The Fishy - Grimsby Town FC

Player Minutes

PlayerMinutes
Evan Khouri1,779
Cameron McJannet1,756
Harvey Rodgers1,695
George McEachran1,551
Denver Hume1,383
Danny Rose1,286
Luca Barrington1,162
Tyrell Warren1,130
Kieran Green1,111
Jason Dadi Svanporsson1,079
Lewis Cass1,019

Full Stats
Latest Scores

Follow the Fishy on Twitter
NewsNow logo

Question of the Week

Is football a business or a sport?




Bloody Stuff!
Bloody Stuff!

Beating the Weather

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 11/03/2013

ANOTHER season of postponements at non-league level has highlighted the vulnerability of the fixture list to the elements. I have a number of suggestions on how to improve this for next year, just in case anyone who has influence on these matters is reading.

Grimsby's match with Mansfield is not certain to go ahead on Tuesday night, although officials at Field Mill are hopeful it will beat the cold snap. However if its is postponed it will mean another Thursday or Monday game for Town, who are far from the worst affected club in the division.

  • The season is too short. Doubtless this is done to save on wages but as Blue Square Premier teams play the same number of league games as the Football League our season should be at least as long. It probably costs clubs far more in postponements than it does in wages saved making the season so short. Fans purses are only so big as well and stringing games over a few more weeks would enable the less well off to get to more games.

  • Don't schedule any midweek league games at all between December and March. Leave the whole period free for re-arranged matches. There'll be plenty of games postponed to fill these slots. Crowds will probably be bigger if there are more games when it's warmer.

  • Scrap replays in the FA Trophy. It should be like the JPT and be done and dusted on the night. Ideally the FA Trophy could be started earlier in the season as well.

  • Beef up the ground requirements for the Blue Square Premier League to meet certain criteria for drainage (I don't have the domain knowledge to know what these should be I'm afraid). Obviously the clubs already in the division would have to be given two years to meet these criteria or face relegation. A handful of teams seem to have been the main culprits this season when it comes to postponements, and it's not fair on everyone else.

  • Are too many games being called off? Are referees' criteria for calling games off too stringent? Are players more likely to get injured playing 3 or 4 games a week than they are playing occasionally on snow or a pitch with some surface water? Other sports like Rugby League seem to have a lots less postponements in their lower divisions. Why? In years gone by football was played on much worse conditions than it is now.

  • Allow the season to be extended if it gets dire. If that means losing a date for the play-off final at Wembley then so be it. But it's better than having a mockery of some teams playing 4-5 games a week in the last few days of the season - which will be grossly unfair to them and other clubs affected by the results. This should also be considered for this season.

    A combination of these suggestions could well help eradicate the problem as it appears heavy rain and extended cold spells are here to stay in the UK.

    Add To Facebook

    This site is by the fans, for the fans, and we will consider articles on any subject relating to the Mariners whether it be related to current news, a nostalgic look back in the past, a story about a player, a game or games in the past, something about Blundell Park or football in general. Click here to submit your article!

    Related Stories


    Forum Latest
    Thread TitlePostsLatest Post
    BOXING DAY11Running like emson21/11 21:16
    JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW 37forza ivano21/11 20:46
    Prediction Thread Colchester Home29FrazerGTFC21/11 20:03
    Colchester Saturday18The Caterham Mariner21/11 19:39
    "Beat the Clock"  Colchester20thespiffing21/11 19:32
    Lincs. Cup Highlights14Lincoln Mariner 5621/11 16:05
    Pubs in York showing game - Sat6bradzmilne21/11 14:35
    Lincoln City 725David Frazer21/11 12:42
    It’s all gone ‘quite’8BobbyCummingsTackle21/11 10:02
    Fun weather forecast for Saturday18BobbyCummingsTackle21/11 07:25

    News  | Submit Article