‘Snowfall pretty much stopped’ – Pundit at Turf Moor claims Spurs game could have gone ahead

Paul Robinson has revealed he was at Turf Moor on Sunday and the game could have gone ahead had kick-off been delayed by a couple of hours.

Tottenham’s clash against Burnely was called off less than an hour before kick-off due to a snowstorm as Storm Arwen wreaked havoc.

The Premier League decided to postpone the match, which certainly seemed understandable given the state of the Turf Moor pitch ahead of kick-off. 

Even Antonio Conte admitted after the postponement that the right decision had been made, given the conditions.

Robinson has now revealed that the real reason the match had to be called off was due to player safety concerns, as well as goal-line technology and VAR not being able to function as the lines on the pitch were not visible.

The former Spurs number one told Football Insider: “I was at the game. The problem was, every time they cleared the pitch it came down again.

“Speaking to the officials and people high up at the club, there were concerns about the players’ safety. 

“The conditions meant you could not see the lines. There was an issue with VAR and Hawk-EyeEye systems not being able to work without the lines being cleared.”

However, Robinson insisted that the weather completely cleared up just a couple of hours later and that the match could have gone on had kick-off simply been delayed.

He added: “I cannot understand why the game wasn’t delayed for a couple of hours though. 

“I stayed at the stadium for an hour or so after the game had been cancelled and the snowfall pretty much stopped. Nobody would have had an issue if the kick-off was at 4 pm.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It was unclear at the time if the weather would indeed clear up. I imagine the officials could not have asked either set of players to simply stay in the dressing room for a couple of hours in the hope that the weather would clear up. There might also have been issues related to broadcasting schedules. 

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know