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8:19am Monday 26th October 2009 in
PARENTS have reacted angrily after their children’s dream football day out at Bootham Crescent turned sour.
Youngsters from several local primary schools were due to play on York City’s pitch, ahead of the club’s FA Cup tie with Bedworth United on Saturday, only for City manager Martin Foyle to veto the games.
He said that, due to the rain, he did not want youngsters playing on the pitch before the big match but the move left children and parents’ furious.
Jack Daniel, ten, a striker for Lakeside Primary School, said: “Someone just came out and said our matches were off because they did not want us to ruin the pitch. I was heartbroken.”
He said he and his team-mates were told a week before that they would be playing at Bootham Crescent, and said they had been excited all week.
The matches have been re-arranged for December 5, before City’s home match against Wrexham, but Jack’s mother Rebecca said Mr Foyle should have told the children personally that the games were off.
“They had been standing there in the rain waiting to play. Parents asked for him to come out, but he refused.
“I am told some parents from Skelton+Primary+School%22">Skelton Primary School had even cancelled half-term holidays to be here – it was a big thing for the kids.”
Another Lakeside parent Paul Moll, whose son, William, was also due to play, said: “I said ‘get the manager out – get him to say why the lads cannot play’. There were nine kids from each school, plus parents and grandparents. I thought what a disgrace it was.”
Sophie Hicks, the football club’s communications and community director, said: “There were two games that were going to be played in the CPP Challenge Cup. The games were called off at about 1.30pm and it was a managerial decision taken by Martin Foyle.
“He looked at the pitch and felt it was not suitable for young players to play on it as there was water on the pitch.” She said all children and parents were given free tickets to the FA Cup tie, or refunded their admission fee, and said the games had been rearranged.
TWO supporters were arrested after a fight broke out following Saturday’s FA Cup match at Bootham Crescent.
They were both Bedworth United fans, who had seen their team lose 2-0 to York City in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round.
There was also trouble inside the ground, with York goalkeeper Michael Ingham appearing to be struck by an object thrown from a visiting fan, but no police action has yet been taken.
Comments(42)
Garrowby Turnoff
says...
9:26am Mon 26 Oct 09
NoNewsIsGoodNews
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9:32am Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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10:36am Mon 26 Oct 09
NoNewsIsGoodNews wrote:If you can't see any difference, then you don't have the brains you were born with!
Sunday morning kids league games get cancelled all the time at the last minute because of the weather. I don't see that this is any different Its hard on the kids involved but it doesn't help when the parents get involved and start demanding to see the manager.
Phantom1974
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10:37am Mon 26 Oct 09
AdmiralNN
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10:53am Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974 wrote:Well said phantom, when i were a lad i had the pleasure of playing on the hallowed turf many times. If any of our games had got cancelled with good reason we wouldnt have been that bothered - we'd have still had a day out at the footy with our mates.
Having spent the last 2 years getting the pitch right after a couple of years of having a terrible surface, are these parents seriously saying that calling the games off so as not to wreck the pitch was unjustifiable? Playing on the hallowed surface of Bootham Crescent is a privilege not a right and these parents are brewing up a storm in a tea cup. What does it matter if the game had to be rearranged? It's not like they have been postponed indefinitely - although I wouldn't blame the club if they scrapped the whole thing if these people are going running to the local paper about something so minor.
NoNewsIsGoodNews
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11:23am Mon 26 Oct 09
York Nomad
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11:25am Mon 26 Oct 09
Mr Tee
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12:13pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Eric
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12:21pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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12:34pm Mon 26 Oct 09
NoNewsIsGoodNews wrote:Well I'm glad that the children you have and are experienced with have exactly the same excitement about Sunday league football as they do going to Bootham Crescent to play - I am clearly not lucky enough to have the same experience as you.
@AngryandFrustrated, I can compare a freezing cold muddy pitch at school on a Sunday morning with a few parents hanging around the side line with playing football at a professional stadium in front of a proper crowd very easily indeed. All the kids want to do is play football, whether its at the park, or for their local team, or at Bootham Crescent. As I said earlier, it must be dissapointing for the kids involved but that doesn't change the fact that the pitch was not suitable for them to play on, any kid that plays on a Sunday morning will have experienced this before and take it on the chin. Sadly its the grown ups that spoil kids football these days, take a look at the FA's website and you will see what I mean.
