New Science 1,059 Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) What has become of this sport. The forecast on BBC weather is for light rain from 3pm all through to midnight. That's exactly what we have now 2 miles from the track, a few spits and spots, absolutely nothing. Many times I've seen the guys at Wolves preparing the track in the afternoon, they put plenty of water on the track, gallons more than the few spots we have had today. This match in my opinion has been pulled because a few spots may put a few people off going, it seems promoters are now not prepared to run meetings in anything other than bone dry conditions. Wow finances must be near the knuckle if this is the new order. Lets not have promoters complaining over lack of dates at the back end of the season when they are calling matches off this easily. Edited April 9, 2018 by New Science 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reliant Robin 492 Posted April 9, 2018 28 minutes ago, New Science said: What has become of this sport. The forecast on BBC weather is for light rain from 3pm all through to midnight. That's exactly what we have now 2 miles from the track, a few spits and spots, absolutely nothing. Many times I've seen the guys at Wolves preparing the track in the afternoon, they put plenty of water on the track, gallons more than the few spots we have had today. This match in my opinion has been pulled because a few spots may put a few people off going, it seems promoters are now not prepared to run meetings in anything other than bone dry conditions. Wow finances must be near the knuckle if this is the new order. Lets not have promoters complaining over lack of dates at the back end of the season when they are calling matches off this easily. Agreed to a certain extent, but can also see both sides of the coin. The fact is, whenever there are a few spots of rain about, the gate numbers are always down significantly at all tracks. Discussions on the weather on social media platforms seems to start earlier and earlier with forecasts and radars readily available. It seems promoters are less likely to push to get a meeting on, as they know it will be a financial blow to run it in such conditions. As you say, we then get to the back end of the season when everyone will be scrabbling about to fit their fixtures in. What's going to come first......either track covers, promotions making an effort and instilling a confidence to the paying public that a bit of rain won't stop play, or continue as we are. I'm sure Promoters can generally sense a tone from facebook, twitter, forums etc that a crowd will be hit the moment there is even the slightest risk of rain. It's their money at risk, so can understand these early calls. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted April 9, 2018 When you have such huge gaps in the fixtures it makes sense to run meetings profitably in good weather than struggle through in front of a pitiful crowd and lose a packet. Supporters have seen too many 10 heat scrambles or call-offs once they've paid their money and avoid meetings when the weather is doubtful. Decades of neglecting customers and "we've not had a drop of rain all day" messages are now coming home to roost. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
New Science 1,059 Posted April 9, 2018 To add some balance the rain has got steadily worse and this meeting would be now probably be heading for a postponement as of 5 oclock. No problem with this, my nark was the postponement coming at 2 o'clock with it being bone dry. Obviously someone has access to better forecasting than me. Happy to set the record straight 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,424 Posted April 9, 2018 24 minutes ago, New Science said: To add some balance the rain has got steadily worse and this meeting would be now probably be heading for a postponement as of 5 oclock. No problem with this, my nark was the postponement coming at 2 o'clock with it being bone dry. Obviously someone has access to better forecasting than me. Happy to set the record straight Raintoday.co.uk You can see the rain marching across. Its actual, not forecast so not difficult to work out where the rain will be in an hour or so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fourentee 987 Posted April 9, 2018 1 hour ago, New Science said: To add some balance the rain has got steadily worse and this meeting would be now probably be heading for a postponement as of 5 oclock. No problem with this, my nark was the postponement coming at 2 o'clock with it being bone dry. Obviously someone has access to better forecasting than me. Happy to set the record straight Fair play to you for that. I live four miles from the track and was startled by a call-off made with sun splitting the trees. About 10 minutes later it started hosing down and hasn’t stopped since! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SSL84 541 Posted April 9, 2018 Well at 2pm at the track it just started and with the forcast to get worse it was a spot on call 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebrum 6,819 Posted April 9, 2018 5 minutes ago, Trackerman48 said: Well at 2pm at the track it just started and with the forcast to get worse it was a spot on call Exactly. Ditto last week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites