ABANDONMENT FARCE BUT SIR LEN HUTTON SAVES THE DAY

FIELD 1 HEADINGLEY 1
WEST YORKSHIRE LEAGUE PREMIER @HOLLINGWOOD LANE
4 MAY 2019 --- 3PM

A UNIQUE BACKDROP A FIELD FC

A wholly unacceptable abandonment from a spectator point of view occurred in the Lidget Green area of Bradford with approximately 30 spectators watching, a fair few from way down south and some West Yorkshire travellers too the referee called off what had been an entertaining game after the assessor left the ground at half time feeling threatened after being approached by a spectator.  Luckily the sanity of cricket was on hand to save the day at nearby Pudsey St Lawrence the home of Sir Leonard Hutton and Herbert Sutcliffe former Yorkshire and England greats.
The day commenced in its usual public transport format, you know the drill by now, rammed to the rafters but thankfully a sharp connection in Leeds saw arrival in 'Bratford' in time to catch a bus through the streets to the west of the city to depart on Thronton Road a twenty minute walk away from todays destination.  Of course the method in all this was West Park Fisheries who had an excellent rating on review sites, well as per Wednesday night in the words of yoda 'worst I have sampled', but I have had better.

PRE MATCH TOUR

Just short of Hollingwood Lane I found my back up sport just in case with Clayton Amateurs Rugby League ground awakening for todays game.  Onward to the corner of our destination and Clayton Road the new mini retail Park was in full swing on the site of the former Field's packaging and printing factory the history of todays named side and over the road way Chelsea Road the, I believe former modern warehouse site which also hosts the base for todays game.
With Fields now gone the factory by the ground is now run by a bathroom distribution company and the adjoining football pitch and social club remains under whose ownership I don't know but lets hope its secure.  There are a few ways of entering but I selected the longest way, I found out later, by the car park route and then when in the ground spotted a footpath by the factory.

MATCH ACTION WHILE WE HAD CHANCE WITH HEADINGLEY ON THE ATTACK

A 1970's style clubhouse was smart and very well manned by a friendly member of staff the ground on two sides is bordered by large poplar trees with hard standing on the clubhouse side its grass along the other three although you can access them and all are railed off.  Uniquely for the league there also floodlights in situ but the factory is the major backdrop of this ground overall its a pleasant setting for a game.
It was good to catch up with quite a few of the hopper crew and a few locals too and all was set for a good game with Headingley needing a point for Premier League survival and Field back to league action after winning the Saturday Senior Cup.
To the events then WYL a step 7 set up as normally provided some excellent games to watch in the silly season at the end of footy action and today was no different for forty five minutes.  I need to make clear firstly that anybody who knows this blog, I believe, is nearly always fair to referees and I have to label todays events from both sides and did not speak to any parties involved so I'm sure they would offer a different take on proceedings. 
Referee observers or assessor in old money always seem to have an influence on referees performances especially in relation to the use of cards and I draw that from being involved with a club and as a spectator but I believe the referee should not be alerted and they should attend but not introduce themselves before the game going forward.  I understand that this is dismissed with needing to know the referees pre match instructions but there is an increasing controversy around this form of monitoring and the referees use of cards.

HEADS YOU WIN

It looked to go wrong for the visitors as early as 5 minutes when Steve Bargh scored from the penalty spot.  Headingley came straight back and stuck the post through Merlyn Andrews and as the ball bounced back Mark Freeman missed the target from close in.  However Headingley got level on 32 minutes Freeman made amends by racing through to fire home.
During the half referee Taylor had issued a regular distribution of yellow cards and seemed to pull in the captain from afar on most occasions he deemed a 'chat' necessary, assessor influenced I don't know the official but it often is.

MILNER SENT OFF FOR HIS SECOND YELLOW JUST BEFORE HALF TIME

We arrived at the 43rd minute and after a sharp halfway line challenge Josh Milner was shown a second yellow and the inevitable red.  As he walked off a spectator walked towards the assessor on the terrace and play was stopped while the referee sought to settle the situation which he did by asking the Field manager to go over to the opposite side of the pitch to speak to the person involved.
What was said I cant tell you but I do know the game continued to half time, there was no melee on the pitch or between the dugouts.  As the referee came off at half time the assessor spoke to him and immediately walked out of the ground to which the three officials went into their changing rooms closed the door with the two managers called and within two minutes it was abandoned.
From a spectator point of view there was little explanation and while not knowing the nature of the pitch side conversation it was called off as I guess the officials didn't feel safe?  There appeared little attempt to remove anybody from pitch side and for the referee it was a very quick call off and it felt very unacceptable while of course not condoning any threatening misconduct.
You can imagine £20 and two hours of travelling did not leave my mood in a good place!
Bradford City were at home but after toying with the idea I decided against it, thankfully 0-0, and set off back from Interchange to return to base when I had a quick look at the phone map and a bit of social media research found Pudsey St Lawrence Cricket Club at home against Bradford and Bingley.
During last seasons cricket coverage this was a ground I had looked at a few times and although today would only be a two hour visit it has whet my appetite for a full days visit on a warmer[!] day.
Departing at New Pudsey station and veering through a few select footpaths, retail parks and a steep uphill climb I would within 25 minutes come out on Tofts Road adjacent to the ground, mind you half way up the hill sheltering from a hail shower in a bus shelter I did realise I'm getting to old for this malarkey.

ENTRY GATES FOR PUDSEY ST LAWRENCE IN MEMORY OF SIR LEONARD HUTTON

 The two names synonymous with the club are Herbert Sutcliffe and Sir Leonard Hutton the latter has a nice set of gates dedicated to him and the superb modern clubhouse, packed for the whole afternoon, was also awash with memorabilia plus a fantastic calligraphic wall quote from Hutton "many of the most blissful hours of my life were spent with Pudsey St Lawrence".  England's highest test score by an individual was set by Hutton at 364 against Australia in 1938 at The Oval and obviously something the club are very proud of in the Fulneck, Pudsey born man.

WOOLLY HAT BLANKET IT MUST BE THE CRICKET SEASON WHAT A NICE SETTING THOUGH

The ground is a smart affair and hopefully I will get chance to cover it during the season but needless to say on a nice afternoon it would be a very agreeable setting however today ladies on the boundary were fully covered in warm woolly blankets it may not quite be weather for cricket yet!

WHITEWASHED WALLS AND CRICKETS BACK

The pitch action had seen Pudsey amass 178 in 50 before I arrived and Bradford and Bingley were making steady progress but by 7.15pm I had to depart it was going to be a late finish which I doubted they would get to.  However they did and it went down to the penultimate ball with the visitors dismissed three runs short.
Mad dash to New Pudsey station and I only just made it for the train and a quick change at Leeds and we were back over the Yorkshire border in Peak land just before 8.30pm.  A strange day that I'm still not quite sure what happened or if it was all a dream thankfully saved by a Yorkshire and England legend.