Phantom1974
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12:59pm Mon 26 Oct 09
bigbobert
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1:23pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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1:43pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974 wrote:No you can't wander in to Huntington Stadium and use it as and when, which totally reinforces my point - it was paid for by the people of Ryedale and yet it is no more of a community stadium to them than Bootham Crescent is!
If anything York City does too much for the community as it is and look at the way the club is treated in return! And now the argument is being put forward that because York City are a professional sports club who restrict use of the pitch the community has no part to play in a new stadium? I've heard many arguments for weaseling out of using tax contributions but that is the farthest fetched one yet! Can you simply wander in and use Council-owned Huntington Stadium whenever you feel like it? Seeing as it was paid for by the people of Ryedale?
Alan Fetish
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1:56pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974
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1:57pm Mon 26 Oct 09
yorkshiremum
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2:14pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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2:14pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974
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2:22pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Mister Sheen
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2:57pm Mon 26 Oct 09
doomandgloom08
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3:39pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Vauxhall Viva
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3:44pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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4:03pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974
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4:23pm Mon 26 Oct 09
ArnDaddy
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4:26pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated
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5:26pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974
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5:44pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Mr Happy
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6:23pm Mon 26 Oct 09
AngryandFrustrated wrote:You said you could name many cities, well, how many of those you name are cities? Most are, at best, small towns and can in no way be compared with a city the size of York.
To Phantom1974:-
Gateshead, North Shields, Redcar, Washington, Durham, Salford, Canterbury, Dover, Margate, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes, Gainsborough, Morpeth, Belford Northallerton, etc etc etc. Need I go on? Whilst these may not all be "cities" in the true sense of the word, they are all relatively large conurbations with no well known football team and your original point was about the badge of honour arising from a FOOTBALL team and not as you then changed it to, "some kind of professional sporting institution".
I'm sure there would be no exodus from York if the Minster were demolished - however, you could bet that there would be a few thousand less tourists visiting - somehow, however, I'm sure that the demise of YCFC (if it were ever to happen)would not drastically effect the tourism figures!
Anyway, I'm off to take my anti-depressants so I can cope with the fact that there is never anything easier to wind up than a football fan with rosy tinted glasses on. Oh and by the way, I had a season ticket at YCFC for 15 years - I gave it up in despair having watched the club be mismanaged for years and slide further and further into debt. My comments are therefore, not "anti football" or anti YCFC - I'd trust my money more in the hands of the Lib Dums than any football team, wherever they were based, and that's saying something!
bigbobert
says...
7:19pm Mon 26 Oct 09
NoNewsIsGoodNews wrote:So having a kick about on the local park is the same as playing at Bootham Crescent....What a complete load of rubbish. These kids were hanging around for 45 mins in the rain...sunday morning fixtures do not have the same prestige and are usually canceled the day before not at the last minute.
@AngryandFrustrated, I can compare a freezing cold muddy pitch at school on a Sunday morning with a few parents hanging around the side line with playing football at a professional stadium in front of a proper crowd very easily indeed.
All the kids want to do is play football, whether its at the park, or for their local team, or at Bootham Crescent.
As I said earlier, it must be dissapointing for the kids involved but that doesn't change the fact that the pitch was not suitable for them to play on, any kid that plays on a Sunday morning will have experienced this before and take it on the chin.
Sadly its the grown ups that spoil kids football these days, take a look at the FA's website and you will see what I mean.
bigbobert
says...
7:35pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Mr Tee wrote:Do you have children? If so i feel sorry for them. And if the story is that pathetic to you why trouble yourself to comment. Also the game was not called of ASAP as you stated, that is the main issue that people were angry about. It should have been called off when the kids arrived not let them stand around to freeze in the rain for 45 mins
What a ridiculous story by The Press. An extension of the 'newspaper's' vendetta against Martin Foyle?
The football club did the right thing and called the games off ASAP when it didn't look like the rain was going to stop. All those involved were compensated despite there being no need to give them anything. Maybe this particular family is just trying to get some more 'compo'.
The main event was far more important and the manager was right not to get involved in an inevitable argument with a handful of parents, who probably don't know what this club has been through in the last few years. As a supporter, I would be furious if I discovered that the manager was being diverted from preparation for an important match. The club has other staff (although not enough due to financial pressures), who deal with such issues.
I'm sure that there were far more kids at Bootham Crescent who were genuinely upset (not told to be upset by media hungry parents) by the vile behaviour of the Bedworth fans.
Get a life and get over it. Pathetic!
