05-10-2021, 09:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-10-2021, 09:32 PM by Pompey_in_Derby.)
The reason why the Football League rules are so vague about dealing with an abandoned match is because there are so many varied circumstances that can cause a match to be abandoned.
A waterlogged pitch is just one example - could be a frozen pitch, fog, a serious injury to a player, crowd trouble or one side reduced to less than 7 players. If one particular club is deemed to be at fault (or cannot control their fans) then their opponents may be given a walkover win - this happened when Sheff United went down to 6 players against West Brom or when Blackpool fans invaded the pitch to protest against the Oystons.
I remember Newcastle fans invaded the pitch at home to Forest in the 70s yet instead of awarding the tie to Forest, the FA decided to replay the match at a neutral ground.
I've been to 3 abandoned games:
Pompey away at Le Havre abandoned at half time following umpteen pitch invasions
Pompey v Wycombe
Notts Country v Wimbledon in the FA Cup when fog reduced visibility to about 30 yards. A Wimbledon player - forget his name - had played something like 200 games for them, never scored and hit a screamer in that game only for it to be annulled from the record books.
Going back to the 1960s there was that infamous match in the FA Cup when Denis Law scored 6 against Luton before a late abandonment. Somehow Luton managed to win the rearranged game!
Last season Accrington v Sunderland was abandoned in the final few minutes following a downpour and had to be replayed.
Thought Saturday was very wet but have been to several games where conditions were worse and the game continued for 90 minutes.
Pompey v Leicester was by far the worst
Barnsley v Pompey snow
Yeovil v Pompey fog
Pompey v Birmingham rain
Pompey v Coventry rain
Luton v Pompey rain/sleet/snow - remember we were 1-0 down after about 2 minutes and we were all chanting 'call it off', banged in a couple of quick goals and went on to win 4-1 by which time the home fans were chanting 'call it off'!
A waterlogged pitch is just one example - could be a frozen pitch, fog, a serious injury to a player, crowd trouble or one side reduced to less than 7 players. If one particular club is deemed to be at fault (or cannot control their fans) then their opponents may be given a walkover win - this happened when Sheff United went down to 6 players against West Brom or when Blackpool fans invaded the pitch to protest against the Oystons.
I remember Newcastle fans invaded the pitch at home to Forest in the 70s yet instead of awarding the tie to Forest, the FA decided to replay the match at a neutral ground.
I've been to 3 abandoned games:
Pompey away at Le Havre abandoned at half time following umpteen pitch invasions
Pompey v Wycombe
Notts Country v Wimbledon in the FA Cup when fog reduced visibility to about 30 yards. A Wimbledon player - forget his name - had played something like 200 games for them, never scored and hit a screamer in that game only for it to be annulled from the record books.
Going back to the 1960s there was that infamous match in the FA Cup when Denis Law scored 6 against Luton before a late abandonment. Somehow Luton managed to win the rearranged game!
Last season Accrington v Sunderland was abandoned in the final few minutes following a downpour and had to be replayed.
Thought Saturday was very wet but have been to several games where conditions were worse and the game continued for 90 minutes.
Pompey v Leicester was by far the worst
Barnsley v Pompey snow
Yeovil v Pompey fog
Pompey v Birmingham rain
Pompey v Coventry rain
Luton v Pompey rain/sleet/snow - remember we were 1-0 down after about 2 minutes and we were all chanting 'call it off', banged in a couple of quick goals and went on to win 4-1 by which time the home fans were chanting 'call it off'!