In tabloid terms a ‘war of words’ has broken out between Kilmarnock and Celtic over the postponement of tomorrow night’s match scheduled for Rugby Park.
The decision was taken by local police on account of the condition of the streets around Rugby Park which may be of more interest to local Council Tax payers than visiting football fans.
The forecast for Kilmarnock over the next few days isn’t too bad compared to elsewhere in the country with Rugby Park fairly central in the town and easily reached using surrounding dual-carriageways.
Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Bill Fitzpatrick of Strathclyde Police said: “Having examined the stadium and its immediate environments on each of the previous 2 days, Strathclyde Police cannot guarantee that the football match scheduled for Wednesday night (30th December 2009) could be held without considerable and unacceptable risk to spectators and others attending the match.
“Extreme weather conditions have resulted in thick compacted ice covering large areas of the approaches to the stadium, this has proved resistant to mitigation.
“The prospect of continued low temperatures offers no prospect of an improvement in the situation and therefore a reduction in the risk to spectators. We have advised Kilmarnock F C of our view.”
Kilmarnock Chairman, Michael Johnston, stated that he fully supported the decision made: “Spectator safety is a priority and we must ensure a safe environment for all those attending Rugby Park. We’ll now make arrangements to re-schedule this match and a further announcement will be made in due course.”
The weather forecast around Kilmarnock doesn’t look too bad for the next 48 hours with Celtic frustrated and angry by today’s decision.
Celtic chief Peter Lawwell said: “Clearly, we are extremely disappointed that the match has been postponed.
“We have been told that the pitch is perfectly playable, but we have also been informed that the match cannot proceed due to the stadium footprint (area surrounding the stadium) not being cleared – Naturally this is very frustrating for the club and its supporters.
“As is always the case, it is the responsibility of home clubs to ensure that their own footprint or locality is safe and obviously in this case, this has not been achieved.”
