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[Dougals Dad]

From John Laidlar's site: (edited)

"This is South Devon says that "Gulls' boss Paul Buckle backed referee Andy Halliday's decision to call off Torquay United's Blue Square Premier game against Altrincham, calling it a 'no-brainer'. And Buckle insisted ... hand. 'I've got a fully-fit squad, the lads trained brilliantly towards the end of last week and we want to play games - no doubt about that', said Buckle. 'Hopefully we'll be on at Farsley on Wednesday. But I didn't want this game to become a lottery and run the risk of wrecking the pitch for the rest of the season. The club has spent £6,000 on the goalmouths this year, and they could have been ruined. I have no fears about my players adapting to heavy conditions, but there were puddles on the pitch. I told the referee that, if the game went ahead, I hoped he would be brave enough to call it off after half-an-hour if the conditions were too bad. We also had a forecast of 50mph winds. I just wanted commonsense to prevail, and common sense said that we don't have to take any risks. The right decision was to call it off. It was a no-brainer... It wasn't a case ...the wrong reason... And I don't think that supporters really want to pay good money to come and see an important match turn into a lottery'. Plymouth Argyle's groundsman Colin Wheatcroft turned up to offer his help to United's groundsman Mark Burd before the match referee, London-based army officer Andy Halliday, made his inspection at 8.45am. The kick-off was scheduled for 2pm, but it didn't take long for Mr. Halliday to make his decision. The Babbacombe End half of the ground was just about playable, but the Ellacombe End wasn't."

The pic on the main site does not seem to indicate any level of unplayability....

[Alty Dave]

In my opinion, they thought the weather may even things up and they want the best chance to beat us.

So they applied a bit of pressure to the ref with weather threats etc and and he caved in!

In my opinion very pathetic.

[Hamilton]

Agreed

[Hugh]

I think it would be helpful if we could plan a conspiracy of our own and agree unanimously that Torquay were involved in a conspiracy, so we are in the mood for it when it is replayed!

[WiganAlty]

From John Laidlar's site: (edited)

The club has spent £6,000 on the goalmouths this year, and they could have been ruined. I have no fears about my players adapting to heavy conditions, but there were puddles on the pitch.

The goalmouths could have been ruined? What the hell do you expect when you are playing football on them? And as for puddles, looks as if Torquay are a right bunch of fairies - probably didn't want to get wet or ruin their hairstyles 

If anyone wants to comment on this, the "This is South Devon"  page will let you leave a comment on the story - see:

 http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=138105&command=displayContent&sourceNode=138103&contentPK=19210433&pNodeId=138191