Well, there was a problem in the Birmingham League... This is the story as I've heard it. I think I'm at liberty to mention it, given the situation has now been resolved.
Warley Quinborne v Tamworth & District, Birmingham & District League Division 2.
Tamworth & District didn't turn up, but called about 45 minutes before the off to say they couldn't get there. The weather wasn't bad at all, it was still 50 degrees or so, no rain or anything. There was, however, a big accident that closed J1 of the M5. Given that when one road is closed in the West Midlands the entire area grinds to a standstill, sure enough, at about 4pm, everywhere was blocked. J2 of the M5 through to J7/9 of the M6 was almost gridlocked. I was caught up in this, in fact, as I caught a train to Sandwell & Dudley, and was waiting for a bus on the A4034, which joins Oldbury and West Bromwich - I was waiting for an hour, and the one I wanted didn't arrive. In the end, I had a three-mile uphill walk (fun...
). Anyway, I got home in time to eat, and get out again for chess (I wasn't playing in this match, but I went along anyway). The traffic had gone by 7pm; I set out at 7pm and arrived earlier than the 7:30pm start. Travel reports described the traffic as "easing back to normal" on the radio.
Tamworth & District are a bit distant for the Birmingham League. The rule says 15 miles "as the crow flies" from Birmingham City Centre, but unfortunately, none of the people who built roads were crows, so it's actually about a 25 mile trip to get to the centre of Birmingham, plus a bit to get to Warley Quinborne. They would have probably passed through the M6, then up to J2 of the M5, then the A4123 to the venue. My route included the A4123 bit, which had no traffic. I could see that traffic on the motorway was passing freely. The entire Warley Quinborne team turned up, and had to be told that the match was cancelled as they arrived.
The Warley Quinborne captain made a protest, on the basis that the roads were OK. Whether the protest was sporting or not is another debate, but once you decided to protest, it should have been upheld. OK, Tamworth would have been slightly late, but this is hardly a new experience for them, due to their location. Clubs are used to having to wait for them, anyway. The Honorary General Secretary said that the match had to be replayed, though. The fallout was that the WQ captain, who also happened to be the Division 1-3 Results secretary, resigned on principle. Tamworth chose to forfeit the match anyway, 6-0, presumably as their way of protesting about the whole saga. I can imagine something like "Well if that's going to be their attitude, we don't want to play them" crossing their minds.
This is exactly why the rules can't be open to interpretation, and should say that if scenario x happens, decision y is made. Then everyone knows where they stand, and we don't have a representative (who does a very good job) resigning, and clubs falling out with one-another.
