Hawks accuse Dover of ‘lack of respect’ following National League South postponement farce

After being told ‘there was nothing to worry about’, Hawks players, staff and officials made the near 270-mile round-trip to Kent.

Dover had even tweeted in the morning: ‘The covers have been removed and while it is still patchy in areas, the pitch should be fine.’

But kitman Richard Pope and player-coach Jamie Collins, who arrived at The Crabble earlier than others, instantly discovered a different story.

And when the match referee arrived just after 1pm, he had no hesitation in calling the game off straight away.

Even though covers had been on overnight, the pitch was still rock hard on one side due to the shadow cast by a grandstand.

Hawks secretary Trevor Brock saw at first hand the problem when he arrived at the ground.

‘You could see there was zero chance,’ he told The News. ‘The referee took less than 30 seconds to call it off.’

Hawks tweeted: Our kitman arrived at Dover Athletic at 11:30am to be met by the groundsman, who said in his opinion that the game should have been called off at 9am in which he advised the chairman (Jim Parmenter).

‘We feel our football club have been shown a lack of respect by Dover Athletic Football Club.’

Elsewhere in the NL South, Farnborough called their home game off with Ebbsfleet at 9am – Hawks feel Dover should have done exactly the same.

Brock will now be writing to the National League board to express his club’s anger.

‘I’d be astonished if we didn’t get our coach bill paid for,’ he said.

‘It’s so rare these things happen, because clubs treat other clubs with respect.

‘If there’s any doubt (regarding a postponement), you’re supposed to contact a local referee who will inspect the pitch. Dover didn’t call anybody in.

‘I spoke to their secretary on the Friday and he told me the pitch was being covered and there was nothing to worry about. You have to go with that.

‘At 11am (on Saturday) I took another call from the Dover secretary who said they’d taken the covers off. There were a couple of patches (of frost) but they’d warm up under the sun.’

Hawks striker Jason Prior tweeted his own version of the words Dover had put out a few hours earlier. ‘This tweet should have read ‘Covers have failed miserably and pitch is rock hard down one side. Game will 100% be off when ref gets here but still come down. Be lovely to see you all.’

Some of the 100-plus Hawks fans who had travelled, however, were still able to watch a game - Folkestone Invicta’s pitch, some 10 miles away from Dover, was playable.

This is not the first time Dover have been involved in a late postponement controversy.

Last January, Notts County were told at 11am on the day of their trip to Dover that the pitch would be playable.

But by the time club officials arrived at the ground two hours later, the referee had called the National League game off due to a waterlogged pitch

Notts head coach Ian Burchnall, still on the team bus with his staff and players 10 minutes from the ground, received a call from the match referee around the same time explaining that the pitch was completely unplayable.

Burchnall said in a club statement: ‘For me, today has been a disgrace. Fans have sacrificed their Saturday, and a lot of money, to travel four hours in support of their football club and they have been massively let down by a complete lack of communication from Dover.

‘We understand that weather conditions can worsen even in a short time period, but to not inform us of the game coming under question shows a complete lack of respect to our supporters and us as a club.

‘Last season, when games were being played behind closed doors, proved just how important fans are to football, particularly at this level of the game. It’s disgraceful that Dover have allowed this completely avoidable situation to play out as it has.’

The following month, the rearranged game was also postponed - this time five hours before kick-off - despite passing a pitch inspection at lunchtime with Notts fans already making their journey to Kent.

On that occasion, Parmenter claimed National League officials had called the game off. ‘It's inconceivable to me how somebody sitting in an office in London can call a game off when the pitch has just been inspected by a referee at 12.30pm,’ he said.

As for Hawks, the Dover farce was their second successive NLS postponement - the previous week’s trip to Farnborough also off.

Next up is a trip to St Albans City on Tuesday, after the Hertfordshire club’s home game with Cheshunt yesterday was frozen off.

Having not played St Albans this season yet, Hawks offered their opponents the opportunity of switching the midweek fixture to Westleigh Park.

However, St Albans have told Brock they feel the temperatures will become milder and are confident the game will go ahead.

Next Tuesday (January 31), Hawks are on the road again, this time at Taunton Town. The Somerset club have also had pitch problems this term, and have only managed to complete eight home NLS fixtures so far (by comparison, Hawks have played 14).

Taunton, who last played at home on December 3, have only played 19 league games so far - 10 fewer than Oxford City, six fewer than Hawks and four fewer than the next lowest total.

Squad wise, Hawks have sent winger Gianni Crichlow out on a month’s loan to Gosport Borough.

He is the fifth Hawk now out on loan in the Southern League, with Tommy Wright and Benny Read at AFC Totton, Jake Andrews at Poole Town and Leon Baker at Sholing.