MEN'S HOCKEY:GIVEN THAT Annadale are in a legal dispute with the IHA over their cancelled Irish Hockey League (IHL) match with Cookstown, it seems incumbent now that the association get to grips with matches that are abandoned because of freezing pitches. Pembroke's game this week (twice cancelled already because of frost) is a case in point.
The Serpentine Avenue side must travel to Shaw's Bridge in Belfast for their match against Instonians, who have a pitch in Queen's University as an alternative if their own is frozen for the Sunday afternoon fixture.
Belfast is generally colder and Pembroke, on their last trip, had travelled as far as the Border before they knew the match had been postponed. That is costly. The rules of the competition are that the Technical Officer (TO) must make the call, and, given the weather forecast for the next few days, the Dublin club are hoping the TO will make an early decision.
The club are also mindful of their IHL game against Cookstown on January 31st, which is scheduled to start at 6.30pm (Three Rock Rovers face Lisnagarvey the same day in Hillsborough at 5pm). Not only does the evening tip-off invite colder weather but players will then leave Coolnafranky no earlier than 9.30pm to drive home to Dublin for work the following day.
There is now pressure on the IHA to clarify the rules governing what happens when games are abandoned mid-match, while it has been pointed out that if a team are two goals adrift in the last 20 minutes when the conditions are obviously freezing, players on the chasing team may feel in a position to put the umpires under pressure to abandon the game.
Given the element of danger, that is an invidious position for the two umpires to find themselves in. The legal opinion on which the IHL appeals commission are waiting may clarify the matter, but until then there are still important issues to think about.
SATURDAY: Leinster Senior League: Division One:Railway Union v Kilkenny, Park Avenue 1.45; Glenanne v Corinthians, Glenanne Park 3.00; Fingal v Monkstown, Alsaa 2.00; YMCA v Pembroke, Claremont 2.45; TRR v UCD, Grange Road 2.00.
SUNDAY: Irish Hockey League:Instonians v Pembroke, Shaw's Bridge, 3.00. Leinster Senior Cup: Second round: TRR v Bray, Grange Road 4.30; Monkstown v Kilkenny, Rathdown, 2.30; Fingal v YMCA, Alsaa, 1.30.