NoNewsIsGoodNews
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7:47pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Phantom1974
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7:59pm Mon 26 Oct 09
NoNewsIsGoodNews
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8:10pm Mon 26 Oct 09
carterjason
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9:19pm Mon 26 Oct 09
Zetkin
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10:01pm Mon 26 Oct 09
yorkie81
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11:35pm Mon 26 Oct 09
H8r
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12:07am Tue 27 Oct 09
yorkie81
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6:07am Tue 27 Oct 09
Southern Exile
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10:08am Tue 27 Oct 09
sciencefan
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12:53pm Tue 27 Oct 09
Phantom1974 wrote:"Hallowed Turf" I think you need some perspective! It's a bit of grass belonging to a half rate business, and that business is professional football for entertainment. They are no more a community asset than any other business.
Having spent the last 2 years getting the pitch right after a couple of years of having a terrible surface, are these parents seriously saying that calling the games off so as not to wreck the pitch was unjustifiable? Playing on the hallowed surface of Bootham Crescent is a privilege not a right and these parents are brewing up a storm in a tea cup. What does it matter if the game had to be rearranged? It's not like they have been postponed indefinitely - although I wouldn't blame the club if they scrapped the whole thing if these people are going running to the local paper about something so minor.
yorkie81
says...
10:12pm Tue 27 Oct 09
sciencefan wrote:What percentage of people use public swimming pools, the barbican centre (when it was open)? Very small I’d expect. My point is, you need entertainment in the City. Are you telling me the City of York would be better without professional clubs like York City FC and York City Knights? If you're not interested in football or rugby then that’s fine. but they are plenty of people who are. When the Huntington stadium was built, the Ryedale Council spent thousands of pounds on a running track. I hate running but I don't think it’s a waste of money. People get enjoyment out of it.
Phantom1974 wrote: Having spent the last 2 years getting the pitch right after a couple of years of having a terrible surface, are these parents seriously saying that calling the games off so as not to wreck the pitch was unjustifiable? Playing on the hallowed surface of Bootham Crescent is a privilege not a right and these parents are brewing up a storm in a tea cup. What does it matter if the game had to be rearranged? It's not like they have been postponed indefinitely - although I wouldn't blame the club if they scrapped the whole thing if these people are going running to the local paper about something so minor."Hallowed Turf" I think you need some perspective! It's a bit of grass belonging to a half rate business, and that business is professional football for entertainment. They are no more a community asset than any other business. Tax payers money should not go to to bailing them out of poor financial decisions which has left them unable to afford new facilities. I don't like the fact that banks have tax payers money but you can't suggest the national economy will fail if York City go under. In fact who will care? Out of Yorks total population less than 2% go to see York City play. Should the other 98% fund the activities of that 2%? Not on your life.
sciencefan
says...
10:04am Wed 28 Oct 09
yorkie81 wrote:I would suggest the users of the public swimming pools are more than the couple of thousand a week that watch York City play, but the issue for me is one of whether it is appropriate to subsidise a private limited company which is frankly, not well run, with public money. In my opinion it isn't a suitable use of public money.
sciencefan wrote:What percentage of people use public swimming pools, the barbican centre (when it was open)? Very small I’d expect. My point is, you need entertainment in the City. Are you telling me the City of York would be better without professional clubs like York City FC and York City Knights? If you're not interested in football or rugby then that’s fine. but they are plenty of people who are. When the Huntington stadium was built, the Ryedale Council spent thousands of pounds on a running track. I hate running but I don't think it’s a waste of money. People get enjoyment out of it.
Phantom1974 wrote: Having spent the last 2 years getting the pitch right after a couple of years of having a terrible surface, are these parents seriously saying that calling the games off so as not to wreck the pitch was unjustifiable? Playing on the hallowed surface of Bootham Crescent is a privilege not a right and these parents are brewing up a storm in a tea cup. What does it matter if the game had to be rearranged? It's not like they have been postponed indefinitely - although I wouldn't blame the club if they scrapped the whole thing if these people are going running to the local paper about something so minor."Hallowed Turf" I think you need some perspective! It's a bit of grass belonging to a half rate business, and that business is professional football for entertainment. They are no more a community asset than any other business. Tax payers money should not go to to bailing them out of poor financial decisions which has left them unable to afford new facilities. I don't like the fact that banks have tax payers money but you can't suggest the national economy will fail if York City go under. In fact who will care? Out of Yorks total population less than 2% go to see York City play. Should the other 98% fund the activities of that 2%? Not on your life.
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addynuff says...
9:09am Mon 26 Oct 09