As per official website, pitch inspection due at 4:30pm.

http://www.ictfc.co.uk/articles/20110202/ict-v-dundee-united-pitch-inspection_2208825_2283218

Well just back from a 40 mile round trip for nothing. Had to leave at 5pm despite no result of the pitch inspection aso my son has to be at TCS by 6pm to sell programmes. I know if its not playable its not playable but an earlier decision would have saved a lot of hassle to a lot of folk. We dont all live in Sneck and theres the away lot to consider as well.

This is very odd. Not much rain down the Longman for most of the afternoon/evening.

Dundee Utd must be jinxed.

The only consolation is that it's one less game for Jonny Hayes to miss.

This is exactly what my thoughts were.

Have we turned into a nation of football wimps? not long ago we played Partick up here in a cup replay and it was much worse than the weather today- and it was played.

Would'nt mind hearing what Tommy Cumming has to say about this!

Its the curse of the SPL rules i.e Undersoil Heating. Back in the day they could 'Deep Spike' the pitch - water dissapears into sand below - Game On -------------except that partick game it was more like water polo in a paddling pool

well it could be worse... at least folk had a chance to turn back look at the county game last night that was called off after 66 mins. that would be much worse in my eyes as they have the whole thing to go through again

looking on the brighter side of things we will have a more gelled squad and players back from injury for the re arranged game.

Well just back from a 40 mile round trip for nothing. Had to leave at 5pm despite no result of the pitch inspection aso my son has to be at TCS by 6pm to sell programmes. I know if its not playable its not playable but an earlier decision would have saved a lot of hassle to a lot of folk. We dont all live in Sneck and theres the away lot to consider as well.

Have just updated the story on the main site with details, but basically, the club asked for an early inspection but the SPL said it couldn be done as we have no grade 1 officials in Inverness.

http://caleythistleonline.com/3486-tonights-match-postponed

Dont see whats wrong with getting whoever the top qualified ref in Inverness is to have a look !!!

So much for the drainage system doon TCS....i have to say....I have seen games go ahead in much worse condition when we were in the lower leagues. Im suprised, as the rain wasnt even that heavy today. I can only assume it takes a lot less for a game to be called off at SPL level

Eye witness report or your information. Round about 5pm today, I watched one of the longest and most thorough inspections I have ever seen in football where the match referee performed just about every test he could on the pitch - again and again. In particular he bounced the ball repeatedly on a quite extensive area around the edge of the North Stand penalty box and again and again the ball gave one weak bounce as it threw up fountains of water and then stopped dead. The rest of the pitch wasn't too bad but there was a significant area in the North half of it which was very wet indeed.

Make no mistake about it, the referee did not take that decision lightly and appeared to repeat various tests of running, bouncing the ball and passing very frequently before he gave his verdict after about 20 minutes of examination.

It is my understanding that Caley Thistle first requested the inspection before lunch time. I did not detect any dissent when the decision was made at around 5:15.

I can only speculate as to how keen the SPL (who insisted that this fixture DIDN'T go ahead on December 4th) were to get this game cleared last night, given that Dundee United have only played 20 matches.

Also there is, anecdotally, the impression that the drainage on the TCS pitch is not as good as it was before the undersoil heating was installed. This, of course, means in addition that the pitch cannot be rolled with long spikes to create drainage channels for surface water since the spikes would burst the USH pipes.

Edited February 2, 201115 yr by Charles Bannerman

So, basically than, a Grade 1 referee can bounce a ball better than any other referee?

What to hell's going on down there ?? Hardly enough rain to cancel the game surely . Coincidence that we have injured and suspended players ?

So amongst your many other talents, being able to pass a pitch you haven't even seen, are you now a qualified referee??

Judging by the weather conditions in Inverness right now, I'd say the referee's decision was absolutely spot on.

