We have just been fined £6.00 by the Waltham League for causing a late kick-off by 10 minutes in our last match against AC Enfield on the 1st December.
This is only the second time we have ever been fined for a late kick-off in the 25 years we have been in this League, and the only other time was that infamous occasion (which Leon will remember well ) Away to Abbey Youth Old Boys when Denis Coventry was the Ref and fined us for kicking-off one minute late after we got held up behind a motorbike accident on the M25 between Enfield and Waltham Abbey. He blamed us for going that way instead of through Waltham Cross !
The club rules state that players causing the late-kick off should pay the fine, and in my opinion, for the AC Enfield match there were three of them at fault...Krishan, George & Griff. Krishan admitted he 'got up late' and then used the postcode on his Sat-Nav instead of reading my instructions as to where we were playing. (St. Mary's School is not on Sat-Navs yet because it is too new, so the postcode directs you into the Bury Green housing estate half a mile away !) George had to get a bus (and therefore delay Terry in picking him up) because the trains were not running...but half the time there is always engineering work on the railways on Sunday mornings and (in my opinion), players who rely on trains should be checking the train operators website the day before to find out instead of just turning up at the station and assuming there will be a normal service. If it was a case of the trains not running because of a breakdown on the day or somebody throwing themselves on the line, then fair enough, but I don't think that was the case here. Griff also caused the late kick-off by dropping out on the morning of the match and leaving Adam Krstic without a lift. Terry then had to go and pick him up at the last minute after waiting for George, so all three of them didn't get there until 10.30.a.m.
So...£2.00 each for those three isn't too much to ask for. I don't see why the rest of us should pay the fine.
It's another reason why we MUST stamp out this persistent turning up late problem. We want all players at Hazelwood by 10.00.a.m. at the very latest this Sunday, and preferably at 9.45. so that we have plenty of time to sort things out for a change. The AC Enfield match was a complete embarrasment.