LONDON: Yesterday’s match between Wigan and Aston Villa has become the sixth English Premier League fixture to be called off this weekend because of the freezing conditions sweeping Britain.
The under-soil heating at Wigan’s DW Stadium failed Friday and engineers were unable to fix the problem by the time referee Stuart Atwell made an early morning pitch inspection yesterday at the north-west ground.
Atwell deemed the surface unplayable, following overnight frost.
Friday saw several postponements, with yesterday’s scheduled Premier League matches between Burnley and Stoke, Fulham and Portsmouth, Hull and Chelsea and Sunderland and Bolton, as well as today’s fixture between Liverpool and Tottenham, called off.
In all five cases the pitches were playable but concerns over issues such as iced-up streets surrounding grounds, which pose a safety risk for supporters led clubs, who generally follow advice from local police in making a decision, to call-off the games.
Now the only two Premier League matches still set to be played are Birmingam’s home game against champions Manchester United, where a win for the visitors would see them leapfrog leaders Chelsea at the top of the table, and Arsenal’s fixture against Everton.
Today’s Premier League match between West Ham and Wolves is, as yet, also unaffected by the weather as is tomorrow’s encounter between Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez said: “We are devastated because the club has worked so hard in these freak weather conditions to make the area surrounding the stadium safe.
“The pitch has never been the problem, until now.”
With much of Britain blanketed in thick snow, almost half this weekend’s fixtures in England’s lower divisions have been called off and only a handful of matches have survived in Scotland.
All English Premier League clubs are required to have under-soil heating.
But some question what is the point of installing the expensive systems, which make grounds playable in conditions that would once have been deemed unsafe, if matches are still going to be postponed for reasons beyond the clubs’ control, as has happened with most of this weekend’s fixtures.
Clubs are increasingly keen to make early decisions on call-offs for fear some supporters may have already embarked on long journeys, as happened to Bolton fans who had travelled to London for a midweek match at Arsenal, only for the game to be postponed in late afternoon. — AFP
Nevertheless, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger feels matches are being called off too easily.
“Personally I know only the inside of the stadiums – I don’t know the surroundings well enough, but I must say it is the price we pay for living in a society where everybody wants 100 per cent security,” Wenger said Friday.
“Nobody accepts any risk any more and everybody is always guided by fear,” the Frenchman added.
“If one of 60,000 people has an accident, you feel very guilty and nobody accepts anymore that the slightest insecurity could exist in our society and that is why the games are postponed when there is no real need for it.” — AFP