You're not kidding.

So in summary, they should have known the pitch was unplayable earlier, it seems. The point I missed (might have drifted off) was how Bentham and the match commissioner decided on Friday it would be OK. Has this point been discussed. Would have thought that Bentham, a "confirmed" black and white, would have alerted his club to this earlier tbh.

I remember that too. The nature of our CC run certainly did us no favours. I remember one night getting ted as it ed it down. Only game I've ever left early. In the shadow of getting to Wembley it just seemed like such an insignificant game.

That interview with Bomber was done right after the second inspection and he's not in full possession of the facts at that point. The pitch was deemed playable on Friday afternoon because it [iwas[/i playable on Friday afternoon - it was only after being watered that the problems started. The whole 'we should have been told earlier' thing is a red herring - even Trent Robinson didn't know there was a problem until around 1pm on Saturday.

Bugger me, all Gene Kelly could manage was to sing in the rain

well said Kosh

the groundsmanship comes under the auspices of he Ville de Perpignan and not the club so no blame can be attached to the club or officials

it's a disaster that it cost the likes of the loyal Hull fans,people like me and all connected with the club a lot of money all due to the incompetance of a few clueless government workers - this cannot be allowed to happen again and the guilty party (ies) should be severly reprimanded

what kind of 'qualified' professional waters the pitch TWICE (once the night before and again the next morning, in freezing conditions ?

utter incompetance !

And having done so, that decision was supported by Kershaw.........priceless.

' The last time they had rain there was in January and the pitch was rock hard. That was an issue anyway. but how do you soften the ground? you put water on it.'

If it was an issue 24 hours before KO it should have been called off then....you dont water in sub zero temperatures.

All down to Kershaw's decision....numpty

he was a pretty crap referee, seems his skill has followed him as a match comissioner!?!?!?!?

the fault lies with the groundsman/men - not any of the officials

the pitch would have been playable if the ground hadn't been watered (twice) ...

it wasn't watered on the recommendation of the ref or match comissioner,was it ?

I read it that Kershaw had told the groundsman to do it, or at least said he agreed with him doing it.

Where did you read that mate?

[url=http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/HULL-FC-Commissioner-defends-Catalan-stance/story-15223153-detail/story.htmlHDM Article[/url

"RUGBY Football League match commissioner Gerry Kershaw has defended the decision to water the Stade Gilbert Brutus pitch ahead of the cancelled game between Catalan and Hull FC."

thats incredible, as a useless ref he is now an expert on ground maintainance too , dont you just love the RFL

It was going to happen some time February being the coldest month and its no help to the fans who have gone over to France.All they can do is make the best of a bad situation.Now I aint a specialist or have a ba or ma but what clown would water the pitch when its going to be freezing conditions.

oh,that's easy to answer - almost any french groundsman who have the brain the size of a pea !

and as for the match comissioner to endorse it just shows his level of intelligence !

what a pillock !

I dont think he has an allotment do you

he'd starve if he had one !

the french are brilliant at some things but absolutely carp at others

having worked with them on sports courses over many years - groundsmanship isn't one of their strong points - you can't beat a good old british trained groundsman,despite the usually difficult conditions they have to work under

to be fair, the individual concerned probably hasn't trained as a groundsman, they are probably more used to looking after geranium plants and mowing the grass!

And onions of the Kershaw variety

you're dead right Standee - hit the nail on the head mate !

what usually happens with council workers is that they are not personally trained as groundsmen/women but have a basic qualification in gardening and is then seconded to a certain taem in a certain area - where I work now (for a private company sub-contracted ou to the city council) in Limoges there are five different teams of gardiners one for each of the four points N,S,E,W plus a team for the city centre - every few years they are shuffled around to different parts of the city.
The guy that was the in charge of one of the areas became head greenkeeper of the local municipal golf course,without any formal training and a few years later was transferred as head of a team in a different part of the city looking after the maintenence of the parks etc
He was/is a good man but has no formal training in any particular area - this will be the same system in Perpignan with I suspect no one one in particular having had any really specialised training in this kind of maintenence.
Problem is,because he or she is a government employee it's almost impossible to sack him or her just get that person transferred to another part of the city.

a fair number of the lifties/piste basher drivers I've met are seasonal workers who do gardening type stuff for the municipality during the spring/summer months.

Now Kershaw, being an ex-schoolmaster, more than likely does have a BA or an MA, probably in some 'ology' or other

apparently the chap responsable for the upkeep of the pitch is someone who the club have been trying to replace for a while but the problem is that with true french inflexibilty he carries out his duties to the letter of his contract
so,it states for example that he will,the evening prior to and on the morning of the game, give water to the pitch - this contract applies in february as much as it does in mid july in the eyes of the groundsman..........

he is not allowed to think for himself !

more likely he is not capable of thinking for himself ?

he is probably disciplined for thinking for himself!

I just wish I could have met him on saturday afternoon...my best franglais-saxon would have been aimed his way !!!

Is it not an idea that we could swap the home game, playing them in France the weekend of 11th / 12th August (when they should have been here) and they stay up here after one of their away games and we play the home game here mid week?

Sorry if it's already been suggested elsewhere on the thread.