Bristol Rovers complain to EFL over referee's 'staggering' postponement decision

An “absolutely furious” Martyn Starnes has slammed referee Leigh Doughty’s decision to postpone Bristol Rovers' game against Swindon Town on Saturday.

The Rovers CEO has complained to the EFL and is also frustrated Swindon have refused a request to play the game on Sunday.

The game was called off at 11.45am due to a frozen pitch, but Rovers are adamant the surface is playable and the only suspect patch – a small area along a sideline near the South Stand – was under heat lamps and would have fully thawed by 3pm.

“I cannot understand why Leigh Doughty has called it off,” Starnes told the club’s website.

“I registered a complaint with the EFL and I’ve spoken to the head of refereeing and ask them to send the referee back and get this game on today, and apparently it’s too late – they can’t do that.

“I’ve asked for the game to be played tomorrow and apparently regulations are that unless Swindon agree, they can’t enforce the game to be played tomorrow.

“I am absolutely furious with the referee, I think he needs to be sanctioned heavily for making an extremely poor decision to cancel this game.”

It speaks volumes that Rovers are training on the pitch this afternoon, but ultimately they have been left frustrated by the officials and Swindon.

Starnes continued: “The message from Swindon is they can’t get here for a game tomorrow and apparently the league can’t enforce it, which again I find unacceptable in the current circumstances.

“The ground staff have worked extremely hard on the pitch this week and they’re devastated the game is off, because they think it’s a reflection on them.

“I can assure them and our supporters that it’s not a reflection on them, because this game, categorically, should be played.

“The covers went on straight after the game on Tuesday and they’ve been on until this morning.

“The only small area of the pitch that is quite firm, we’ve had the heat lamps on and that area would have been absolutely fine by kick off as well.

“It’s absolutely staggering that a decision has been made to call this game off.

“The pitches we played on recently away from home at Accrington and at Peterborough were considerably less playable than the pitch we’ve got today, but we played.

“Both sets of officials and players and managers said we need to get these games on, and that should have been the case today.”