Leaderboard

Nonsense. Fames have been called off before due to poor travelling conditions or even poor conditions around stadiums for spectators. SPFL could and should have intervened in this and called games off in advance. If the team had refused to travel , on police advice, the SPFL could have sanctioned them for not fulfilling a fixture.

A good story from Paul Third but as usual the blazers getting paid big wages in the SPFL are incapable of making a decision when they should.

Paul Third: SPFL failed fans after ignoring weather chaos Supporters were treated abysmally and ignored by the football authorities at the weekend. Fans braved treacherous conditions, some in vain, in the hope of watching their side on Saturday. Image: SNS by Paul Third November 24 2024, 12:00 pm Football without fans is nothing – yet it seems the authorities which run Scottish football seem to have forgotten that. How else can you explain the ludicrous events which resulted in farcical scenes across the country? It was a week of yellow and amber warnings being issued on a daily basis so the SPFL cannot say they were caught unaware by the chaos which unfolded on Saturday. We all knew Storm Bert was coming and an amber weather warning was issued on Thursday for Angus, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Aberdeenshire, Highland and Argyll and Bute. This warning followed yellow warnings which had already been issued for parts of the country. The message from Police Scotland was clear. Superintendent Vinnie Fisher, deputy head of road policing, said: “All road users should consider whether they really need to travel in adverse weather.” In a week where parents had been checking to see whether their children’s school was closed or opening later, or whether school transport was operating, in football it seems warnings are trivial affairs best ignored. Saturday was farcical The postponement of Elgin’s home game against Clyde was announced on Friday. It was the only game where an early and entirely sensible decision was made. What followed was ridiculous. We had it all from pitch inspections, late call-offs and rearranged kick-offs with little more than an hour’s notice to team buses getting into difficulty trying to get to games. Throughout it all, the interest of fans was completely ignored. Someone at the SPFL needs to explain why a game of football going ahead is more important than the risk to those who make the game what it is. Why are there no protocols in place if the advice is not to travel unless absolutely necessary. And no, a game of football does not come into the ‘absolutely necessary’ category ever. That may be a bone of contention for the football die-hards – and let’s be honest, anyone prepared to make a trip to watch a game on Saturday comes into that category – but even if you were willing to go the customer service was appalling. It was past noon before Queen of the South’s home game against Caley Thistle was postponed. If you are a Caley Jags fan, you were well on your way to Palmerston Park when you heard that news. And what about poor old Stenhousemuir? They were stuck in the snow at Broxden roundabout on their way to Balmoral Stadium only to find out the game was called off due to public safety. Then there’s the fans who went to Ibrox to watch Rangers face Dundee United or to Paisley to see Aberdeen face hosts St Mirren. The kick-off time for the Rangers game was moved to 3.45pm as Dundee United had been delayed in getting to Glasgow due to the conditions. Aberdeen’s game was delayed an hour due to the snow and subsequent pitch inspection required. This cannot happen again Clearly the weather was horrific, hence why the warnings were issued in the first place. Nobody can say they didn’t know it was coming. Jokes about Bert and Ernie were made all week due to the naming of the storm. But it’s the powers that be in Scottish football who were the real muppets in this sorry affair. By effectively putting their fingers in their ears and ignoring what was coming they put players and fans at risk. As a customer service exercise it was appalling. It cannot be allowed to happen again. If rules are not in place to govern events like the ones which unfolded then that in itself is unforgivable. If action is not taken now to ensure this doesn’t happen again then it’s downright negligent. ps………. i took the grandkids to RC v Motherwell on Saturday. Hardly any wind from the house to the game, bit of rain during game, but we were well up the east stand as a lot of people gave it a miss. might have been over a hundred away fans, in good cheer, giving earache to the linesman and referee who forgot his yellow cards in the first half, and a 6 or 7 minute check for a VAR offside on Motherwell goal which from my seat on the 18 yard line looked well on side. Goal stood. wouldnt have fancied their trip home with the weather and zero points.

Precisely why I find it hard to believe that a team would be sanctioned for refusing to travel when a legitimate weather/police warning was in place.

The team travelled south on Friday. Last season games were postponed due to weather warnings but that did not happen this weekend. To me, that smacks of a change of approach by the SPFL. One game was postponed on Friday. All the other postponements were on Saturday, and came when travel was taking place to the games. Where travel would be through the amber area, in my opinion those games should have been postponed on Friday. As I say, it happened last season. Whilst I’m delighted Annan lost, did the extended travel time and a two hour delay to the kick off impact their performance?

It's not the responsibility of clubs, the SFA or the SPFL to make any call on travel conditions. It's only for them to decide if a pitch and stadium is in fit condition to host a match. If people (including the team) decide to travel despite weather warnings and police advice then that's on them and they should fully accept there's a risk matches will be called off closer to kick off than they might like. Travelling to a football match is not 'essential travel' by any definition of the term.

It would be fabulous to see ICTWFC at the top of the table tomorrow. Go girls!

Montrose won 2-1. Leaves us still 10 points off Annan but with a game in hand.

Absolutely disgusting !! No consideration for travelling fans.Travel Club bus left at 8.30 drove through horrendous conditions only to be told game off when we reached Stirling .Whoever is responsible needs to get their act together and get this sorted out.

The latest information on the women's football.

Ah well, that was an interesting wee tour of Peeblesshire

Fortunately, I cancelled last night, as I got several messages saying trains I had booked were cancelled, so got those refunded and avoided the Hotel costs. not much I can do about the flight costs, but hey ho....presumably the match when it is played will be mid-week, so depending when, I might come up all the way by train and stop in Dumfries

Only one game still surviving in each of the bottom three divisions.

Actually Radio Scotland just mentioned that our game is off due to waterlogged pitch, not snow itself.

Given the logistics involved and the weather warnings issued by the met office the game should have been called off yesterday on safety grounds. An extremely poor show from both the SPFL and Queens.

I don't care what anyone thinks/says....with a good run of form we can claw back the 18 points between us and top of the table! At the very very least we are capable of finishing in the playoffs.....C'mon ICT let's keep this run going

Well we now know the answer, they will wait til the team are already there (and have spent thousands on a hotel), and the supporters are most of the way there.