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[Brian Flynn]

This morning around 9.15am I put a piece of bread into the toaster in the dining room at the very pleasant Parks Hotel in Torquay.I was looking forward to the challenge of playing Torquay, but by the time the toast had popped up I had received a call from Grahame Rowley advising me that the match was off.Pretty dejected but not that surprised, considering the weather on the journey down on Saturday & what had clearly been a pretty bad night,I consoled myself that it had been ages since we had a game postponed & these things happen.The Hotel owner expressed surprise that the game was off as the ground is situated in one of the highest parts of the town & had good drainage to his knowledge (He had been to Torquay's last home BSP game against Woking).The Family Flynn checked out & proceeded to sample the retail delights of the English Riviera & just before setting off on the journey back I decided to drive up to Plainmoor to see if I could gain access & see how bad the pitch was.Unfortunately the ground was locked,but part of the pitch was visible from an exit gate situated in one of the corners.Very surprisingly, the section of the pitch near the home supporters end seemed perfect.Niall & I then tried to gain a view of the rest of the ground but a 10 minute circumnavigation of Plainmoor was unfruitful.We were just about to depart when I spotted a railing that I thought I could stand on to give me a view of the end where the Alty supporters would have been.My hopes for the vista were surpassed as it revealed about 90% of the pitch which was perfectly playable around 1.15pm.When I say perfectly playable,I mean there were NO signs of water whatsoever.I have sent some photos to John Laidlar which may be published on the Club website.

So if the pitch was perfectly playable at 1.15pm without any intervention from Torquay United Football, why was the game called off at 9.05am?The weather was not great but the rain showers were intermittent throughout the morning & I would be genuinely surprised if the forecast said incessant rain.The wind was variable but on the whole lighter than Saturday.With the team staying overnight in Devon & the travelling supporters either already in Torquay or well on their way, why wasn't the initial inspection later or if there was going to be one at 9.00am, why couldn't a later inspection be arranged?I really would struggle to comprehend a scenario where there was NIL chance of getting the game on!!

Let the conspiracy theories begin!!

[Dougals Dad]

Maybe the shared stewards wanted double pay for Sunday working. They should get stewards as dedicated as ours.

[markecky]

As one Torquay fan puts in on their board...

"We now how a rested, fully fit squad and we really shouldn't be expecting anything less than a decent win on Wednesday night"

They never wanted to play us on a Sunday, would rather have us travel all day on the Friday and play then in my opinion.

Pitch was due to be inspected at 09:30....however was inspected at 09:05 by a local official when no-one was present from Alty?

Fuel to the fire?

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

Brian,

Frankly, the revelation that I find most disturbing in your report from Torquay is the fact that you stayed in a hotel where you have to make your own toast!

Missing that access to the work expenses account, perhaps?

[AltyTunnelSteward]

As one Torquay fan puts in on their board...

"We now how a rested, fully fit squad and we really shouldn't be expecting anything less than a decent win on Wednesday night"

They never wanted to play us on a Sunday, would rather have us travel all day on the Friday and play then in my opinion.

Pitch was due to be inspected at 09:30....however was inspected at 09:05 by a local official when no-one was present from Alty?

Fuel to the fire?

Ecky,

I suspect that it is fairly well known that Torquay wanted this match played on a Friday night which would indeed have involved our players travelling all day and, in all probability, a greatly reduced away support. I suspect however that, in their position (full time playing part time from the other end of the country) irrespective of the respective League positions we would want the same. It is only natural to try to maximise and, dare I say exploit, any potential advantage you may identify.

As for the pitch inspection issue, the 9.30 quoted was when the Torquay groundsman was intending to inspect. You will know from your involvement at Moss Lane that it is normal practice to get a Local Official (who incidentally has to be of an appropriate level) to inspect the pitch thereby potentially saving at least the cost of match officials travel together with other, potentially avoidable, expenses.

There is no requirement for a representative of the visitors to be in attendance at a pitch inspection otherwise, to be fair they really wouldn't happen would they? as one of the main purposes in many inspections (stopping the opposition players, staff and supporters from travelling) would be obviated.

[markecky]

I hear you Phil, I just feel that they never wanted to play it on the Sunday.

[Unemployed Coalminer]

so would you rather have an inspection at 1.30 with the possibility that the weather had stayed as bad and you had got all the way there only to have to go home again? scuse my french but conspiricy theories are bollocks.

[AltyTunnelSteward]

I hear you Phil, I just feel that they never wanted to play it on the Sunday.

