Cancelling Matches

[Nick Grey]

Arrived home from work to find an e-mail that our club match tomorrow has been cancelled because half the opposition have flu.

Any other organised sport & you would be forced to play reserves etc or face a massive fine & possible points deduction.

Of course, we would rather play & will be rearranged. But I wonder whether the real cause is the strike action, fare increases, & the appalling service for the last 5 or 6 weeks of the organisation that the opposition play for.

[Joshua Gibbs]

1: which league are you playing in?
2: I'd hate to be lied to in this situation.
3:I disagree that "Any other organised sport & you would be forced to play reserves etc or face a massive fine & possible points deduction." unless you are playing in the equivalent of the 4ncl or any other national league. I know its not like this in the pool for example.

[Roger de Coverly]

3:I disagree that "Any other organised sport & you would be forced to play reserves etc or face a massive fine & possible points deduction." unless you are playing in the equivalent of the 4ncl or any other national league. I know its not like this in pool for example.

It's variable as to the extent to which League rules allow unilateral postponements. Given the proximity of the River Thames, the Berkshire rules allow flooding as an adverse weather condition. I was able to offer this not so many years ago to an organiser who would otherwise considered defaulting because the car parks were flooded.

[John Upham]

Was the match cancelled or postponed?

[Kevin Thurlow]

What annoys me is people conceding matches when they expect to lose, especially if they will have a longish journey to do so. There was a case in the Civil Service League where a team that usually won the League suddenly realised that an opposing team was very strong, so defaulted against them twice in one season, claiming they couldn't raise a team, although they did run four teams! They miscalculated as they got relegated as a result. Oh how we laughed.

In one of the Surrey competitions a few years ago, two teams at opposite sides of the county defaulted the away fixtures against each other. A couple of the central clubs pointed out they would happily have offered a neutral venue on each occasion.

A few years ago, Redhill offered to concede a match as we could only get half a team out and mostly reserves at that, and to our amazement, the opposition insisted we rearrange the match. We felt we didn't deserve this generosity (and we won the rearranged match!)

Surely if you cannot put a team out, you say so, and hope the opposition is kind. Sudden snowstorms (and other weather conditions) are a reason for a late unilateral cancellation. Redhill did waive the default time this season when a couple of opposition players were late and we knew there were problems on the M25. It could be argued that problems are predictable on the M25. (For readers near Birmingham, insert any local motorway instead of M25 and you will know what I mean.)

[Reg Clucas]

Maybe we're spoiled in the Manchester area, having lots of League chess - so much so that it is very difficult to fit in rescheduled matches after the fixtures are published at the start of the season. It's bad enough trying to fit in extra fixtures when a team makes progress in one of the knock-out competitions. So postponements usually only happen in extreme situations such as bad weather or sudden loss of playing venue. Inability to raise a team is not sufficient reason for a postponement, and that team would usually have to default the match.

[David Blower]

It probably is a bit misleading to compare amateur league chess, to a professional sport such as football (although I have made the unfair comparisons myself on many occassions!)

Obviously professional football teams don't conceed fixtures, but then again professional football teams don't have their players work as parish councilers, or work as the main person as the contact abroad for Italy, France and the USA, etc, or any of the other real world problems that exist when trying to organise a team to play a fixture away.

However I do agree fundamentally that not being able to raise a team should not really be a reason why matches should be cancelled completely.

[NickFaulks]

Another problem with postponements is that players who were eligible to play in the original fixture may become ineligible by the time it is actually played. This is easily corrected, but I am not aware of any leagues that have done so. Of course, my knowledge of English local teagues is not encyclopedic.

[Nick Grey]

Having made arrangements to work at Westminster City Hall which is a very short walk & closest chess fixture I would ever have in the rest of my life (v Transport for London at St James Park) yes I was annoyed. Anyway turning up at High Street Kensington this morning the boss was pretty pleased & I ended up working late again on Westminster business anyway.

Our captain has agreed to a postponement & rescheduling & hopefully it will be at a time I can make it. Certainly my first game in this league this season & they are few & far between. They were home team.

Some leagues have put in some rules - we even had a discussion on was adequate notice - bearing in mind that it is normally away teams that are short & want to postpone (there is then the issue of venue paid for without a fixture) hence game.

Both teams have 1 team in the league so no issue on those with multiple teams & find that they may become ineligible having played subsequent matches for higher teams.

As for football I am talking about grant roots FA football when rules are generally clear (paying clubs for a pitch hire that is non-refundable, possible ref, league fine & possible points reduction). Also suggests you ought to play even without subs & less than 11 players.

The fact is that the TfL service has been rubbish over the last 6 weeks, we even have strikes, & non-running of lines for engineering work (supposedly to gear up for 24 hour services) & fare increases & I also wonder whether 50% of their workforce are missing).

The players are very nice so no issue with them just the organisation they work for or are pensioners for. They ought to have flu jabs.

As Kingston have arranged to play at Redhill on 27th February I have already told the captain that I will play providing a lift there & back as I have little confidence that the Southern rail service will function with worst performance levels ever as well as further outrageous price increases.

[David Gilbert]

Another problem with postponements is that players who were eligible to play in the original fixture may become ineligible by the time it is actually played. This is easily corrected, but I am not aware of any leagues that have done so. Of course, my knowledge of English local teagues is not encyclopedic.

Bless! Players who were eligible to play in the original fixture are always going to be eligible for the rearranged match in two Leagues where you have appeared on a combined eight occasions so far this season.

[NickFaulks]

Bless! Players who were eligible to play in the original fixture are always going to be eligible for the rearranged match in two Leagues where you have appeared on a combined eight occasions so far this season.

I was right, then. My knowledge does have gaps.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"As Kingston have arranged to play at Redhill on 27th February I have already told the captain that I will play providing a lift there & back as I have little confidence that the Southern rail service will function with worst performance levels ever as well as further outrageous price increases."

Journeys between Redhill and Kingston are not easy by train at the best of times. I hope the weather behaves...

[Stewart Reuben]

In the London League there has been a distressing increase in the number of games forfeited. I realise this is different from whole matches being cancelled or postponsd. My own club is forfeiting on bottom board this evening. Our captain is giving some advance warning. Effectively some clubs have bitten off more encounters than they can sustain.

[John Clarke]

Sometimes it's "damned if you do; damned if you don't".

My school team in the 1960s played in the local adult league for about 10 years, for much of that time with considerable success. By the time I became captain, though, our playing strength had declined noticeably, and our regular eight were the only realistic choices. Then one day towards the end of the season, three or four of them opted to go watch an FA Cup tie replay, the same evening as our long-scheduled final match. The only alternative to postponing was to fill the team up with young rookies who could have provided no real opposition - and who mightn't have been given parental permission to be out so late virtually unaccompanied anyway.

The opposing captain proved understanding, and agreed to a postponement (with the league secretary's consent too). But when the match was eventually played, the behaviour of one or two of his players, evidently hosed off at having their schedules mucked around at short notice, was pretty graceless.

[NickFaulks]

Bless! Players who were eligible to play in the original fixture are always going to be eligible for the rearranged match in two Leagues where you have appeared on a combined eight occasions so far this season.

I was right, then. My knowledge does have gaps.

This issue has become of interest again, and I cannot find the regulations of these leagues. Where should I look?