Game
28, 2016-17
It's one degree centigrade, and the pitch
is semi-frozen. Is it playable? I have no idea - I've never had to judge a
frozen pitch before. Usually at this time of year teams play on turf or cinder,
and the grass fields are locked and bolted until late spring. I run up and down
it without falling over (always an achievement at my age), but that's nothing
like turning on it with a ball at your feet.
 |
| Standard winter playing conditions, in 1980s England. |
I think about the frozen English pitches I
sometimes played on as a kid. During one foggy game the grass was stiff with frost,
and all I could do was pray that I got substituted. We were losing by several
goals to a team of big lads and I didn't care. All I wanted was to feel my
frozen toes and fingers again. Finally my number came up and I ran for the
changing room, faster than I'd run all afternoon. It was locked. Longing for
warmth and the final whistle while on the touchline, it turned out, was even
worse than longing for warmth while playing, when you could at least run around
(there were no such thing as training tops in 1980s Lincolnshire).
So, according to my memory, you can play on a semi-frozen pitch, just not
very well. But both teams are here and warming up vigorously. No one's falling over. Bugger it, if they're happy to play then let them. If
people start slipping up and breaking limbs, I can always call it off.