Ecky,

It has been fairly common knowledge for a while that they wanted to play Friday night and we had declined their request

[Brian Flynn]

Brian,

Frankly, the revelation that I find most disturbing in your report from Torquay is the fact that you stayed in a hotel where you have to make your own toast!

Missing that access to the work expenses account, perhaps?

Au contraire Monsieur Cult de la Grande Tunna......I always seek out hotels where you make your own toast as they are much better than when it is served.....inevitably randomly at any point during your breakfast & probably cold.I also particularly like those conveyor belt toasters where you put your bread in & marvel as it rolls along the conveyor belt & drops off about 40 seconds later......look out for one being delivered by Santa!!!

[Brian Flynn]

so would you rather have an inspection at 1.30 with the possibility that the weather had stayed as bad and you had got all the way there only to have to go home again? scuse my french but conspiricy theories are bollocks.

The simple answer to this question is Yes but a more detailed explanation is as follows:-

Given the state of the pitch at 1.15pm, I cannot understand how it could have been deemed unplayable at 9.00am.The weather conditions during the morning were such that it is unlikely that the state of the pitch changed dramatically & obviously noone from Torquay was working on it.Therefore why wasn't there a later inspection say at 12 Noon scheduled or at least why were Alty not consulted.I would suggest something along the lines of a call to Derek Wilshaw from the Torquay secretary at 9.05am saying "The pitch is currently unplayable but depending on the weather & how quickly we can get the water off the pitch we recommend another inspection at 12 Noon.We realise that many of your supporters are on the way & of course there is no guarantee that the match will be played but if you are happy we will proceed as stated".The management & team would obviously have wanted to take this option as they were already in Devon with the Club having forked out between £2-3,000 for the trip  & a call to the supporters coach would have given those people an opportunity to decide whether to risk going on or cut their losses at that point.Bearing in mind the fantastic gesture by the Club Board to fund the Supporters Coach Travel, I am sure something would have been sorted out for the travelling fans if indeed the journey had proved fruitless.

All I really want is a reasonable explanation for postponing the match as at this point,based upon the information I have, I can't see one.

Do you have a reasonable explanation for why the game was postponed at 9.05am?

Four years ago we played Weymouth in the F.A. Trophy.The conditions on the evening before the match,during the night & on the morning of the game were worse than in Torquay this weekend.At 9.00am on the Saturday morning I called Weymouth F.C. & was told that the game was unlikely to be played but that they were appealing for people to come down to help.My family joined about 25 Weymouth supporters to help sweep the pitch & by 12 Noon the chances of the game being on were reasonably good.Fortunately the rain stopped a couple of hours before the game & the match went ahead...rightly so as it was playable.The pitch was OK but obviously showed signs of hours of brushes being used on it & the perimeter of the pitch was a mass of mud & water.Plainmoor was perfect at 1.00pm yesterday with no sign of water either on or off the pitch.The difference between the two scenarios is simple in that Weymouth did everything that they could do to get the game on whilst Torquay appear not to have.

[hsmith1]

If the weather was not as bad as it had been saturday and saturday night then the game would have been played.While Torquay did want the game on Friday in the first instance it was agreed Sunday would be the day and if it had not been for the weather that would have been the end of it and 3 points in the bag for Alty.

[Brian Flynn]

If the weather was not as bad as it had been saturday and saturday night then the game would have been played.While Torquay did want the game on Friday in the first instance it was agreed Sunday would be the day and if it had not been for the weather that would have been the end of it and 3 points in the bag for Alty.

Whilst the weather on Saturday & Saturday night in Torquay was poor & potentially put the game in jeopardy, I was still quite surprised to hear the game was off.Having seen the state of the pitch at 1.00pm I am completely bemused as to why it wasn't played.Saturday's weather was pretty atrocious all the way from Altrincham to Exeter, but it improved quite a bit between Exeter & Torquay.

[Alty Dave]

Lets face it,  they are frightened of northern teams! 

[WiganAlty]

Having also travelled down on Saturday, I would have expected that the pitch would have been in a far worse state at 13:00 on Sunday if it was "allegedly" waterlogged at 09:05, especially given the rain that was still coming down when we ventured back into the town centre at 10:30 on Sunday morning. However, Brian's photo seems to suggest otherwise.

Let's face it - Torquay probably had NO intention of playing on Sunday, especially as they have a game on Wednesday at Farsley. It wouldn't have surprised me if they had arranged their Christmas booze-up on Saturday night and couldn't be bothered to turn up.

Tin pot operation down in Torquay as has been mentioned before, and I wouldn't expect the courtesy of an explanation from them either. Perhaps someone from the club could ask them officially to give their viewpoint in the interests of being fair?

[Hamilton]

That would be an interesting answer!