AN MP has condemned the ‘shocking’ treatment of Barnsley Football Club fans who travelled almost 200 miles to find out their League One fixture against Stevenage had been postponed just two hours before kick-off.
The Reds were set to face Stevenage on Saturday at 3pm, with an initial pitch inspection taking place at 11am.
However, a secondary inspection then took place at 1pm - just two hours before the game was due to start - and was subsequently postponed.
It’s prompted Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis to write to the English Football League’s chairman, Rick Parry, calling on the governing body to have a ‘rethink’ about their current regulations.
He said: “Sadly this is not the first time Barnsley fans have fallen victim to such events - a year ago on a midweek away trip to Exeter, which was scheduled to kick off at 7.45pm, the decision to postpone the match was made at 4.15pm.
“Both decisions were met, rightly, with derision from fans.
“It is very hard for me to understand why decisions which have such an impact upon supporters cannot be made before hundreds embark on costly and ultimately, wasted journeys, especially in the case of Saturday’s game when a decision could have been made to postpone that match at 11am.”
Dan pressed the EFL to look into a promise which would see games postponed before away supporters have the chance to travel hours to matches.
“In light of these two examples, though I would imagine there to be hundreds of others, would the EFL consider a ‘postponement promise’ which compels officials to make a decisions on whether a match should go ahead before any visiting fans hit the road,” he added.
“The timings could be worked out quite simply, using the time taken to travel from stadium A to stadium B by road and circulated to all teams and officials when the fixture list is released in July.
“Many in football like to extol the importance of fans, however, the reality - as in these cases, often leaves fans with a very different experience.”
