On Tuesday night the Poland v England World Cup qualifier was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Before the fateful decision was made to postpone the game we witnessed farcical scenes of the referee coming on at various intervals trying to kick a ball on a rain sodden pitch.
What made the situation even more ridiculous was the fact that the stadium had a roof and the whole situation could have been avoided. Someone had decided that the roof should remain open even though they knew heavy rain was on its way.
In the same way that train companies complain of Ӵhe wrong type of snowӠthe authorities could not shut the roof because it was raining too much. The only action that did take place was for a few fans to run on the pitch and dive through the puddles.
Rain does not stop play
They were concerned about the safety of the players but football in the past did not always take such a health and safety approach. Matches would be played whatever the weather and players would hobble off wearing ankle braces after falling over.
The Champions League final in 2008 was played during a rain storm. The game was played in Moscow between Chelsea and Manchester United and neither set of players were put off by the rain.
Although the slippery surface did have a bearing on the result as Chelsea captain John Terry slipped whilst taking the crucial penalty kick and his shot hit the post. This then allowed their northern rivals to win the cup.
The Manchester team was probably more used to the wet stuff than their southern counterparts.
Playing in a blizzard
All that a bit of snow meant in the old days was an excuse to get out the orange ball and wear gloves. They did not seem to worry about the dangers of knee ligament injuries by playing on a treacherous surface.
Yet only a couple of years ago there was controversy when a match was allowed to go ahead in a blizzard. In 2010 ex-England manager Sven Goran Eriksson complained about a game between his team Leicester City and Ipswich Town carrying on despite the fact that snow had to be cleared from the pitch to make the lines visible.
Concerned his players might need access to first aid kits playing in such conditions Eriksson said: әou go skiing on snow, not play football.Ԝn
The players were taken off the pitch for a period in the second half but came back on. It was felt that as Ipswich were leading 3-0 at the time the referee was under pressure to complete the game no matter how wintery the conditions became.
Creating a level playing field
The experts say that to prepare a sports pitch so it wonִ become waterlogged you should promote surface drainage, stop water running on to the pitch from surrounding areas and install a secondary drainage system.
Or you could always fit the stadium with a roof and close it.