Referee Grant Hegley has explained his decision to postpone this afternoon’s home game against Watford only 90 minutes before kick-off. With the Town pitch having been covered for the last few days, there had been no previous hint that the match was in any danger and Blues chief executive Simon Clegg expressed his surprise at the call-off, particularly given that the Leicester game went ahead a week ago.

Hegley says he arrived at Portman Road at lunchtime and met with Town groundsman Alan Ferguson: "I turned up at the ground about 12.30pm and immediately spoke to the Ipswich groundsman, he highlighted a number of areas of the pitch that were of concern to him.

"I looked at it and some of it was under thick frost. He said he could work on it so I gave him 45 minutes until 1.15pm - where he put large amounts of salt and boiling water in the hope that it would soften it up.

"Some areas did soften up but unfortunately it became inconsistent where there were still large amounts of frost and soft areas and you have to think of the safety of the player running at full tilt - getting a stud in one area which stops nicely and then the next area where they slip. The safety of the players is of paramount importance to me.

"As a referee we get all the weather forecasts for the area, it was going to go up to a maximum of 1 degree by about 3.30pm and then by 5pm it was forecast to be down to -1 again. So, there was no warmth going to come through, whilst the groundstaff tried their hardest to get it on, it was to no avail.”

Chief executive Clegg sympathised with fans with many already at Portman Road when the decision was taken: “It is very unfortunate and I feel sorry for the supporters who travelled. It seems amazing that the match with Leicester City that was shown worldwide in horrific conditions went ahead and was completed and that this one was called off.

“The situation is entirely down to the referee and he deemed that it was dangerous for players running from the soft area, which was the majority of the ground, to a small area that was harder.

“The groundstaff worked tirelessly to get the pitch as best as they could and we had the protective cover with hot air underneath.

“The last resort was to take buckets of hot water on to the pitch to defrost the hard area along one touchline. But this was freezing.

“I understand people going into the ground will look at the pitch and think it was perfectly playable but the referee decided there was a problem which couldn't be overcome.”

Questions will be asked as to why referee Hegley arrived at the ground quite so near to the scheduled kick-off, last week's official Stuart Attwell having been at Portman Road for his pitch inspection more than five hours before the Leicester match was due to start, and why Town didn't make it clear that the game was in peril once the situation became clear.

Photo: Action Images

h32 added 23:39 - Dec 26 jason0999 - you are so right - the Referee cannot be blamed for this today, the Club has to take full responsibility. Very poor show from them on all fronts.
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onlybluesandhorses added 23:43 - Dec 26 It is the Club's pitch. If there were concerns about its condition fans should have been warned and a ref brought in much earlier to inspect. Anyone going to the match would have been in Ipswich by the time it was called off. A wasted journey. Unacceptable.
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h32 added 23:49 - Dec 26 All you people blaming the Referee need to get your heads in gear - this is ALL down to the Club, and make NO mistake about it. The Referee, almost certainly, had no more of an inkling that the game was in doubt, than any of us did. So why would he need to be at the ground any earlier than he was ?? HOLD YOUR HANDS UP IPSWICH TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB - it's down to you.
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Back_The_Boss added 07:26 - Dec 27 It was bad to have such a late pitch inspection and you can't deny it was poor on your behalf referee.
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Nscarff added 20:33 - Jan 3 You had best be educated- Under-soil heating would cost at least £500,000... Portman Road has no space to put a pump room (How else do you think thousands of litres of water get heated and pumped through hundreds of pipes?). It cost ITFC £150,000-ish to buy the inflatable pitch cover- £350,000 less than undersoil heating. ITFC loose £100,000 for any cancellations- so two games in 14 years means ITFC would still be £150,000 out of pocket... Plus the running cost, undersoil heating HAS to be replaced every ten years or so, or sooner if it breaks. The pitch cover doesnt. Undersoil heating also wont save a match from rainfall, which the pitch cover has, probably two games every season. And if the snow against leiscter was being melted by undersoil heating it would have water logged the pitch. So ITFC have got it right, like it or not. Even the Emirates £2mill heating system couldnt cope with the snowfall the day we played leicster. The late call off- When the cover was up, there were an additional 5 heaters working along side the hot-air pumped out using the covers main tube. When the cover was removed the air under it was approximately +6 degrees and the soil was +4.7 degrees. When it was taken off the moisture on the surface of the sheets transfered to the pitch (Mainly the cobbold stand side as that is the direction the covers are pulled towards), this, coupled with the warm air, from under the covers, condensing with the cold air (like breath on a cold day) caused part of the pitch to freeze- a very thin layer on the top, which a stud could have gone through in places but not others (The refs main concern). Let me make it clear, there were no concerns with the pitch untill the covers were removed, thats why there was no inspection planned, and thats why there was a late postponement! I know its frustrating but live with it! How many of you would work 11 hours christmas day to ensure the game was played, because the groundstaff did, aswell as members of the groundstaff being there from 6am till 10pm xmas eve.

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