No it is not regular.

But there was no excuse for lack of pitch covers. We only drove from Carcassonne and I am angry, and so are my wife and children, so I can understand how angry the Hull fans must be. They paid so much money to come down and not only is there no game, but they can't even go swimming at Canet.

It was a poor performance from Catalans administration. They must be asked to explain by the RFL.

It wouldn't matter to the majority of travelling Hull fans if the game had been called off two minutes before KO or two weeks before as they will have paid up front. If I was at home and they told me two days prior that the game was off I'd still go to Perpignan for the break. I'm not trying to be flippant just pointing out that when the game was called off is irrelevant. Money has been spent but unfortunately they didn't get to see a game. Maybe the Cats need to play their first three or four games in England each season to minimise the chances of this sort of thing happening again.

bentham was quite confident the game would be fine!

its ok the game being played later, but for us and many out here we cant afford to comeback again in the summer!

we came out to watch hull fc not just a weekend break! easy to say when you are not stuck out here!

I do feel for the Hull FC fans out there, but the idea that the Catalans have done this on purpose because they're afraid of playing you is nothing short of brilliant.

Should definitely be asking for the match commissioner to be taking a serious look. [uIf[/u Catalans haven't tried their utmost to get the game on in the way that many other clubs have been doing over the last 2 weeks, there should be repercussions. As a minimum paying for the team's travel/accommodation when re-arranged.

As I said mate I wasn't being flippant and I know you wanted to see the game but I assume you've paid upfront. Would you have stayed at home if the game was called off two days before you travelled? Or would you still have gone? You lose your money either way.

All teams have that covered by rfl anyway

convenient that they have 5 players out, pitch should have been covered, they owe a lot of FC fans some money IMHO.

that's my understanding of it...

I hear the south of France is a nice relaxing break in baltic windy conditions!

Putting covers on the pitch would not have made it playable.

Its been sub zero during the day and dropping to near double digit sub zero at night.
At that sort of temperatures even under soil heating would be having a job to keep a pitch playable.

The real issue is why are the RFL starting the season at the beginning of February, when there is a good chance that weather will be as bad as it has been.
The season should be kicking off no earlier than March and finishing no later than the back end of October.
Unfortunately the RFL sticks in silly fixtures like the magic Magic weekend and the Exiles game, necessitating the need to start the season in the first week of February.

Starting early has pretty much wrecked Saints pitch, parts of it have been burnt due to the air blowers needed to keep the game on. I'm sure if Saints knew Summer rugby would be reverting to a Winter start we would have installed under soil heating, however if its supposed to be a summer game you should not need such fancy bits of kit.