Pitching In To Kirklees Council

Here's a localised complaint. About Kirklees Coucil. I really do hate those people.

This weekend they banned all the local football clubs from playing on pitches owned by them, because of the rain we've had. Our own local club, for whom my lad controls the midfield at Under-11 level, plays on two pitches, and both of them were completely playable today. Many others will have been in exactly the same state. But today, hundreds of children, instead of being outside playing the national game, were, more likely, stuck at home playing with their Playstations.

I'm not sure how Kirklees arrive as their decisions when it comes to calling off games. I suspect that someone looks at the fields near their Headquarters - low-lying, near a river - and assumes that every other pitch is in an identical state.

However they do it, it really cheeses me off that they cannot trust local club managers and coaches to take the decision themselves. Do they really think that people in charge of teams cannot be trusted to judge whether a pitch is playable ?

Kirklees' approach is typical of the centralised, one-size-fits-all, we-know-best attitide that runs through pretty every government organisation.

Actually, my lad's team trained on the pitch today anyway. Don't say anything will you, because if the State finds out we'll probably all get shot...

UPDATE: For the hell of it, I've made a complaint to the Council. Well, it'll give someone something to do. Apparently my unique reference number is S444836. Gosh.