Hi, All,

Just a thought, as I admired the staff at Newcastle Weather Centre very
much.
Does anyone think the situation would have been avoided at Wednesday's
match postponement if Newcastle WC had still been operational?

For the non-football fans, the evening match at Newcastle was called
off at the last minute as the approach roads became treacherous after a
"sudden" snow shower. My son was there ready to go in to the game
having had little trouble getting there earlier. The pitch was deemed
playable and terraces OK, the approach roads were the problem.

A lot of people had made a lot of effort, and spent a lot of money to
get there and back. Surely the boys at NWC would have seen it coming
sooner and sent out a message to the council accordingly?

Now Sports Minister Richard Caborn has stepped in calling the situation
"unacceptable". So was the closure of NWC.

Best wishes,

Ken Cook, Copley, nr Barnard Castle, County Durham
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/copley

"Ken Cook" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, All,

Just a thought, as I admired the staff at Newcastle Weather Centre very
much.
Does anyone think the situation would have been avoided at Wednesday's
match postponement if Newcastle WC had still been operational?

For the non-football fans, the evening match at Newcastle was called
off at the last minute as the approach roads became treacherous after a
"sudden" snow shower. My son was there ready to go in to the game
having had little trouble getting there earlier. The pitch was deemed
playable and terraces OK, the approach roads were the problem.

A lot of people had made a lot of effort, and spent a lot of money to
get there and back. Surely the boys at NWC would have seen it coming
sooner and sent out a message to the council accordingly?

Now Sports Minister Richard Caborn has stepped in calling the situation
"unacceptable". So was the closure of NWC.

Best wishes,

Ken Cook, Copley, nr Barnard Castle, County Durham
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/copley


Little consideration given to Charlton fans for having to make that journey
in the first place.
Sometimes postponements are unavoidable, but so close to kick off?
Football fans are hardy folk at the best (and worst) of times, so surely it
could have gone ahead.
I travelled down to Sheffield that same evening (180 miles there and back)
leaving here in horrendous conditions and it was worse on the way back, but
the only thing that would have stopped me was an early postponement and
Sheff Wed made an early announcement that the game was on.
We're far too soft now, if the pitch is playable, game on. I've just been
reading Paul Hudson's weather book where he got into all sorts of problems
with Yorkshire CC about poor forecasts, so maybe more input would hinder
rather than help.Our forefathers would have despaired.
Oh, bring back local weather centres though, maybe we could then do away
with these severe weather warnings and get some good, sensible, local
advice.

--
David Mitchell, 70m amsl, Langtoft, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Ken Cook wrote:
Hi, All,

Just a thought, as I admired the staff at Newcastle Weather Centre very
much.
Does anyone think the situation would have been avoided at Wednesday's
match postponement if Newcastle WC had still been operational?


I was already there with my daughter when they called it off, most nufc
supporters go in to st. james by metro so there wasn't a problem. Half
of Charlton had already arrived. What a waste of a perfectly good season
ticket which I paid a lot of money for. Crazy and completely unneccesary
to postpone it.

les

--
Les Crossan,
Wallsend, Tyne & Wear
54.95N 1.5W
Home of the Wallsend StormCam and the Backup USW FAQ -
www.uksevereweather.org.uk

From What I can gather the game was called off for Safety reasons.
Rather than trying to blame the Met office (snow showers were forecast)
perhaps we should be blaming the Health and Safety people. Woul;dn't
want the poor supporters to slip over and hurt themselves would we ??

Most of the silly METO warnings, and the BBC sensationalism and other
journalism, no doubt put paid to this match.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Ken Cook" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, All,

Just a thought, as I admired the staff at Newcastle Weather Centre very
much.
Does anyone think the situation would have been avoided at Wednesday's
match postponement if Newcastle WC had still been operational?

For the non-football fans, the evening match at Newcastle was called
off at the last minute as the approach roads became treacherous after a
"sudden" snow shower. My son was there ready to go in to the game
having had little trouble getting there earlier. The pitch was deemed
playable and terraces OK, the approach roads were the problem.

A lot of people had made a lot of effort, and spent a lot of money to
get there and back. Surely the boys at NWC would have seen it coming
sooner and sent out a message to the council accordingly?

Now Sports Minister Richard Caborn has stepped in calling the situation
"unacceptable". So was the closure of NWC.

Best wishes,

Ken Cook, Copley, nr Barnard Castle, County Durham
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/copley

I was already there with my daughter when they called it off, most nufc
supporters go in to st. james by metro so there wasn't a problem. Half of
Charlton had already arrived. What a waste of a perfectly good season
ticket which I paid a lot of money for. Crazy and completely unneccesary
to postpone it.

les

--
Les Crossan,
Wallsend, Tyne & Wear
54.95N 1.5W
Home of the Wallsend StormCam and the Backup USW FAQ -
www.uksevereweather.org.uk

Surely the important thing is whether the pitch is fit to play. If it is
then play should go on, whether 10 or 10,000 fans make it.

Just my 2p worth.

Rich

"Rich" wrote in message
...

Surely the important thing is whether the pitch is fit to play. If it is
then play should go on, whether 10 or 10,000 fans make it.


Health & safety nonsense gone mad.
Newcastle Utd FC are no more responsible for the travelling safety
of people going to their matches as a large department store are
responsible for the travelling safety of their shoppers.

It's up to people to assess the situation for themselves, even if that
meens not attending the match, rather than having somebody make
the decision for them that it's too dangerous.

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.

In uk.sci.weather on Fri, 30 Dec 2005 at 18:41:09, Rich wrote :

Surely the important thing is whether the pitch is fit to play. If it is
then play should go on, whether 10 or 10,000 fans make it.

Just my 2p worth.

If I was being paid tens of thousands of pounds a week, I'd feel obliged
to play, despite a bit of snow on the pitch...
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham

In article ,
Paul Hyett writes:
In uk.sci.weather on Fri, 30 Dec 2005 at 18:41:09, Rich wrote :

Surely the important thing is whether the pitch is fit to play. If it is
then play should go on, whether 10 or 10,000 fans make it.

Just my 2p worth.

If I was being paid tens of thousands of pounds a week, I'd feel obliged
to play, despite a bit of snow on the pitch...

That wasn't the problem in this case. The referee was happy that the
pitch was playable, but called off the match AIUI on advice (from the
police?) that the access routes to the ground were too dangerous.
--
John Hall

"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

John Hall wrote:
In article ,
Paul Hyett writes:

In uk.sci.weather on Fri, 30 Dec 2005 at 18:41:09, Rich wrote :

Surely the important thing is whether the pitch is fit to play. If it is
then play should go on, whether 10 or 10,000 fans make it.

Just my 2p worth.

If I was being paid tens of thousands of pounds a week, I'd feel obliged
to play, despite a bit of snow on the pitch...


That wasn't the problem in this case. The referee was happy that the
pitch was playable, but called off the match AIUI on advice (from the
police?) that the access routes to the ground were too dangerous.

My understanding is that this decision was taken by Newcastle's safety
staff. Both the police and the local council have issued statements
denying any involvement.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/4571292.stm

--
Howard Neil