As we approach the festive period, there is a strong chance that P-P will appear on more and more results pages, as winter weather begins to hit fixture programmes across the UK. Although many pitches can cope with snow and ice, many a game is called off due to worries over spectator safety getting to and from the ground.
The following examples – I’m sure there are more – highlight the lengths some clubs would go to in order to fulfil a fixture in the 1980s. Get yourself to the ground, wrap up warm as you turn blue on an open terrace, and watch 22 men stumble and slide around ungracefully as they try and entertain you. And don’t forget the orange ball.
Ipswich v West Ham, February 6, 1986
Part three of the Ipswich-West Ham FA Cup fourth round drama would be contested on a snow blanket at Portman Road. Michael Calvin, writing in the Telegraph, pointed out that the West Ham players were “incredulous that the match went ahead, admitting beforehand that they were more prepared for a day with their families than a key Cup contest.”
Putting this disbelief to one side, the marathon would be decided when an attempted back pass bobbled over the hard pitch, allowing Tony Cottee to score a winner for the visitors with 9 minutes remaining in extra-time. Headlines such as “Ice breakers” and “Hammers just skate it!” emphasised the wintery theme.
England manager Bobby Robson may have been concerned about a fixture backlog in a season that would be followed by the World Cup in Mexico. But on this night, he was probably more worried about the fact that a BT van had skidded into his Jaguar outside the ground.
A special mention should go to West Ham keeper Phil Parkes. Tracksuit bottoms were always a standard part of any goalkeeper’s uniform on pitches such as the one at Portman Road. But Parkes was made of sterner stuff; wearing shorts on a night like this is possibly the definition of insanity.
Peterborough v Brighton, February 15, 1986
It was obvious why Fourth Division Peterborough were desperate for their FA Cup fifth round match against Second Division Brighton to go ahead. Even in the Arctic conditions, the biggest crowd in five years came through the London Road turnstiles, bringing the club an estimated £50,000 in gate receipts.
Referee Joe Worrall somehow deemed the pitch playable, the Mirror describing it as a “skating rink surface”, the Observer stating it was “whiter than the suits Jimmy Melia wore on their [Brighton’s] Wembley trail three years ago.”
The playing surface was understandably a great leveller, in a match that Peterborough were unlucky not to win. “We’ve escaped,” Brighton’s Dennis Mortimer admitted. “But it was a disgrace to play in these conditions.” Peterborough took the lead twice, only for Brighton to strike back in a crazy period of play that saw four goals scored in a ten-minute period.
It was an eventful afternoon for Brighton keeper Perry Digweed. Possibly lucky to stay on the pitch after a professional foul in the first minute, a huge deflection off the hard surface saw Digweed embarrassed as Errington Kelly’s speculative shot put Peterborough 2-1 up.
With four FA Cup fifth round matches drawn and four postponed, all 16 teams went into the velvet bag for the sixth round draw on Monday. The Telegraph’s Donald Saunders was not amused: “One of the most pointless ceremonies in the history of the FA Cup will take place at Lancaster Gate.” He needed to follow the example of those watching this match at Peterborough, and chill for a bit.
Southampton v Manchester United, March 2, 1986
The pressure was mounting on Ron Atkinson. After winning the opening ten matches of the season, Manchester United had seem their lead at the top of Division One disappear. A trip to an icy Dell was not what the doctor ordered.
Labelled as a “joke of a pitch” in the Observer, Atkinson refused to blame the conditions for the 1-0 defeat. But he couldn’t resist a slight dig at the situation. “My players weren’t as good as theirs in lumping the ball about, which is what you had to do on that pitch. They adapted better at that.”
Jimmy Case put in a masterful performance, adapting to the conditions “like a husky in the Arctic,” according to Martin Hardy in the Express. Glenn Cockerill scored Southampton’s late winner, as the visitors slipped six points behind leaders Everton.
Spare a thought for United’s Colin Gibson. Missing a decent chance to equalise, he would end the match with a broken nose. At least there would have been enough ice available to tend to the injury.
Telford v Leeds, January 11, 1987
This match really should have been the epitome of the romance of the FA Cup third round. But with previous cases of hooliganism involving Leeds fans at locations such as Barnsley, Huddersfield, Birmingham and Bradford, the police intervened.
Instructing the tie to be played at West Brom’s ground, the noon kick off on a Sunday at the Hawthorns was far from ideal. Neither were the playing conditions. The pitch was basically unplayable, Telford manager Stan Storton expressing his disappointment at the whole affair.
“I've felt all along that the FA just wanted this match out of the way. I don't think the pitch was fit and any normal match would have been called off.” Calvin noted: “Standing upright on a frozen pitch, which was in no way playable, required luck and a formidable sense of balance.” Leeds won the match 2-1, but there was a lot of sympathy for the Conference League club.
Honourable mentions
A 0-0 draw on the snowy artificial surface at Luton in the 1987 FA Cup third round could not disguise Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s disgust at the overall concept of plastic pitches. “They should be ripped up,” he stated, his mood undoubtedly reaffirmed when holders Liverpool lost the second replay 3-0 at Kenilworth Road.
Coventry’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on a terrible Highfield Road pitch gave the club a big boost before the return match at Hillsborough in the 1987 FA Cup sixth round. “The farce without any laughs” ran the headline in the Times, in a match that “degenerated into a hotchpotch of mistakes and stoppages that few could have enjoyed,” Dennis Shaw noted in his report.
Finally, a much-needed win for struggling Tottenham away at Sheffield Wednesday in November 1988. Screened live on ITV, the match was played in a “setting better suited to BBC’s Ski Sunday,” according to the Mail. Starting with a white ball, hundreds of viewers complained, due to the fact that locating the ball on any snowy areas of the pitch was near-on impossible. The switch to the orange ball was very welcome.
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