As winter falls.....Bad Weather Guidance 2024 Edition

Its January, its cold, its probably a good idea to update the annual "it’s going to be cold at the weekend" guidance. There is some slightly revised guidance lower down so do please read all the way down!

On Saturday its looking like large parts of the region are going to be struggling to get much above freezing which means games are likely to be postponed, or at the very least questionable first thing on Saturday morning. As such please think ahead and if possible, do the following:

1. You all know your own pitches better than your league managers do, have a look at your fixture lists and decide where the risks are, if you've a 10am on the pitch in the shadow of the sports hall, it’s probably more of a problem than 2pm on the one next door that gets the sun.

2. Have a look at where your opposition are travelling from, reach out to them and figure out what time a decision needs to be made, obviously long distances need more warning than local derbies. If you can’t get access to your pitch until a certain time to do an inspection, please make sure your opposition are aware and discuss how to proceed. If you can't agree reach out to your division managers for a bit of help of mediation. It’s actually in the regulations it’s the home teams job to reach out to the opposition, but if you haven't heard anything, be proactive. We did award some games last season for Clubs not managing the situation well enough, make sure that if there is an issue, its not your club on the hook.

3. Away teams, have a sensible conversation internally about how much notice you actually need. If its a 10:30 pushback and you insist on an 8:30 pitch inspection then your game will be off. Obviously if you have a long way to travel thats one thing, but if your game is relatively local, be a bit pragmatic, especially if you know those pitches thaw for a 12noon push. 

3. Agree communications protocols and get these out to your opposition, check your normal fixture secretary isn't on holiday in California where its 2am when you need to make a decision or playing / umpiring when they are likely to get a phone call. Get phone numbers, speaking to someone is a confirmable medium, e-mail is not. Make sure all your admins details are visible on GMS, if they aren't and there is a row about who should have contacted who, the first thing we will check is can someone actually find a phone number. 

4. Remember your umpires, club umpires might be on the team WhatsApp, or they might not, but appointed umpires definitely aren't. Please remember to keep them in the loop on what's going on, again a phone call is better than an email. All the appointed umpires details are visible on GMS, but please check you can find them before Saturday. A similar point on any suppliers, caterers, venues etc.

5. Speak to any other clubs that share your facilities, can you share the burden of pitch inspections? Can you get more feedback through out the day, more importantly, its going to look a bit daft if you call a game off and the game before took place. 

If a game is postponed:

1. This must be communicated to your opposition immediately, if you are not voice calling them, make sure you have received confirmation.
2. Notify your league manager, Clubs cannot mark a fixture postponed on GMS anymore it must be done by the manager, drop them a note on email, and they will mark it postponed.
3. If a game is postponed, start the process for re-arranging it immediately, remember games must be re-arranged within 10 days, if you haven't even attempted to reach out to your opposition by that point the game may just get awarded against you.
4. According to regulation 13.3.1.a matches must be played within 36 days, the recommended date is Sunday 15th February, however this is a slip weekend so obviously if clubs agree Saturday 14th can be used. 

As always, if you have questions, please reach out to your league managers or opposite numbers at other Clubs.