The clues were in the endless news bulletins and weather forecasts from last Wednesday onwards.
For the weekend, and Saturday in particular, 88 flood warnings, forecast wind speeds of up to 70 mph., and “amber” rain alerts for North-West England and South-West Scotland. There were more indications of problems with early cancellations at Premier League grounds Parkhead and Tynecastle, followed by a string of further postponements. On top of dangerous excess road surface water, there was the unknown factor of displaced traffic in the Central Belt following the complete closure of the Forth Road Bridge.
Despite all this Annan Athletic allowed Inverurie Locos and their supporters to travel south.
Quite incredibly, they even confirmed on Saturday morning that the match would go ahead and urged supporters to attend! On arrival in Annan many locals at the ground stated that the game had had no chance of proceeding. What on earth were the Annan officials thinking? Why did they not seek an official early inspection?
Contrast Annan with Hearts – mindful that Inverness Caledonian Thistle were planning to depart for Edinburgh via the A9 (and with the bridge closed) at 07.45am, they arranged a referee’s inspection under floodlights at 07.30am, the match was called off due to wind, and ICT were immediately informed. A professional approach and everyone was happy.
Annan’s handling of the situation was amateur.
I spoke on Sunday to several Locos’ supporters who made the trip and they are furious. They have wasted time and money and are very sympathetic towards the Club for whom it was a financial and logistical nightmare.
The Scottish Football Association must sort this out. This is not the first time this has happened and, as usual, they care little for the supporters. As Gordon Henderson (of the Chuff-Chuffs) posted on Facebook and Twitter on Friday, surely it would not have been outwith the bounds of possibility for Annan and the SFA to delay the game for 24 hours to Sunday when better weather was forecast? Sorry, Gordon, that would have required a degree of intelligence!
And what is the point of introducing a pyramid system to allow (or force) Highland League Clubs into the Scottish League if this is an indication of how postponements will be mis-managed? Hardly a ringing endorsement of a better life!
I was lucky. I’ve been down this road before (no pun intended!)….I could not see the game going ahead and stayed at home. I have better ways to spend my Saturdays than have the S.F.A. send me on a fool’s errand.
Talking of which, there was a game at Harlaw, but it was “tinged with sadness” for high-spending Formartine United as they crashed to Cove Rangers. Inverurie Locos are still in the Cup. I remember the days when Formartine could keep up with Locos.