THE FEELING OF BEING ABANDONED

THE FEELING OF BEING ABANDONED.

The rain or constant rain to be more precise has played havoc with fixtures up & down the country in recent weeks ,which is extremely frustrating but what's far worse is when all that effort that has been put in to get the game on only for that effort to feel wasted when the game gets abandoned I thought I was share some stories of abandoned football games over the years, although not all weather related they are still a good read.
When an Amateur Cup 4th Round match at Highgate United kicked off on Saturday February 25th 1967 the rain didn't dampen the spirits of the supporters of the Worcester Combination side. They were hoping to continue their cup run at the expense of mighty Enfield but tragically those hopes were ended in the 27th minute when the match was abandoned with Enfield leading 1-0. A bolt of lightning hit the centre of the pitch knocking over several players and tragically one of those, the Highgate centre-half Tony Allden, died in hospital the following day from his injuries. When the match was restaged it was played at Villa Park with 31,632 present which was an amazing gesture of goodwill and sympathy. Enfield won that match 6-0 and went on to win the competition, beating Skelmersdale United in the replayed final.
In 2005 a non-league match was abandoned when the referee sent himself off and there was nobody to replace him! Yes it really happened.When Peterborough North End kicked off their Sunday League match against Royal Mail in January 2005 about the only media coverage they could have expected would have been the result in the local paper. Instead they received national coverage. The reason? Well Andy Wain wasn't having a good week. When a Peterborough NE player made an uncomplimentary comment to him Wain lost his temper, eyeballing the startled goalkeeper. The problem was that Andy Wain wasn't a opposition player - he was the referee! The referee in him took over .... and he sent himself off! To make matters even worse because their was no other official to take over, he also had to abandon the match. "It was totally unprofessional. If a player did that I would send him off, so I had to go" he later said. The Northants FA banned him for 35 days and fined him £50.The First Division match between Chelsea and Charlton Athletic on Christmas Day 1937 suffered an abandonment when heavy fog descended on Stamford Bridge. The fog was so bad that Charlton 'keeper Sam Bartram was unaware that the match had ended, assuming that his inactivity was due to the play being in the Chelsea half. It was 15 minutes or so before a policeman told him that the game had been abandoned.You probably couldn't think of anything more sedate to do as the grey hairs take over - walking football. Similar rules as the normal football but for the over 50s and played at a walking pace. But in January 2016 when Canterbury Walking Football Club played Herne Bay Walking Football Club - players were aged up to 70 - the outcome was a tad surprising. Within five seconds there was a 'robust' shoulder charge followed soon after by a 'crunching tackle' which was followed by a brawl - which included the ref! The match was abandoned after just two minutes. As a fan said 'These lads know how to handle themselves and although they might not be fit enough to run, they are fit enough to throw a punch or two'. Yep, there is life after 50!.
These next two stories really are touching as fans show the lengths they will go to watch their side but even they are not prepared for abandoned games. First up happened in february 2004 when s football fan who flew 8,000 miles to watch his team play only for the match to be abandoned described the experience as "a bit of a nightmare".
Teacher Andy Bebbington made the trip from China to watch Bolton Wanderers play a League One game at Cambridge.
But the fixture was called off just 10 minutes in due to a waterlogged pitch. When asked for a reaction Andy originally from Kearsley, tweeted: "Gotta laugh or else I'll cry." However
A football fan travelled 4,000 miles to see his favourite team play after falling in love with them on Football Manager - but his trip didn't quite go to plan.Ian Webb became a fan of Wakefield AFC after playing as the semi-professional, step ten club on Football Manager.He eventually convinced his wife Megan to visit England with him in October with the deal of also seeing York, Bath and London. The holiday cost £4,500 and took them 18 months to save up for.
But Ian was left devastated after the match at Be Well Support Stadium on October 21 was postponed due to scheduling issues but it gets worse when three days later unlucky Ian was left "crushed" after the back-up game was abandoned due to torrential rain. However despite not seeing a game Ian was still able to squeeze in a stadium tour of Wakefield, which i suppose saved it from being a totally wasted trip.
My final story is involving Dennis Law who died recently following a long battle with dementia.On the last full day of the season in 1973/74, Laws former club Manchester United could survive only by winning their home game against Manchester City and then their rearranged game at Stoke City, provided that points were dropped by other relegation candidates, all of which had only one game remaining. In the event, United lost both games whilst their rivals' results meant that they would have been relegated anyway.
The scorer of what proved to be the winning goal for Manchester City in United's penultimate game was former United player Denis Law, who scored with a back-heel in the 81st minute. He did not celebrate the goal, and was substituted shortly afterwards. The goal triggered a series of pitch invasions by Manchester United fans, perhaps hoping to get the match replayed, that forced the referee to abandon the game in the 85th minute. After a review, the Football League decided that the result should stand. Such was the quilt Law felt that he immediately retired from league football.