Another postponed game.

Another Berwick game called off making it 4 so far this season. Surely though nobody can be critical of this game being postponed. The snow has hit hard, I’m currently at home in Fife having tried and failed to get to work in my 4x4 with winter tyres. Cars are currently stranded on the A1 between Berwick and Newcastle and the local community have rallied round to help. The swan centre is open as a respite stop and local cafes have been providing hot foot to the 60 people inside. A sensible call for this game. I’m not sure the rearranged game against Stenhousemuir on Tuesday will even go ahead.

understanding and perspective please!

A couple of the previous games that were called off came in for criticism on social media from some of the fans. A little understanding and perspective is required, it’s a part time club and relies on volunteer support for most things. I was up at the ground on a Friday night to help with the frost covers for one of the games that was finally called off. I happened to be in Berwick so I could offer my support. There was a tremendous effort a few weeks ago from volunteers clearing snow from the pitch. It’s often the same people volunteering too. It’s not surprising though, It’s difficult to get volunteers for anything, especially during the week. With a fan base of about 350 (fag packet calculation based on attendances) and a large percentage of that fan base in the senior category it’s slim pickings. A couple of games were called off by a referee saying it was unplayable, nothing the club can really do about that. Why don’t Berwick have proper frost covers? Well having looked at this myself the cost is more than you might think. £30k for a set of rain covers alone, frost covers coming in at £50k and that’s just for the covers, that doesn’t include the rollers for deployment that are often required to manage such heavy unwieldy covers. With the club posting a loss of nearly £90k the money simply isn’t there. Nobody wants the games to be called off, I can’t attend midweek games and the club will lose money due to lower attendances. It’s also not ideal for the players themself having to leave work to get to Shielfield for the game. Players can’t just simply turn up 10 minutes before kickoff like fans can. Luckily we’ve not had any postponed away games against Elgin or Peterhead, the players would probably have to take a day off work. perhaps something to think about before you vent your displeasure on social media.