Saturday, December 6, 2008

SPL inquiry as weather hits games

Rugby Park
The Rugby Park surface failed an early pitch inspection on Saturday.

The Scottish Premier League is to launch an "urgent and serious inquiry" into the postponement of two matches because of frozen pitches on Saturday.

Kilmarnock v Aberdeen and Motherwell v Hearts failed morning inspections.

Ross County v Dunfermline and Livingston v Dundee in Division One and Cowdenbeath against Dumbarton in Division Two were also postponed.

In the Scottish Cup, Lochee United v Ayr, Edinburgh City v Brechin and Forfar v Stranraer are off.

Kilmarnock's Rugby Park surface failed a 1000GMT pitch inspection, with Motherwell's Fir Park following suit at 1145.

At the same time, Inverness Caledonian Thistle's match against Dundee United was given the go-ahead after the Caledonian Stadium surface passed an inspection.

We have rules in place with regards to clubs having undersoil heating to deal with weather like this and there will be an urgent and serious inquiry as to why the undersoil heating didn't do its job

Scottish Premier League spokesman

All SPL clubs are required to have working undersoil heating and an SPL spokesman said: "We're obviously extremely disappointed that the pitch isn't fit for purpose.

"We have rules in place with regards to clubs having undersoil heating to deal with weather like this and there will be an urgent and serious inquiry as to why the undersoil heating didn't do its job."

If Kilmarnock and Motherwell are found to be in breach of SPL rules, they could face sanctions, which include the possibility of a fine.

Aberdeen, whose players and fans faced a four-hour journey to get to the game, were unhappy with the timing of the Rugby Park inspection.

"We need to have a balance in terms of giving the game the best chance to go ahead and making a call as early as possible," the SPL spokesman added.

"The time for the pitch inspection was agreed yesterday."

Kilmarnock appear to be blaming weather forecasts, suggesting that overnight frost had taken them by surprise.

"It was decided to postpone today's fixture at Rugby Park due to parts of the pitch being found to be frozen following a prolonged period of frost in Kilmarnock, contrary to earlier long range weather forecasts," said a club statement.

"Kilmarnock FC regrets that Aberdeen FC and the supporters of both clubs have been inconvenienced by the cancellation of today's match."

Lochee and Second Division side Ayr United will make a third attempt to play their Scottish Cup tie on Sunday at 1345, with a 0830 inspection at the Junior club's ground.

East of Scotland League outfit Edinburgh had been confident of their pitch passing a 10.15 inspection on Saturday, but a hard overnight frost scuppered their hopes.

Their tie against Second Division Brechin will now be played on Monday with a 1945 kick-off.

That is also the rearranged date and time for the cup meeting between Forfar Athletic and Stranraer.

The victors take on the winners of Saturday's rearranged tie between Forres Mechanics and Dalbeattie Star.

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