Well just back from a 40 mile round trip for nothing. Had to leave at 5pm despite no result of the pitch inspection aso my son has to be at TCS by 6pm to sell programmes. I know if its not playable its not playable but an earlier decision would have saved a lot of hassle to a lot of folk. We dont all live in Sneck and theres the away lot to consider as well.

Have just updated the story on the main site with details, but basically, the club asked for an early inspection but the SPL said it couldn be done as we have no grade 1 officials in Inverness.

http://caleythistleonline.com/3486-tonights-match-postponed

Dont see whats wrong with getting whoever the top qualified ref in Inverness is to have a look !!!

Thanks Scotty for that. As usual the SPL seem oblivious to the needs of fans. As usual rules are rules as far as the SPL is concerned. Out of interest anyone know where the nearest grade 1 official to Inverness is based?

My link

Nice to see United not blaming ICT

well the weather for me to get home tonight was appalling and that the pitch i dont know it was to dark when i finally was able to leave the a9 after sitting there for an hour after a crash just before the longman roundabout i was in inverness all it was heavy enough to postpone it but there u go highly disappointed but cant be helped

well it could be worse... at least folk had a chance to turn back look at the county game last night that was called off after 66 mins. that would be much worse in my eyes as they have the whole thing to go through again

Nah, meant my coupon came in, Queens might still have won but I'll take the money thanks!

Long way back in for the horses pulling the caravan team bus though.

So, basically than, a Grade 1 referee can bounce a ball better than any other referee?

They're specially trained doncha know?!

According to sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/inverness/225357-inverness-caley-vs-dundee-united-called-off/ the game is likely to be played on either 5th or 6th April due to United having a lot of games between now and then.

In particular he bounced the ball repeatedly on a quite extensive area around the edge of the North Stand penalty box and again and again the ball gave one weak bounce as it threw up fountains of water and then stopped dead. The rest of the pitch wasn't too bad but there was a significant area in the North half of it which was very wet indeed.

This spot must be where the aquifer crosses the pitch I presume?

Given the pitch is waterlogged and the poor forecast for the next few days I assume they'll make an early decision to call off Saturday's game

During his inspection, that ref was offside on the edge of our box and more than definelty interferring with play

During his inspection, that ref was offside on the edge of our box and more than definelty interferring with play

Aye... but the linesman never noticed - as usual

A bit of a farce that we had to wait until the back of 5 for the game to be called off. You'd think there was someone closer to Inverness that could do it. And even save the match ref the jouney if unplayable.

But we all know how Scootish football, especially the SPL, works.... it doesn't.

I agree, a total joke and very insulting to any local officials of whatever grade.

What planet do these people actually live on?

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2011/02/03/dundee-united-chief-stephen-thompson-blasts-spl-for-late-call-off-at-inverness-86908-22895848/

Annoyance all round by all accounts.

I agree, a total joke and very insulting to any local officials of whatever grade.

What planet do these people actually live on?

I would have thought that someone local like Jimmy Johnstone or Bill Machray - vastly experienced ex referees who have gone on to become referee supervisors and who actually assess the kind of people the SPL seem to insist must carry out inspections - might have been perfectly capable of deciding whether a pitch is playable or not.

On the other hand Bill or Jimmy could have got to the TCS long before the match referee whose late arrival presumably maximised the chances of the game going ahead. I would have been a very interested fly on the wall as regards the conversation the ref presumably had with the SPL on his way up the road.

And the number of times he bounced that ball on the pitch before apparently at last accepting that it wasn't suddenly doing anything other than rebounding feebly once before stopping dead was amazing. You saw a couple of attempts on STV but they totalled well into double figures.

QUESTION - does this therefore mean that no SPL game at the TCS is going to be able to be postponed before the arrival of the match referee? If so, where does that leave travelling fans?

Anyway... maybe time to put this incident on to the back burner and hope instead that the pitch has dried up by Saturday. The rain/ snow is forecast to stop by tomorrow and the last BBC forecast I saw was for sunshine on Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Edited February 3, 201115 yr by Charles Bannerman