Notts County fans took to taunt Dover Athletic with a chant during a game at Folkestone Invicta after Tuesday’s National League postponement.
Supporters who had already travelled down for the Magpies’ game at the Crabble instead opted to attending Folkestone’s 1-0 victory over Isthmian League opposition Cray Wanderers.
And in that, their chants didn’t go unnoticed with Folkestone tweeting on the 54th minute: “There’s a section of the crowd singing less than complimentary songs about Dover. Unsure if it’s Invicta fans or some of those from Notts County who are in attendance tonight. Will report back when I know more.”
54’
There’s a section of the crowd singing less than complimentary songs about Dover. Unsure if it’s Invicta fans or some of those from Notts County who are in attendance tonight. Will report back when I know more.
FIFC 1-0 CWFC
— Folkestone Invicta (@FIFC) February 15, 2022
That moment when you realise there IS a game to go to when yours has been called off for the 38th time. @FIFC @krisgarratt @BenG2003_ #Notts pic.twitter.com/dTEM0Nt4cq
— Dan Westwell 🇬🇧 (@DanWestwell) February 15, 2022
Dover Athletic chairman Jim Parmenter blamed Notts County as Tuesday night’s match gets called off yet again due to the weather apparently.
The news was announced that rain and windy conditions are forecasted throughout the rest of the day, keeping in mind the two named storms are also on their way.
The Magpies had earlier said on Twitter that Dover’s Crabble surface had been passed as “perfectly playable” by a qualified match official following a precautionary pitch inspection.
But just before 2.30pm, County said: “MATCH OFF: In lieu of this afternoon’s forecast and based on reports from the earlier pitch inspection, the match referee has postponed this evening’s match.”
Whites confirmed the news, saying: “GAME OFF: The game against @Official_NCFC has been called off despite the pitch being passed playable at 12.30.”
The National League fixture had initially been due to be played on Saturday, January 8, but was called off hours before kick-off following heavy rain, with County expressing their frustration after the late postponement.
Jim Parmenter said: “It’s unbelievable, it’s inconceivable to how somebody’s sitting in an office in London, can call a game off which is just when the pitch has been inspected by a referee at 12:30pm and passes, easily playable, and then at 2:15pm, the game is called off from someone sitting in an office in London in conjunction apparently with Mark Ives (General Manager of The National League), you know, one minute, they’re changing us and fining this for not completing fixtures, the next they are calling off fixtures unnecessarily and preventing us from competing fixtures,
“This can only be due to the pressure from Notts County on the authorities because we had the pitch inspected by the referee, it’s perfectly playable, but they said it’s because of the weather forecast. Well I’ve got weather forecast here, from 3pm onwards, it’s sunny intervals and light showers, so tell me how someone in an office 500 miles north of us can make that call. We will be making a formal complaint about this.
“The manager has been on the pitch, the manager thought we were joking when we found out. We’ve never had a game called off over the forecast. Just sums up the state of where football is at in this level.”
NOTTS COUNTY HIT BACK:
We have released a statement following the postponement of this evening’s rearranged Vanarama National League trip to Dover Athletic.
It is hugely disappointing and frustrating to once again be addressing issues regarding a postponed trip to Dover, not least due to the inconvenience and cost to supporters – many of whom had set off on the understanding that the Crabble Athletic Ground pitch was ‘perfectly playable’.
On Monday, Dover’s club secretary contacted our chief executive Jason Turner to advise that their view was that the pitch was in satisfactory condition but, due to the events leading to the late postponement of the initial fixture on 8 January, they had arranged for a referee from the Kent FA to conduct a provisional pitch inspection at 11am today (Tuesday). We were told that the match referee was unavailable at this time, but that his FA colleague would liaise with him immediately thereafter. We therefore communicated to our supporters that, while Dover had expressed no immediate concerns, plans were in place to reassess the situation if necessary and that updates would follow in due course.
