AS someone who spends his days working on overhead power lines for NIE, Mark Stafford is something of an expert on the weather - and the Ballinamallard boss insists Saturday’s Playr-Fit Championship clash with Ards at Bangor’s Clandeboye Park should not have gone ahead.
Spare a thought too for Brandywell-based Institute who made the long journey to east Belfast to face Dundela at Wilgar Park only for the match to be abandoned after an hour, with the score at 1-1, due to floodlight failure – incredibly the same fate that befell the corresponding fixture last season.
Institute chairman Bill Anderson felt his club should not have been asked to travel, especially as the supporters bus was forced off the motorway after “losing a wheel” although thankfully no-one was injured.
The Mallards' long trek from Fermanagh in atrocious conditions was rewarded with a 1-0 victory on a day when Storm Darragh wiped out the entire Sports Direct Premiership programme.
But former Linfield defender Stafford feels his club should not have been asked to make the journey.
“I’m very proud of the players and the staff. They were outstanding to a man to travel the whole way to Bangor in those conditions,” he said.
“We have a car load of players from Sligo and it took them three and a half hours to get to Bangor.
“We asked Ards to play the game on Tuesday night but Ards didn’t want to do that and both clubs have to agree for the match to be postponed. So our only option would have been to forfeit the game but the players wanted to play and get the three points and they did that.
“I wasn’t happy to travel in those conditions. I work for NIE on the overhead power lines and when the Met Office issues an amber weather warning it’s not for the craic of it.
“I had to travel on back roads some of the way and you shouldn’t have been on those roads today. It seems like someone will have to get hurt before something is done about this.
“It’s a no brainer that a match should be called off if it’s an amber or red weather warning. Anybody with any sense knew the weather forecast was horrific.
“The rules about call-offs are ridiculous. Our lads are away from home three or four hours before kick-off so even call-offs 90 minutes before a match are little use to us.”
Danny Barker scored the only goal of the match after just nine minutes on a day which also saw wins for Stephen Small’s Ballyclare Comrades – 2-1 over Armagh City at Holm Park – and Limavady who won 3-0 at home to struggling Newry City. The Roesiders' victory moved them to within 10 points of runaway leaders Bangor who beat basement side Newington 2-0 at Larne’s Inver Park on Friday night.
Institute chairman Mr Anderson echoed the views from the Ballinamallard camp.
“A supporters bus lost a wheel on the motorway and those supporters then had to travel on the players bus. Everyone is okay thankfully. The bus will have to be recovered. Our driver dropped the team off then went back for the supporters,” he said.
“We have players living in Donegal where there was a red weather warning in place and those lads had to travel into Derry to meet up with us.
“We have a player who lives in Portstewart and I had to go and collect him because trains and buses had been cancelled.
“We were talking to Dundela from Friday night. The referee said this morning the pitch was playable therefore we were were supposed to travel.
“Teams travelling a long way were given the option by NIFL (Northern Ireland Football League) of asking for a postponement but Dundela said no, they wanted to play.
“But not long into the second half the lights weren’t working. So it was all for nothing. So now our players will have to get time off work to play a Tuesday night match and buses have to be hired again at £500 or £600 a time. It was one of those days – we shouldn’t have got out of bed."