Thackley manager Chris Reape
Thackley will have to replay their abandoned Toolstation NCEL Premier Division clash at Garforth Town – a decision that Chris Reape has slammed.
Thackley were winning 4-0 with 15 minutes to go when referee Pete Walker called a halt to proceedings because of fog last month.
The match will be replayed in mid-January.
“I think it is a disgrace,” Reape told Non League Yorkshire.
“I cannot see where they get the decision from? Now the game should have been finished because the referee could see both ends. He just couldn’t see the corner flags.
“We were comfortable and 4-0 up and it could have been more. They never looked like scoring.
“Some of the Garforth players tried to get the game off and he (the referee) fell for it.
“The match was dead and buried so I now cannot see why we have been made go back and replay it?
“We have the expense of going back there as well. Tom Dugdale has lost his hat-trick, but speak to our left-back Jerry White because he’s fuming.
“He got booked, but even if the game is abandoned, cautions still stand so he has to pay the fine. Personally I think that’s wrong.”
If the score-line had been close, Reape would have accepted that his side would have to go back to Garforth.
He added: “Then that’s the different game because you can score one goal in the 15 minutes.
“I’d happily replay the game if it was 1-0, but at 4-0, you ask anyone in football and they can’t believe we have to go back there.”
I can understand the manager being upset but I attended that game, stood on the line in front of the stand and I could not see the linesman, players or the ball across the far side, I missed the 3rd & 4th goals as I couldn’t see from 40 yards away! I actually thought the referee was giving Thackley every advantage to finish the game, far from ending the game at 75 minutes it could and should have been stopped at 60 minutes. It doesn’t matter if Thackley were 10 goals up, they are the rules and so rightly abandoned. Only takes a second to score a goal so you can’t say any game is over till the final whistle. I’m sure if it was the other way round the Thackley manager would be rubbing his hands instead of bleating about it………
Like you I was at the match, I was stood adjacent to the dugouts and saw all the goals perfectly clearly. I admit it was difficult to see fully across the field but the liners (assistants) were two or three yards closer to the field of play than me. You could definitely see more than fifty yards. Like you said, the referee let the game progress from sixty to seventy five minutes in similar conditions, why not let it go other fifteen to complete the match? He was obviously swayed by the pressure put on him from the Garforth management and players.
However, what surprises me is the league rule regarding the replaying of abandoned matches. Why go to the League Committee if a game is abandoned. It appears that if a game does not run the full ninety minutes it will have to be replayed no matter what the scoreline.
There could be no doubt that that Thackley would have got three points from this game.
Maybe, the solution should be, in the spirit of the game and all that, Garforth surrender the points or give Thackley four goals start and don’t start playing until the seventy fifth minute! ah! ah!
Surely there are rules set down for this situation ? Some years ago Garforth were playing Brodsworth away, and we were 5-0 up after around 70 minutes , when the ref called the game off because of a frozen pitch , we were made to pl;ay the full game again later on , by this time Brodsworth had improved their form and Garforth won the rearranged match 2-0 . So can see where the Thackley camp are coming from , however from a selfish perspective i had to miss the match in question as i was on nights that week , and i now can go to the rearranged fixture
Take your point Steve about the league committee, but I was genuinely struggling to see any action on that far side from around sixty minutes onwards, could well be the fog was heavy in my eyeline coming in from the field behind the ground and not in your view, i wouldnt have thought the Garforth management and players would have that much influence over the officials to be honest, i assume at least two of the officials (assistants?) would have been in agreement to abandon it if they couldnt see along the line properly. Ironically the manager resigned after the game and took five players with him, knowing what we know now it makes you wonder if the manager & those players were focused on the game! As for starting again 4-0 down with fifteen to play, I had every confidence Garforth would have pulled it back and got the draw! Never say never Steve!! Lol