AND THE band didn’t play on. While the announcement confirming the game’s postponement at 8.57pm was met with a predictable and understandable chorus of boos, there the band stood in the middle of the pitch. In perfect formation like matchstick men, without striking a note, it was as if they were frozen to the spot.
As a commentary on the farcical events of Saturday night the band cut a suitably forlorn sight as the bemused-looking players from both teams took to the pitch briefly. This was an accident waiting to happen. The Six Nations match organisers had gambled on persevering with a 9pm kick-off despite week-long forecasts of freezing weather and match temperatures of minus eight degrees and dropping.
As long ago as last Wednesday, the French winger Vincent Clerc warned: “If it is minus seven when we kick off there is reason for concern. The pitch was already frozen when we played Italy last week. Parts near the touchline were frozen.”
Sure enough, when Clerc emerged into the mixed zone after Saturday night’s fiasco, he politely stopped to talk briefly in English with two reporters, and when we asked him about the pitch he said: “Not good. Some areas were very frozen.”
As far ago as last Sunday the French federation had put a covering with hot blowers underneath over the pitch and left them there all week, and hence while David Pearson passed the pitch fit for play at 7.15, a quarter of an hour after the covering was removed, come 8.50, after he had inspected the pitch again, it was unplayable. But at no point did they test conditions at night time by temporarily removing the covering.
The gamble had backfired and the main losers were, as ever, the 80,000 paying supporters who had travelled from all over France and, at much bigger cost, from Ireland and elsewhere. Seven Irish fans travelled from Toronot, a family of six from Brussels, one from Dubai and heaven knows wherever else. Keeping their match tickets won’t be much use to them. It’s the paying customers who suffer with all TV dictated kick-off times, such as Friday nights, late Sunday afternoon games or, indeed, Saturday night games in the depths of winter.
The French federation president, Pierre Camou, may have indignantly talked at length about the Top 14 fixtures which went ahead over the weekend, but as far ago as last Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, Top 14 games between Agen and Castres as well as Lyon and Brive, were cancelled in advance.
Both were due to be played at 2pm on Saturday. And while the Clermont game went ahead on Saturday despite near identical temperatures and weather patterns to Paris, it did so with a 2.30 kick-off. It assuredly never would have with a 9pm kick-off.
Nor indeed, would the Italy-England game in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
A Biarritz man, Camou, for all his supposed anger and less than subtle finger-pointing at Pearson, cut a ridiculous figure as he less than subtly attempted to point all the blame at Pearson.
The FFR president, Pierre Camou, said: “I have nothing to comment on decisions take by referees themselves (alluding to Pearson). He took the decision and the decision belongs to him.”
Given that the €280 million Stade de France does not have undersoil heating, sticking with a 9pm kick-off was an accident waiting to happen. And it duly happened. French television had a Saturday afternoon slot and were willing to have the game moved forward to 3pm but the Six Nations and the French federation declined to do so.
Had they moved the game forward, it would almost certainly have been played. The word is that the French never notified the Six Nations of this offer. You’d love to know who made that call and who they consulted, but of course we’ll never know.
By Friday or Saturday, the organisers argued against moving the game on the grounds that the travelling supporters had already made their travel plans, which is fair enough, but they should have had the foresight to bring the game forward earlier in the week.
Instead, they left playing conditions in the lap of the Gods and passed the buck onto Pearson. Despite abrogating his responsibilities in not recommending a red card for Bradley Davies last week – and for all their indignant defence of Wayne Barnes for the Stephen Ferris penalty and yellow card, not a word from the IRB or Six Nations was said about that – one has huge sympathy for the English official, that the fate of a game being attended by 80,000 people and being watched by millions on television, was entirely down to him. So he cops the boos, the whistling and the derision, but had players been injured he would have copped the blame then.
And as Paul O’Connell pointed out, Paul Wallace’s career effectively ended when he broke his leg on a frozen Ravenhill Heineken Cup match in January 2001 – with sad irony, the career of his brother Richie also ended with a broken leg suffered on a frozen pitch when playing a cup match for Saracens in the north of England against Morley.
No, this was not down to one referee losing his bottle. It was due to the miscalculated gamble by the organising committee of a multi-million pound, supposedly professional, tournament that just happens to be the oldest in the game. In the current financial, as well as weather, climate the treatment of the paying supporters was contemptible.
Nor can the Six Nations, whose spokespersons blithely insisted all week that there was no threat to the game, pass the buck onto the FFR. ERC, a much more dynamic, professional and proactive organisation, always put the onus on the home club to have a plan B, so much so that they can move a match from a frozen Brussels to Paris at less than 24 hours’ notice.
None of this being wise after the event. There was no sudden or unexpected deterioration about Saturday evening’s weather. It was exactly as forecast. The Six Nations and French federation had been given ample warning by the France-Italy game, by Clerc and others. Heads should roll for such crass incompetence, but they won’t.
PARIS TIMELINE: How the French farce unfolded
Saturday, February 4th
France beat Italy 30-12 at Stade de France. The pitch, which does not have under-soil heating, is covered immediately after full-time.
Monday
Temperature of -7C forecast for night of Ireland’s clash with France in Paris and could reach as low as -10C during the game.
Tuesday
France winger Vincent Clerc voices his alarm at the condition of the pitch against Italy and warns the situation could deteriorate. Clerc said: “If it’s -7C on Saturday, there is reason for concern over the frozen pitch. It was already frozen against Italy. The parts near the touchline were frozen.”
Thursday
Traditional eve-of-match captain’s run cancelled due to frozen pitch. When asked if he was concerned by the conditions, Ireland coach Declan Kidney said: “We’ve not discussed the temperature. We’ll have to wait until we step off the plane and feel it. It’s one of those uncontrollables. We just have to work off the premise that it will be the same for them as it is for us.”
Friday
Ireland squad arrives in Paris. Kicking practice held in the afternoon at an indoor facility. Referee Dave Pearson conducts 4pm pitch inspection without removing the covers. Six Nations spokesperson states the pitch is being maintained at 3C beneath the covers and the match is not under threat. No further pitch inspection conducted that night despite 9pm kick-off time the following day.
Saturday
7pm: Covers removed from the pitch.
7.15pm: Pearson declares the pitch is playable.
8.15pm: Kidney and France coach Philippe Saint-Andre discuss the condition of the pitch with Pearson.
8.30pm: Pearson re-examines the pitch.
8.50pm: Pearson postpones the game.
9.0pm: Temperature at kick-off time recorded at -6C with a wind chill of -11C.
9.05: Stade de France is informed of Pearson’s decision, prompting jeers from the crowd. Band remain present on the pitch while some French players enter the stands to speak with family members.
9.15pm: Disgruntled fans begin leaving the stadium.
10pm: Temperature at Stade de France plummets to -8C at what would have been half-time.
10.15pm: Six Nations official refuses to take questions on decision to postpone the match. Pearson absent from press conference.
