As you may have seen, one of modern football's most dangerous, snow ridden matches ended with Leicester City losing 3-0 to Ipswich Town. There's been a lot said about whether the match should have even started, let alone finished, illustrated by the fact that the referee extended half time and even took the players off midway through the second half to try and clear the snow from the lines of the pitch. It seems that the fact ths match finished was down, mainly, to the power of money over football.
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| Miguel Vitor falls on the ice, injuring his hamstring. (itfc.com) |
The need to have this match featured on SkySports2 allegedy caused a lot of pressure on referee Stuart Atwell to continue this game, even in the dangerous conditions which left Leicester with four injuries, and on a pitch that limited the game of football. Moving the match to 5:20pm for television hurt the chances of the match being playable and the worry of losing viewers surely caused the moneymakers to pressure the referee.
There might possibly be the idea of squaring up to Ipswich manager Roy Keane that put him off, too. In a match where he may well have lost his job with a loss, to abandon a match that his team was winning 3-0 would have been brave. Had it been 0-0 at half time, I'm sure it would have been stopped but that's football.
Other matches around the country, in stadiums with much better facilities that Portman Road (the Emirates for example), were called off with sometimes much better conditions to this match. If this match could go ahead, why postpone any match?
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