfall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, a few referees still played and this has resulted in five pitches now being out of action for at least 5 weeks.
Could I please ask that you make a professional judgement and take into consideration future use of the pitches. It is better cancelling one game than playing one game just because the teams want to play and then that pitch being out of action for the next 5 weeks.
I would suggest that if there is any doubt, get to the ground early and make the ‘Pitch Inspection’ on your own. If you are pressurised by the teams to play, just remind them that you have to be 100% certain that you can guarantee player safety, and just highlight the fact that if you play today you will not be playing for another 5/6 weeks. The council have also said that if a club puts unacceptable pressure on a referee to play the game they would like to hear about that, which could result in those teams not getting a pitch allocation next season!
If you could give the above some serious consideration, Wirral Council does not want to start calling all venues off simply because a few referees are playing on ‘Unfit Pitches’.
Many thanks for your co-operation