Following on from the Appeal raised with the League in defence of Pinner JFC which was heard last night, it has now been confirmed that this has been upheld in our favour where the game will be rescheduled.
The three points to be made are as follows:-
1. People must not jump to conclusions based on what they hear where the facts were forwarded by me at the time to both the league and the press in how the actual events of the day unfolded.
2. This was a point of principle where we had two qualified referees at the site that morning (one of which being quite senior in the Middlesex FA) who were there to officiate two of our youth games who both declared the pitch unfit. Thus, the game should never have been allowed to commence.
3. For those of you present and as I touched on in my Presentation on behalf of the Advisory Group at last Monday’s Council Meeting, this goes deeper than a group of twenty two fellas turning up to kick a balloon of air around. This is about making sure all have the chance to play regularly and particularly those who are the future (ie the youth). By allowing that game to commence, none of our teams were able to play for three weeks.
This was handled from start to finish in exactly in the correct manner and was wholeheartedly correct. Our defence was submitted in writing with just two items being one from me and one as an independent report from my Middlesex FA representative.
Assuring all of our best intentions.
Les Conway
Club Chairman
Pinner JFC
Location: Pinner
Joined: 07/04/2008
Status: Offline
Apart from the fact that none of you out there will be that interested, DC has totally misquoted the facts and how they were reported to him by me directly in this week’s column.
Joel Minsky may have been seething but not as much as I was when I heard that this game had kicked off when it was declared unfit for play by TWO separate Referees in the morning, one of which being a David Roberts, a Middlesex FA Mentor.
The facts:-
1. The pitch was unplayable and as noted above
2. I never told/instructed the MSFL Referee (John Smith) to stop the game and merely asked him at Half Time as to how he could justify playing when two other qualified Referees had not allowed play two hours before
3. John asked me if I was telling him to stop the game where I told him that I couldn't do that but merely repeated my question. He then stated, that he would be unhappy to go against other Referees decisions
4. If I had no authority or if the pitch was deemed fit, why did John not continue play?
5. David Roberts has volunteered to back me in the event of disciplinary of his own volition
6. As Club Chairman and being the most senior officer of the club, I have the right to overrule even if one of my teams are happy to play. The only issue was that I was not on site at the time John decided to commence play and was on the phone to our youth groups trying to re-organise when the message came through.
Frankly, the basis of where things appear to stand is that no one could care less about anyone else and providing that they get their game of football then what the hell.
I have a number of teams at youth level to get games played and unlike the majority of clubs in the MSFL who are nothing but one team clubs, we are providing opportunity, longevity and sustainability for and within the community which is precisely why I intervened as I did.
My conscience is clear. I believe in the future of the grassroots game and act on behalf of the community.
It's clear others don't share the same view and are prepared to be totally selfish.
Who knows? Maybe I live on a different planet!
Les Conway
Club Chairman
Pinner JFC