Bradford not the only place to suffer winter football fiasco

There are already some mammoth away trips for Parker to, ahem, enjoy with City in the coming weeks thanks to postponements, but at least in their case that is partly down to the FA Cup progress of Stockport and Walsall.

But an eight-hour round trip to Gillingham would have been a fair effort on Saturday, December 10, let alone the new date of Tuesday, February 28, after the original game at Priestfield was called off due to a frozen pitch.

The Bantams' game at home to Rochdale the week before Christmas was also a victim of freezing conditions, with the rearranged fixture somehow going ahead after a near-monsoon last week.

The Rochdale game somehow went ahead at Valley Parade last week, having already been called off once. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

Several other games were called off across the country that Tuesday night, including a cup clash for Albion Sports and a key league fixture for their Bradford rivals Thackley.

The misery continued last weekend too, with Silsden just about managing to get a game played in the howling wind at Knaresborough Town, and Bradford (Park Avenue) braving the wintry conditions away to Spennymoor Town.

But it was chaos elsewhere, with poor Eccleshill United forced to put their huge FA Vase fourth round home tie with AFC Liverpool on the back burner for now, and Brighouse Town seeing their game miles away at Shildon called off minutes before kick-off.

As for the matches during this week, it has basically been a write-off.

Avenue's clash with Scarborough Athletic was the first to fall, their artificial Horsfall pitch not enough to save them from the snow and ice on Monday night.

It did not end there, with Brighouse and Campion's intriguing West Riding County Cup quarter-final called off on Tuesday, and a tantalising league clash between relegation rivals Albion and Thackley a victim of a frozen pitch last night.

With the Arctic conditions due to remain for a while just yet, there are sure to be many more call-offs for our sides, and others up and down the country, in the coming weeks.

Which begs the question: How do you solve a problem like Mari... the weather?

We don't live in a sci-fi simulation sadly, so I'm not proposing anything drastic like re-setting the temperature in the UK to a balmy 15 degrees all year round, but surely we can't just accept that this is just the way it's always going to be?

Other than during the unprecedented disruption caused by Covid, these games always get played in the end, but only thanks to a chaotic backlog at the end of the season.

Silsden have not played at their ground for over two months for example, while Albion, who struggle with arranging home games anyway due to sharing The Citadel with landlords Farsley Celtic, let alone with the elements, have only had a single league game at home since November 12, and do not have another one pencilled in until mid-February.

Albion Sports celebrate scoring in a home win over Goole AFC in mid-September, one of just nine home league games they have played so far this season. (Image: Alex Daniel.)

There has to be a better way, and it brought to mind a complaint from Avenue boss Mark Bower earlier this season.

Bemoaning his side's upcoming schedule at the end of October to the T&A, he said: "The schedule we're in the middle of right now is ridiculous.

"We were given virtually no midweek games in August and September and now we're getting loads.

"We've all got to deal with it in this league, but it will be more difficult for us with our small squad and limited resources, as we don't have the luxury of just bringing in two or three players whenever we need them.

"It means we'll have to be smart with our team selection."

The second sentence intrigued me, and it seems farcical that in the late summer months, while the weather is generally mild and the pitches are fresh, that many teams are playing Saturday-Saturday.

There is the argument that the cricket season is still winding down at that point, and while I know some players like to partake in both sports, I'd suggest that's becoming less common.

And even so, we all have to make difficult life choices at times, and having to miss one or two cricket matches to play for your football team, or vice-versa, isn't going to hurt anyone.

Some would say an artificial surface is the way forward, but that is not as simple a solution as you might think.

It certainly benefitted Steeton on Tuesday night, as they were able to get their game against South Liverpool played, when all of their neighbours had to take the night off.

It was not a night for the faint-hearted on Tuesday at Marley. (Image: Ian Meachin.)

And Avenue certainly benefit financially from the usage Horsfall gets from local clubs who use it to train on.

But the National League North side still find that games don't always go ahead on it, with that Scarborough home game twice postponed by the weather now.

Snow is a different prospect to rain, given that it sits on the artificial turf, and Avenue are also hampered by conditions in and around the ground making bad weather potentially treacherous for any fans or visitors.

Plus, artificial pitches are banned in the Football League, with Harrogate having to fork out an eye-watering sum to fix that when they made it into the fourth tier.

Other clubs aiming for a quick rise through the league like Simon Weaver's side may want to be prepared if they use or are thinking of using an artificial surface.

It would be drastic to make football a summer sport, and no-one is suggesting that, but as Bower suggested, would it not make more sense to play a healthy block of games early in the season, when bad weather is likely to be less of a factor.

Or even to take a look at the back end of the campaign? The Northern Counties East League is home to five Bradford District teams, with the season due to end on April 8, when the Premier League season normally concludes a good five or six weeks later.

Teams like a good chunk of time off so they can do things like relay their pitch, allow their players to get a good rest or enjoy the cricket season.

But if they are informed well in advance that the season will go on for an extra month, surely they couldn't have too many complaints?

Right now, too many games are scheduled to be played in the winter, and call-offs are depressingly inevitable.

More sensible late summer, autumn and spring scheduling is the way to go surely? Because the system right now benefits nobody.