Rotherham defend attempts to get Cardiff City game back on

Rotherham defend attempts to get Cardiff City game back on amid anger over videos


The Bluebirds' game against Rotherham United was called off after 47 minutes due to a huge downpour


Rotherham United boss Matt Taylor insists the club did everything in their power to get the game against Cardiff City back on after it was postponed due to an "unsafe pitch".

The Bluebirds started the second half with a 1-0 lead but in the middle of a sizeable downpour of rain. After two minutes, referee Oliver Langford pulled the two captains together before taking the players off the pitch.

Millers boss Taylor and Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi went out on to the pitch with Langford on two separate occasions to assess the conditions before the referee decided to call off the game.


Cardiff fans, players and staff appeared angry at the seeming lack of urgency to get the game back on, understandably wanting the game to continue having taken a 1-0 lead against a relegation rival.



But Taylor said: "I understand it, totally, but if it's still unplayable 50 minutes later then it's unplayable to even try.


"I understand we've got to make every single effort we possibly can, but player safety and other issues have to be taken into account. Ultimately, the referee has to be trusted to make that decision. He'll have been in this situation before.

"We've got Howard Webb here today, who is the main man, and I'm sure we'll have gone through every single protocol possible. Everyone wanted the game to be on, but sometimes in football and in life, there are things out of your control.

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"We've done everything we possibly can. Sometimes you can't control it and overcome it. We do sympathise with Cardiff, those supporters who made the journey will feel hard done by. I'm sure the club will do whatever they can to welcome them back in whatever capacity in the future."

Videos of the ground staff sweeping just the corner of the pitch, pushing the water towards the advertising hoardings and back again, were circulated by frustrated Cardiff fans, with even captain Ryan Wintle tweeting that it seemed like "banter".


On the ground staff's work, Taylor added: "You sweep one corner then the other needs to get swept. The water was all around the edges, but it was still unplayable right in the middle, which is the bigger problem in relation to the referee.

"The ball wasn't travelling, if it was in the air it stopped still. When I walked out there, in the middle it was still a couple of inches deep.

"As much as the sidelines drew everyone's eyes, because that's the most severe part, it was still unplayable. It's still unplayable now, so that probably tells you a bit of a story of how difficult the task was."

When asked by WalesOnline if he felt content that the club had done everything in their power to get the game back on, the Millers boss replied: "Yeah. There is only a limited number of ground staff and those brushes and the squeegee rollers, which you call them in cricket, I don't think we've got any of them.

"That is where we are as a Championship club. I'm sure Cardiff have got more ground staff than us and better equipment. But that can't be held against us today. Those ground staff have worked so, so hard and the fact it's still in the state it is now, even with them still continuing to work on it, tells you how bad it was."

Sabri Lamouchi was visibly angry by the decision and declined to do post-match press. And Taylor did reveal the Frenchman was perturbed by the whole scenario.

"The only gripe the Cardiff manager has was that we didn't try earlier," he said. "But if the pitch wasn't playable and 15 minutes later it wasn't playable and 15 minutes later again it wasn't playable, if we had tried it would have been chaos. It would have been how the game finished in that last minute or so.

"I understand that. I sympathise with their journey, their fans and everyone involved with Cardiff, even though it doesn't make them feel any better."

It means another schlepp up to Yorkshire for the Bluebirds and their supporters, who were excellent and in full voice in the first half, with the rearranged game starting again at 0-0.

On the rearranged fixture, Taylor said: "It will be a Tuesday night, definitely. There might be gaps at the start of our return. The EFL generally like the games to be put in at the earliest possible point, to avoid more congestion if more games are called off.

"We will see. That's out of my hands, but it'll be played in a busy month."

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In fairness that pitch was never going to be playable regardless of how long they gave it unless you wanted to play at midnight.

The investigation should look into way the pitch was not capable of surviving such a downpour and if the finding are poor design etc etc then the game should be awarded to us. Can't it it though.

This shouldn’t happen in this day and age how many games get called off not many very rare we get bad weather and a lot of heavy rain these days but hardly any games suffer if the game had been abandoned after seventy minutes would the result stood that’s what used to happen if that’s case Rotherham wouldn’t have been so quick to get the game. Abandoned

More litigation from Tan I suspect especially if the season ends with relegation.

I think the sickener is just how little effort they made to clear the standing water and the way they laughed at the collective “us”

It’s pretty shoddy.

Maybe they they just knew it physically empossible to remedy, nothing worse than being an expert in the area for someone above to have ridiculous expectations, it sucks but although rare it does happen. More interested to see how they deal with the fans if it’s replayed maybe a full refund of match day tickets to help with the costs of attending the replay. As a minimum starting point, don’t see what more they could do though.

Cheating dirty northern inbreds. Karma will get them soon enough

With the international break and Easter coming up I can't see the game being replayed before the 25th of April.

Maybe they they just knew it physically empossible to remedy, nothing worse than being an expert in the area for someone above to have ridiculous expectations, it sucks but although rare it does happen. More interested to see how they deal with the fans if it’s replayed maybe a full refund of match day tickets to help with the costs of attending the replay. As a minimum starting point, don’t see what more they could do though.

I don't think there were any "experts" around and that's where the problem lies. Yes the pitch was flooded but there was no attempt to clear it or adequate equipment to do so. The weather was fine when they went off a half time -so much so the sprinklers were on- and when it started the rain was so light i didn't even put my jacket on when it started. The downpour itself lasted less than 10 minutes and i have seen worse at Cardiff and there being no serious problem. I have never seen anywhere flood so quickly - football pitch, park or field, so in their defence I suppose they were taken by surprise but clearly there is an issue with the pitch and with the management of it when its raining.

If Rotherham were leading, I'm in no doubt the effort to clear the pitch of water would have been instant and not 20 minutes after the rain stopped, with more groundsmen out there working faster.

I hope EFL do the correct thing and award us the 3 points but like most on here, I can't see it happening.

After speaking with a couple of mate who are Rotherham fans Firstly they agreed that Cardiff where by far the better side and they could not see us losing They had not seen the video until I sent them of the groundsman actions They we’re embarrassed by it
They still don’t think the ground would have been playable even in a couple of hours I did not realise that the groundsman had won awards for the quality of the pitch recently
They both believe that the game should be replayed at 48 mins with City 1-0 up but don’t see that happening

If Rotherham were leading, I'm in no doubt the effort to clear the pitch of water would have been instant and not 20 minutes after the rain stopped, with more groundsmen out there working faster.

I hope EFL do the correct thing and award us the 3 points but like most on here, I can't see it happening.

Likewise .