It therefore came as a surprise to Turner when, at 11.10am today – 10 minutes after the provisional inspection had been scheduled to start – he received a call from the match referee to say the aforementioned official was no longer available and that Dover believed their surface to be playable having carried out groundworks on Friday. They had advised him the earliest they could schedule another provisional inspection would be for 12.20pm and, based on this information, the match referee informed us that he was instead going to endeavour to inspect the pitch himself at 4pm.
Turner informed him that he wasn’t comfortable with our supporters departing Nottingham without a qualified external individual providing their assessment of the pitch, insisting that due to past experience, the weather forecast, the distance and significant cost to fans, it was imperative that the pitch was assessed in the early afternoon. The National League were in agreement and made arrangements for an official of the required level to conduct a pitch inspection shortly after 12.30pm.
Having received no communication from Dover regarding the outcome of said inspection, Turner called their club secretary at 1pm and was categorically assured that the pitch had been deemed perfectly playable and that the appointed official had no concerns about the match going ahead. Turner informed Dover that this information would be communicated immediately via our digital channels to help supporters make what we believed would have been an informed decision as to whether to travel, with the assurance that we would maintain dialogue with all parties in the event of a change in circumstances.
The next communication received by Turner came from the match referee at 2.10pm, informing him that based on the pitch inspection report and weather forecast, he had decided to postpone the match. It is clear, therefore, that Dover’s communication to us following the inspection was either misjudged or misleading.
Following the announcement of the postponement, Dover published an interview with their chairman Jim Parmenter in which he inferred that the postponement can only have come as a result of ‘undue pressure from Notts County’. While we firmly stand by our decision to ask questions of Dover regarding the condition of their pitch and of the National League to arrange an earlier inspection, this was simply to ensure that our supporters were provided with the best possible information before deciding whether or not to travel. We vehemently reject Parmenter’s inference that we were seeking for the match to be postponed. Not only have we once again incurred considerable team travel and hotel costs, but this week’s training schedule has now been severely affected. We have already experienced severe disruption to our season for various reasons and were desperate to play this evening’s match and continue the momentum we have built in our back-to-back wins over Barnet and Halifax.
We will continue our dialogue with the National League as part of our efforts to promote the importance of clear, open and accurate communication between clubs for the benefit of supporters.
Twitter users reacted as Notts County fans taunt Dover with a chant at a Folkestone game after Tuesday’s postponement…
“Their names will go on my list” pic.twitter.com/NodLu3QjwD
— Tim (@Tim_Arnold1977) February 15, 2022
— Notts County 101 (@NottsCounty101) February 15, 2022
@AlfieNe29536663: U PIESSSS
@achandler2409:
G’wan Notts. Make us “proud”
So much respect for those that kept the faith and made the trip.
You guys ARE Notts County.
I doff my cap⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️🙌🏻
@achandler2409: Top class shithousery ⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️
@joelrussell19: Brilliant from the @Official_NCFC fans who turned up tonight credit to your club, lovely bunch and your welcome back anytime! 🖤💛
@swampdonkey1862: Will let you know when the Dover game is rescheduled. Probably get called off because the pitch is too dry….
@BenG2003_: Can confirm I was singing I hate Dover #SorryNotSorry
@Number1_Patrick: Poor behaviour by Dover Athletic after a second postponement due to an unplayable pitch. Proper shithousing of #Notts by trying to blame them! Dover should clearly now forfeit this match.
@CallumRaynor_: Very professional of you to do this Notts. This is the miscommunication of Dover and really do feel for the Notts fans that have travelled down. 🖤🤍
@burt123d: Boycott the re,rearranged game. I know it would be hard for the fans and players not having our fans there. But hit Dover in the pocket.
@stuartleedorset: Correct me if I’m wrong but it was the match official that called it off not dover , and with you saying about you wanted a earlier pitch inspection which never happened isn’t dovers fault the ref were available sounds like the fa /national league who forced the hand
@mgsevs: I think I’ve deciphered your tweet correctly in assuming you still support your chairman’s dummy spit by having a veiled dig at Notts for pressuring the NL into a postponement. However there is a lack of clarity from Dover when clearly asked the question earlier in the day
#lies
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