Home News Columnists Neil Farrington

At this ratewe will play in summer!

Jan 10 2010 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

ANYONE else reckon they would have been watching a football match somewhere yesterday if this was 1980 rather than 2010?

With all due respect to the elements – I was almost killed by a conservatory avalanche the other night – I cannot help thinking this weekend’s decimated fixture list bears the scars of the nanny state.

Talking of scars, I still have one on my right thigh from making a sliding tackle on a frost-bedazzled pitch in a little league game, circa roughly 1981.

Suffice to say, it ached. But playing football in the snow? It rocked.

Sadly, the era in which almost all manner of evil weather could be defied by simply changing the colour of the ball is long gone.

When did you last see a Premier League player kicking an orange about?

Now, the safety of supporters – never mind players – is what dictates whether a game is off or on.

Is it just me, or should those supporters not take responsibility for their own safety?

What extra risk is there in several thousand fans walking to and from a football ground than in commuters getting to and from work?

Between them, the health and safety stasi and the advocates of a mid-winter break will turn English football into a summer game.

That just would not be cricket.

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