Prior to their postponed William Hill Championship match against Ayr United, Pars had to travel more than five hours to play Ayr Dunfermline Athletic, who feel that player welfare was “compromised.”
The difficult weather on Saturday, when Storm Bert brought chilling winds, snow, and heavy rain to most of Scotland, forced the Pars to endure a “horrendous” journey of over five hours to arrive to Somerset Park.
The bad weather forced the postponement of 12 games in the SPFL on Saturday; the encounter between Ayr and Dunfermline was one of just two lower-league fixtures to avoid the cold spell.
In order to give the visitors more time to get ready, the kickoff was moved to 3.45 p.m. Dunfermline disclosed that they had requested an extra postponement for player welfare. The Fife squad, however, claims that request was turned down and discloses that one of their players got into a small traffic accident on the way to the team bus.
“#DAFC are extremely disappointed at the very limited additional time available to prepare for this afternoon’s William Hill Championship fixture,” stated a social media statement from Dunfermline Athletic.
In order to complete our fixture, our players and personnel have had to undergo a terrible five-hour journey down to Ayrshire. Several of our players, including one who was in a minor traffic accident, also endured terrible weather while travelling to the team bus. In addition, the club had previously warned fans not to travel because of the conditions and police alerts in the central belt.
Since the travel schedule created so much disturbance, DAFC asked for more time to provide players enough time to prepare mentally and physically for the game as well as for eating and subsequent digestion. The club vehemently disagrees with the definition of adequate, which was an additional forty-five minutes.
We feel that this decision jeopardises the welfare of our player.
“Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to all of the supporters who came to Somerset Park and from home this afternoon, and we wish everyone coming home from Ayr a safe trip.”
