Winter Break Anyone?
|
 Monday
9 January 2006
By Gaz
Pearson
All the speculation surrounding Graeme Souness' future, the waiting
for him to resign, be sacked, whatever, is getting boring now. Consequently
I have decided to open up some old wounds that affect not only Newcastle
United but English football as a whole and the thousands of fans who
follow the game in the UK.
Should we adopt a winter break that the majority of countries in Europe
already have or are there any other methods we should look at to beat
the winter blues, or snow in our case?
The fiasco of the Charlton match which never was, was perhaps the
low point of an already miserable Christmas for Newcastle United.
The powers that be who were responsible for the gritters decided to
play Scrooge while thousands of fans did their best impersonations
of Torvill and Dean.
The thing is, in today's day and age, the 21st Century, how can a
snow flurry manage to bring utter chaos and ultimately a standstill
to our country and more importantly, our stadium's? Maybe that is
a question that covers a broader range of sociological arguments but
in the context of this article perhaps the football ground officers
and footballing authorities need to be the pioneers of new methods,
ideas and ways to rectify this nagging, and potentially hazardous
situation when the white stuff does descend down from the ether
Most Premiership grounds have under-soil heating so the pitch is rarely
the problem, unless you are Bolton Wanderers or Blackburn Rovers,
whose under-soil heating just happens to be 'faulty' when the bad
whether does come.
But when matches are called off in the Premiership it's mainly due
to the safety of the fans coming into and out of the stadium that
overrides whether games go ahead or not. We all know that calling
a match off 25 minutes before kick-off is ridiculous and further highlights
the mismanagement from top to bottom of our club.
Surely someone at the club could see what it was like outside of the
ground? Idiots. However, maybe there should be a rule that stipulates
that clubs must call a match off in time for away fans not to be half
way up the A1?
It's not only away fans who suffer though. I mean there are a hell
of a lot of Newcastle fans who don't live in Newcastle itself yet
it seems that these people have been neglected and all the sympathy
went towards the Charlton fans. Incidentally I bumped into some Charlton
lads in the local chippy after trekking back from St. James's and
we couldn't believe that the weather was still causing havoc in today's
day and age.
I know that there is a for and against debate raging on about the
winter break in England but surely, as one forum and Newcastle-Online
chatroom figure stated, 'common sense must prevail'? I know fans like
the football Christmas period and so do I but when the safety of fans
is put at risk then is it really worth it?
Of course it is. The amount of fans who were at St. James's proved
that we would brave anything to watch the Toon. But maybe this is
our stubborn pigheadedness. If a fan had been killed that night then
surely it would all have been put into context.
Games have to be called off, basically, unless technology can prevent
this and maybe it can?
Perhaps still play the games where it is unsafe for fans to attend
but the pitch is deemed playable and allow regional television, i.e.
Tyne Tees, ITV or Sky TV or whoever to broadcast the game live, so
they still go ahead?
Refund all those who purchased tickets obviously. A compensation package
should be given to the club from the FA. Thus an insurance policy
of some kind should be created for such a scenario. This could be
implemented to any club, in any division. Sky TV has multi-choice
technology now does it not?
I know there is nothing like being at the match, but maybe this is
the next best thing? I wonder how many people will be unable to go
to the re-arranged fixture because they have prior engagements?
The bottom line is, something needs to be done. Each time winter rolls
up the panic button is pressed and games are lost. The idea of regional
matches was brought up, what a stupid idea... if it's dangerous around
the ground what difference would that make?
Some action must be taken, be it a winters break or whatever, before
a major accident occurs and lives are lost. Apparently the weather
is supposed to become even worse, both now and in the future. Action
must be taken now. So put your kit-kats down FA fatcats and do something
about it.
© Gaz Pearson
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