Russell Walmsley

“The decision to cancel a Game” It’s easy to criticise the decision to cancel a game, but before you do just take a second to think what has gone into making that decision first. 1) Is it safe for everyone and is the forecast safe? 2) Is it currently playable and what is the forecast? 3) Is there a weather warning in place now or whilst the games are on? 4) Will the pitch drain water or thaw frost in time? 5) What’s the temperature forecast now, overnight and during the game? 6) What time is KO and how far are the opposition travelling from? 7) If it’s a central venue, thousands of people will be affected, is an earlier decision better? Sometimes the decision to cancel is made at the last minute if a belief that the game can be playable will be made, other times an early decision will be made. All decisions are made with the available information at the time and the available upto date weather forecasts. Often the decision is right, sometimes the decision can “in hindsight” be wrong due to many factors such as drainage, temperature, wind etc but always the decision is made in good faith. Many times we’ve personally made this decision and know it’s not an exact science at times, so a little shoutout of support from teamgrassroots to those with the decision on their shoulders and who will quite often be up late and up early doing last minute checks and obsessively checking weather forecasts. We appreciate it 🙌🏻🙌🏽🙌🏿

🚨One of the largest youth leagues in the country has today put the following statement out to all member clubs. ⤵️ "The behaviour and conduct of far too many players, managers, coaches, and spectators is the worst we have ever seen in the history of the Northumberland Football League. The discipline reports coming in over the first 10 weeks of the season, just to Northumberland Football Leagues, have given us and the County FA an incredible amount of work, on top of everything else we do to keep you playing football. I am not going to lecture adults on how they should behave, it's not my job to teach you the difference between right and wrong, but what I will say is THIS BEHAVIOUR STOPS, AND IT STOPS NOW! Starting from Saturday 18th November, any team found guilty of any discipline, welfare or misconduct charge WILL BE REMOVED FROM FIXTURES. If those fixtures include cup/competition games, then you will forfeit your place in those competitions. Teams playing at central venues where parents are found to be acting in an unsuitable manner, verbally or physically abusing/ shouting at a referee, steward, league official, venue staff or opposition coaches/managers, the club in question will have EVERY PARENT/GUARDIAN/SPECTATOR from every team banned from every central venue. This is children’s football - there is no place for abuse of any type - if you cannot watch a group of children playing football without feeling the need to abuse/shout at a child be they a player or a referee, or you cannot spend an hour and a half without swearing at the opposition coach or confronting a group of parents - then please ask yourself if you have chosen the correct way to spend your weekends. We are a Respect League and Respect towards players, the officials and each other is the minimum standard which we will accept - NO RESPECT = NO GAME." For and on behalf of the league management committee, Lee Scott League Secretary #EnoughIsEnough