First, on behalf of the management and the players, I'd like to apologise for not playing the game against Arundel. If you'll allow me to explain as I've heard whispers that we refused to play and that is out of context to what happened. We arrived well in time at Arundel. Our preparation was spot on and Steve did the warm up as I did the paperwork. At 2.15 (when the teamsheet goes in) Arundel said that the ref had not turned up. At 2.30 still no ref.
At 2.45 the two lino's had a meet with Arundel, and seeing this was gonna happen I went to listen. Apparently the ref - Boris - had not been confirmed by Arundel and therefore a few hasty calls were made to Wally and Peter Bentley and Boris was contacted and an ETA of 3.30 was given to kick off. Did we mind they asked? I knew two players and Steve Oliver had arrangements that could not be broken and we spoke to all concerned and it was agreed that 3.30pm ko was the latest we could start. This was agreed by all present including the two linesmen. At 3.15 I called Peter Bentley and told him all of the above. He knew as Wally had called him. He told me to tell the lead lino to start the game and swap with Boris when he arrived. I told the lino and HE chose to call the ref who was on route. The lino said after he'd be one minute. At 3.30 there was no ref.
At 3.40 the ref arrived saying he'd be ready in 5 minutes. This was too late for the players with arrangements and commitments given to children and we advised both Arundel and the officials of that.
Two game issues we need to inform everyone of this week. First, the reserve game planned for this week is off. Second the first team game in the Brighton Charity Cup against Seaford is now on Wednesday at Seaford - having being moved from Tuesday. On Saturday, the first team game against St Francis Rangers now has a 1pm kick off. Apparently we have to accommodate a cup game on that day.
Neil Thornicroft left our club last Monday and from everyone at the club we wish Neil every success for the future. I’d like to express my gratitude to Neil for the efforts he made with our reserves and I regret that Neil didn’t have more success. Geoff Mactiffen takes over the role with immediate effect.
Training for the reserves will be on Tuesday at Falmer and at the club on Thursday. Training is optional for the first team players as we play Wednesday night. If you need to do a minor work out then you have Tuesday or Thursday to sort it out - so use either session if you need to have an additional session to gain fitness.
Despite all the crap we’ve had to endure this term – none of it being the players fault – its fantastic to see them being named as SCL Team of the Month. Well done Ringmer.
No comments:
Post a Comment