Sunderland (A) - Game off

[ROKERITE]

Depends how much rain they've had, drainage systems can only do so much in a set period of time. But it'd better have been one hell of a downpour.

Thankyou, a little bit of balance from someone. There has been non-stop torrential rain all morning. The drainage system at The SOL is probably as good as any in The PL but sometimes nothing can cope with what's coming down.
Ofcourse it's highly annoying and disappointing for Reading supporters who've made the journey up, as well as the thousands of Sunderland supporters who travelled long distances for the match. But please blame Mother Nature, not SAFC.

[Royal Lady]

What about next Saturday?

International games isn't it? Don't want to have to play without some of our players.

[winchester_royal]

It's a shame for all the guys who travelled up there, but in purely footballing terms this is a pretty good outcome for us.

[YateleyRoyal]

They shouldn't be allowed to play Fletcher and Johnson for the rematch. It's all a trick!

Seriously though, surely a drainage system >>> Steven Fletcher?

BBC - Alex, disgruntled Reading fan on text: "Sunderland can afford £12 million for Steven Fletcher but a functioning drainage system is too much?"

Hi Alex

[Royal Lady]

Depends how much rain they've had, drainage systems can only do so much in a set period of time. But it'd better have been one hell of a downpour.

Thankyou, a little bit of balance from someone. There has been non-stop torrential rain all morning. The drainage system at The SOL is probably as good as any in The PL but sometimes nothing can cope with what's coming down.
Ofcourse it's highly annoying and disappointing for Reading supporters who've made the journey up, as well as the thousands of Sunderland supporters who travelled long distances for the match. But please blame Mother Nature, not SAFC.

If there was non-stop torrential rain all morning, why didn't they have a pitch inspection earlier? I hour 20 mins before kick off for a game that far away for the away fans is pretty bad tbf.

[windermere_royal]

Depends how much rain they've had, drainage systems can only do so much in a set period of time. But it'd better have been one hell of a downpour.

Thankyou, a little bit of balance from someone. There has been non-stop torrential rain all morning. The drainage system at The SOL is probably as good as any in The PL but sometimes nothing can cope with what's coming down.
Ofcourse it's highly annoying and disappointing for Reading supporters who've made the journey up, as well as the thousands of Sunderland supporters who travelled long distances for the match. But please blame Mother Nature, not SAFC.

Rain all morning and they call it off an hour before kick off?

[Man Friday]

Play both matches at The Madski.

[Man Friday]

It's a shame for all the guys who travelled up there, but in purely footballing terms this is a pretty good outcome for us.

I tend to agree.

[RedRum]

It's a shame for all the guys who travelled up there, but in purely footballing terms this is a pretty good outcome for us.

+1. Ours players will be knackered from their hard work at Chelsea. I worry about when this match is rescheduled though - we could go nearly 4 weeks without a match

[Ian Royal]

Depends how much rain they've had, drainage systems can only do so much in a set period of time. But it'd better have been one hell of a downpour.

Thankyou, a little bit of balance from someone. There has been non-stop torrential rain all morning. The drainage system at The SOL is probably as good as any in The PL but sometimes nothing can cope with what's coming down.
Ofcourse it's highly annoying and disappointing for Reading supporters who've made the journey up, as well as the thousands of Sunderland supporters who travelled long distances for the match. But please blame Mother Nature, not SAFC.

TBF I've been regularly checking Hydrology summaries for about 4 months now and also have to know the designed storm capacity of sewers, so I've got a bit of a head start on most people.

RL - it'd take a shed load of rain to do this if their system is any good (which it should be - and must be to avoid games regularly getting called off). It's likely to have taken a few hours of rain to build up the level of waterlogging to put the match in danger and it can be hard to predict how long rain will last, especially the sort of heavy downpour we'd be talking about. It's quite possible they were expecting it to ease off sooner and it hasn't.

[windermere_royal]

It's a shame for all the guys who travelled up there, but in purely footballing terms this is a pretty good outcome for us.

I tend to agree.

Even if we are now going to be playing catch up from the bottom of the table. FFS we have only played 2 games how the hell can they be tired?

[From Despair To Where?]

What about next Saturday?

International games isn't it? Don't want to have to play without some of our players.

Sunderland playing away at Swansea next Saturday would be more of a hindrance.

Our game at Chelsea was brought forward because of the European Super Cup on Friday night.

[weybridgewanderer]

Unfortunately, with a sudden downpower, this hapens. We saw the same thing at the mad stad in the fa cup game v burnley a few seasons ago

[ZacNaloen]

On the bright side it makes up for that extra game we played midweek, and also means we could put a stronger side out for the cup game on Tuesday if we are serious about it.

Bloody annoying though.

[bobby1413]

I bet there are probably fans who have just parked or arrived within the last 40 minutes who weren't aware.

Feel very sorry for them.

[pea]

This should be a forfeit in this league,

Cant have been worse than the Switzerland v Turkey game at Euro 2008 surely?

[Kingsley Junior]

Gary Lineker retweeted the following:

@GaryLineker it has rained since early morning, really heavy. The pitch was also only relaid after concerts just simply not ready. #safc

Surely Sunderland's priority should be having a pitch ready for games rather than cashing in by hosting concerts? Maybe that's why they can afford £14m strikers?

[CavershamRoyal]

They shouldn't be allowed to play Fletcher and Johnson for the rematch. It's all a trick!

Seriously though, surely a drainage system >>> Steven Fletcher?

BBC - Alex, disgruntled Reading fan on text: "Sunderland can afford £12 million for Steven Fletcher but a functioning drainage system is too much?"

Hi Alex

Not Alex

[Simon's Church]

At least we'll have Defoe and Rhodes for the replay.

[Fox Talbot]

What a disgrace.

Sunderland can afford to splash (pardon the pun) out on new players but can't get a proper drainage system.

Agreed. It is a disgrace. Even torrential rain shouldn't be causing problems for a Premier League pitch at this stage of the season.

Feel really sorry for all the Loyal Royals who have travelled all of that way. Sunderland should reimburse all of their travelling costs - it's not like they can't afford to.

Maybe STAR will sort it.

All those who travelled on STAR coach will get their money back thru insurance. Sadly doesn;t apply to train and plane travel, I expect.