The whole of Europe was forewarned of this weather 2 weeks ago, the high pressure system over Russia named the 'beast from the east' would bring sub zero temperatures to the whole of Europe.
This weather system is a 'freak' as it has caused havoc to all European tidal systems causing them to fall short of their predicted hieghts by as much as 1.4 metres on every tide for the past 2 weeks.
This has been more than enough time for any sporting clubs administraion to put into place the most basic of ground protection to give the game a chance of being played.
Trent Robinson said on Sky last night that they have been unable to train on the pitch for 1 month.
For the club to use water in whatever way on the pitch in the prevailing weather is absolute stupidity/ignorant. Typical French attitude...............it doesn't matter unless it suits them.

It is adverse weather ..............but it's been adverse for 1 month, they should have had protection on it, simple as.

Just a stab in the dark, but most likely by taking into account the condition of the pitch on Tuesday, the available technology, and the weather forecast. It's not actually rocket science.

Ah great, another know-nowt numptie joins the discussion.

I once refereed a Friday night game at Fartown. I arrived at 6.30pm, an hour before the scheduled kick-off time and immediately put my boots on and the two TJs and I walked every square metre of the pitch. I never used Phil Clarke's "trusty stick a key in the ground" method because I don't know of many boots with key blades for cleats. We and both clubs' coaches decided the match would go ahead: the pitch was flat with no divots and was easily taking a stud. At kick off and throughout the first half, there were no problems at all. Five minutes into the second half I heard the Batley winger running down the touchline, the noise resembled a carthorse on a cobbled street. As soon as he'd been tackled I stopped the game and did another mini-pitch inspection. Frost had started to creep from touch, into the field of play. By the time I'd stopped the game, the ground was solid for two metres in from touch.

I called the game off immediately and although the players and staff were disappointed at not being able to see the match to conclusion, they all understood that it would be too dangerous to continue.

If Catalans had covered the pitch and kept hot air blowers going through the night, there's still no guarantee the game would have gone ahead.

Sh[ii[/it happens, get used to it. Sometimes there really is nobody to blame.

Told by whom?

Only sensible sentence on the thread...

A Catalan fan.

No matter which way you look at this it [iappears[/i that not every effort was made to give the game the best possible chance of going ahead. It also seems telling that a nearby pitch was in good enough condition to stage a game this evening. I'm not suggesting any kind of conspiracy, but incompetence does seem to have played a large part here.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane it was lovely.
That's the point though isn't it, they didn't try & prevent it did they numpty.
If they had tried & failed I suspect there wouldn't be all this debate!

A better chance than pouring water all over it and then leaving it though.


Indeed. And sometimes there is.

Of course these things cannot always be predicted. But if the game at St Esteve took place and [uif[/u the grounds are three miles apart, doesn't that suggest one ground was adequately prepared and one not? Just a question.

probably read it on twitter, the only 100% reliable source of news in the world these days

McRae has his say. Not happy:
[urlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/12/02/11/RUGBYL_Catalan_Nightlead.html&BID=480[/url

Awwww, bless.



Am I not on your xmas card list any more?

Got to feel for the fans but the biggest concern is the disruption to the team. Bad enough travelling to France once but n ow we have to do it twice and squeeze in another game

And we're another game behind everyone else in terms of playing time together and gelling. In fact, this'll set us back a bit.

Hmmm. Was the notorious "watering of the pitch" done [iafter[/i Bentham had deemed it playable on Friday afternoon?

That said , We hopefully get Seymour ,O'Carroll back in the running for the London game and a week off while every other team is smashing themselves on frozen pitches.

So, after 15 pages, all we've managed to ascertain is that nobody posting on this thread really knows what really happened or who may or may not be to blame.

Time to wind your necks in, kick back, get a drink and let life go on.

Because as sure as hell, all the could've, would've should'ves aint gonna make a blind bit of difference. But if it makes you feel any better, carry on, you're probably closer to an apoplectic fit than you realise.

Quite possibly...

However, I remember a few years ago Hull and Rovers were playing at home on the same afternoon. It rained, Hull's game at the Boulevard went ahead, Rovers game at NCP was called off.

To be fair, one thing Lloyd did achieve with Hull was improving the playing surface at the Boulevard and in the early days at NCP the pitch wasn't great, although it's much improved now. Point is, same weather in one city, two different outcomes.

I appreciate frost is different and can be managed in different ways. Sometimes, the weather just wins. Really feel sorry for all the Hull fans who travelled for the game and also the Irish fans in Paris (at least there is more to do in Paris).

Hopefully, the re-arranged date doesn't upset our season and today's travelling fans are compensated in some way. I would rather the season st\rted at the start of March and ended at the end of October, but it doesn't and unfortunately we just have to put up with these disappointments when they happen.

I have been to the st Esteve ground a few times ,,,,,it has an east to west outlook so sun will be on it all the time and the stands are very small so they wont cast much shadow onto the pitch,,,,,,,think the Carlisle RL ground when they played at the railway pitch.........and i have been told be a friend from the Pia club that went to the game scouting the opposition that that game should not have been played either as the pitch was bad in a few area's

I have been to loads of postponed matches years ago, its part of the game even in the south of France. What's the odds on next weekends match with Cas suffering the same fate or even ours at the KC, the area around the stadium has not got underground heating and heavy freezing /snow could make the area unsafe.

One bad day, late 70s early 80s we where away at Leigh I think and the snow came down over the top and it was cancelled I remember about 4 or 5 coaches pulling into Hartshead moor services. We had no match and this was in the days of no mobiles and limited local radio. A quick check around and Donny was open for business and off we all went, that was a great day out and rugby at its rawest.

I did not expect or get any money back from anyone for last minute cancelled matches, you just make the best of it. Its the replay we need worry about and we should resist any attempt to swap our home for an away and a home match mid week. Any match re arranged mid week is going to be awkward for both teams, but if its arranged for a week in which both teams play in England on a Sunday then both teams set off with the same handicap.

Wednesday 27th June looks good................ Sun 24th June KR V cats 15:00 & Wire V FC 15:00
We home against the Giants the following Sunday 1st July and the Cats are at home to London on Sat 30th June.

[url=http://www.hullfc.com/newsarticle.aspx?n=20450&utm_medium=twitterGentle's take on things[/url

Good to see the players taking such a professional attitude. I wonder how many more times my awe will be struck this season?

“We offered them the opportunity to have a few beers as a team in a controlled environment yesterday evening, but to their credit they all agreed not to drink any alcohol at all because they wanted to start preparing for the London game next weekend.”

would never have happened under that brilliant bloke, you know, the one who would have walked when he felt he wasn't taking the side forwards.

where are his cheerleaders now??

every week Gentle reminds us what a joker Fubar was!

I don't get the bit about the London game could have been on this weekend and they could have had an extra game. The Warrington v London game is on

Some of us had the audacity to support him whilst he was at our club.....Some of us have had the ability to move on!

A water-related scandal? We should give it a name.