Voice of Jewish Sport: A wasted journey for the Wanderers

3 March 2016, 9:05 am

Woodford weren’t celebrating on Sunday as their game was called off at the last minute

IT’S FAIR to say Woodford Wanderers weren’t the happiest bunch of footballers on Sunday after they turned up at Old Camdenians to play FC Team B – only to be told the game was called off due to a double-booked pitch. Having travelled from Essex to Mill Hill to be told ‘pitch off’ minutes before it was meant to kick-off, club secretary Martin Sales is adamant they won’t be travelling back to north London to fulfil the fixture. He said: “I think it’s completely unfair for a team who have commuted all the way from Essex to have their match overruled. I’ve made my comments very clear to the League and have requested the points be awarded to us, based on the grounds they forfeited the game. As far as we’re concerned, the game was confirmed with the referee and it was their decision not to play the game. I’ve made it clear to the committee that we won’t be commuting to north London to play this fixture again.” The actual decision to postpone their game – and not FC Team A vs Raiders A – was down to chairman David Wolff, though he faced a thankless task in choosing which game was played. That’s not up for debate. What is, is whether the game gets replayed, or Woodford get awarded the points.

THE GOOD news is that Israeli windsurfers won’t be banned or face ‘obstacles’ when trying to take part in the 2016 Youth Sailing World Championships in December as they were in Malaysia last year. The reason for that is that Oman have withdrawn from hosting the event after they refused to submit written confirmation that it would guarantee full and equal participation by all, in accordance with World Sailing’s Regulations. Israeli Sailing Association chairman Gili Amir said: “This is a great victory for normality and for the real sporting values over politics. This announcement shows that World Sailing chiefs understood the injustice suffered by the Israeli athletes and they showed that they will not accept discrimination between countries.” Now to find a country who recognises Israel.