Penrith Rams would like to clarify events that led up to the last minute cancellation of yesterday's matches at BISP #2 ground. Saturday saw two men's team compete after Blacktown Council had no issue with the matches to proceed safely, despite a large pool of water around the cricket pitch area. The field was marked with the centre circle moved to the side of the affected area. Both matches were played without incident or damage to the ground. At the end of the day, I assisted with placing covers over the wicket area to protect it from any possible overnight rain. There was certainly no indication that play the next day would not proceed. I again contacted the two visiting teams, Auburn Giants and Balmain Tigers that evening and assured them that the games would proceed unless we were contacted that night or by 7AM in the morning. On Sunday morning, I arrived at 8 AM and over the next 90 minutes, tried to contact the ground employees as instructed but the call went unanswered and messages not returned. A fourth call at 9.30 was finally answered and staff were advised to open the facilities with the game just 30 minutes away from starting time. About 15 minutes later I was called back and informed by the council employee, who was not at the ground, that he had deemed the ground to be unsafe, despite the ground manager and both umpires (one appointed) after a lengthy inspection, having absolutely no issues with the condition. It was in a much better condition than the previous day. Photos were sent to the employee (who rejected an invite to come to the ground as it was his day off) showing the condition on both days but were not taken into consideration. I would like to emphasise that the employee did not make his decision in consultation with Sydney AFL, the ground manager or the umpires. A doctor at the ground, from an opposition club, also could not see any "safety" issues. I would like to apologise for this ludicrous situation to the 100 plus players and coaching staff, the support staff, physios, umpires,canteen staff, families, friends and supporters that were attending as I know many came from afar and quite a few players cancelled work commitments to play and no communication was attempted by Blacktown Council until players were on the ground. We understand that wet weather is beyond our control but ineptitude becomes a completely different issue. The league has been notified of this incident and hopefully no club should have to confront this issue at Blacktown in the future.
Last Modified on 05/07/2015 17:47