The Frickley match, today 30th January, has been called off due to frozen pitch, after an inspection by the referee.

according to the blog on twitter nantwich are considering a complaint about the decision by the ref he didnt wait to explain his decision apparently maybe he didnt relish coming up to the lane he might have been scared

at least its the ref who will get the flak !!! hopefully next weeks game will be on

Apparently the referee couldn't wait to leave the ground once he had made his decision, I've heard that he literally stood over the Frickley financial secretary waiting for the officials expenses to be paid!

If you paid him with a cheque, I hope you stop it.

Apparently both teams wanted the game to be played, but the ref, (who I believe was a scouser, and therefore by association a work shy git) just didn't fancy it, and he had left before the Nantwich team turned up at 1.45.

Believe me, the Nantwich officials are furious with the ref, this is the fourth time we've had wasted journeys this season, Kendal (twice), Durham and now today, clocking up around 1,000 wasted miles.

looks like you wasnt the only team to travel

Seems like the ref was lucky enough to come across the Frickley treasurer when he had his wallet on him!

I'm told that the ref left with a handful of Sri Lanka rupees left over from a visit to watch the cricket in Kandy

The Nantwich officials may be furious with the ref and I am sure the supporters of both sides are too. However, you cannot blame the ref for giving a game every chance to go ahead and then making a decision.......based purely on the state of the pitch and the safety of footballers......to call the game off. I very much doubt this, highly respected, referee was "work shy" or rushing to get away just to avoid the ire of the Nantwich team/officials etc etc. The Ref had travelled across the Pennines and I would imagine he was thinking of the trek back across them once the game had been called off and perhaps even trying to save what was for him too, a wasted afternoon. Yeah he gets paid, but it's only a fraction of what he gets if the game goes ahead..........and I am sure that Nantwich will claim back the portion of expenses they are entitled to.

At the end of the day, Yabber, better 1,000 wasted miles than a couple of your players out with serious injury through playing on unfit surfaces.

Mcscouse you weren't there.
The referee had left before Nantwich arrived. The sun was shining straight down the ground, a hard patch on a touch line was thawing, both sides wanted to play. Nantwich were only 10 minutes drive away from the ground when informed of the decision. The Frickley team then had a training session on the pitch. It easily took a stud and a metal spike. A feeder league game was played acouple of miles away on a pitch which had seen very little direct sunshine without problems.
Different attitude to the ref. at Durham who apparently got suck in and helped to get the ground ready.

I didn't say I WAS there. I didn't dispute that the ref may have left before Nantwich arrived. What I said was that I disputed the REASONS for him leaving. The Referee having made his decision is not obliged to await the arrival of the opposition - otherwise where would we be with games postponed after an early pitch inspection.
Both sides wanted to play in our postponed game on Saturday, but that counts for nothing. If the Ref deems any part of the playing area as unsafe, the game is postponed. Simple as.

Their was no doubt the severe frost overnight, and throughout Saturday would have put the match in some doubt. Both clubs were eager to get a fixture in and out of the way. All around us games were off because of the frost. Maybe an earlier pitch inspection would have resolved the situation. Clubs, now desperate to get fixtures in, can easily be over-optimistic as to the state of the pitch in order to play. I have no doubt the fixture backlog is now a seriouse problem, but it is Nantwich who have to travel again, not Frickley.

Just want thank whoever does the Twitter for FAFC. I was 45mins up the M1 for this game when the Tweet came through. Seeing as it's about a 2 hour drive to get there I was very appreciative of the notice coming through as quickly as it did. Shame all these games get rearranged for midweek as that makes getting up almost impossible, but as the season won't be extended despite the extreme conditions it can't be helped.