WEATHER CONDITIONS
As in any line of work it is important to keep records, Chris Charles, a Groundsman who spends some of his spare time looking after two non-league football grounds keeps various records for reference. Below are the results of the last two years records for wet weather, showing how mild and wet the playing seasons have become.
WEATHERREPORT August 2000 to April 20th2001
As everyone knows, this season as regards weather has been horrific to say the least. Hardly a week goes by without postponements. In terms of Groundsmanship for winter sports, i.e. football it has been the worst ever.
I personally know a few top Groundsmen in this country who themselves have never known anything like it. If this is the trend of things to come for the future then non-league clubs with limited resources to put things right will without a doubt suffer. I have already highlighted this problem with the powers that be within this industry and hopefully will hear something soon.
It is very easy for people to generalize and say that "hasn't this year been wet?" The following is a table that shows just how wet the whole of the football season from its start has been. It is taken from the start of August 2000 up until today. It has to be broken down in "wet days" and "dry days" for ease of reading.
Month |
Total days in month |
Dry days |
Wet days |
|
August |
31 |
15 |
16 |
|
September |
30 |
12 |
18 |
October |
31 |
4 |
27 |
|
November |
30 |
4 |
26 |
|
December |
31 |
15 |
16 |
|
January |
31 |
20 |
11 |
|
February |
28 |
10 |
18 |
|
March |
31 |
7 |
24 |
|
April |
19 |
5 |
14 |
|
Totals |
262 |
92 |
170 |
As an average the above shows that nearly every other day has been wet. Hopefully this is just a "one off' and will never happen again. However, as stated earlier if this is going to be recurrent then we will find ourselves having major problems.
Weather report from August 2001 until the end of March 2002.
|
Month |
Number of days |
Dry days |
Wet days |
|
August |
31 |
17 |
14 |
|
September |
30 |
12 |
18 |
|
October |
31 |
8 |
23 |
|
November |
30 |
11 |
19 |
|
December |
31 |
15 |
16 |
|
January |
31 |
10 |
21 |
|
February |
28 |
3 |
25 |
|
March |
31 |
21 |
10 |
Totals |
243 |
97 |
146 |
People often generalise about the weather saying "Hasn't it been a wet winter?" The above shows precisely the weather patterns over the course of the football season in this region.
Generally speaking, compared to last year the weather hasn't been too bad as regards getting games on first time around. Saturday 1st of December was the day that the first game was lost due to poor pitch conditions. Only 3 in total before the New Year began. Most postponements have occurred in January and February this year. This fits in with the above information.
So called "experts" predict further mild and wet winters to come. The last 2 years certainly suggest that to be the case.
Chris Charles
Groundsman
