Booking Pitches

All Pitch Bookings are to go through Carol Johnston There is an order of priority determined by the F.A. & County Associations

• County Cup Fixtures Take precedence over all other Games.
• League Cup Games, including Shield & Trophy Games, take precedence over standard League Games.
• League Fixtures are next in the pecking order.
• Friendly matches are given the least priority.

It is important that all matches kick off at the allocated time. All too often, we are informed that the opposition arrives before the Orpington Rovers home team. Please be there to welcome your opponents.

Carol will normally know what your home fixtures are from looking on the various League Websites and will generally allocate pitches accordingly. Obviously, if you know of something different from the information that Carol has, please let her know as soon as possible. Likewise, if you find that your scheduled game is not going ahead and you no longer require the pitch that is allocated to you, let Carol know as soon as possible as she may be trying to fit another League or Cup game on.

Another good reason for informing Carol that you no longer require an allocated pitch is that Goal Nets need to be put up and taken down. They will be put up by the team with the earliest kick off and taken down by the team with the latest kick off. If your game, that is now not going ahead was the first kick off, the second team will turn up only to find that there have been no nets put up and if you were to be the last match on a pitch, the team before you will leave the nets up assuming that the team following them will be taking them down. This could result in nobody taking the nets down if it is not spotted. This situation almost happened on 6th September, the first day the pitches were available for use. If you find you no longer have a League or Cup game and wish to play a friendly, you will need to find out from Carol if she needs the pitch for another game before arranging the friendly. Of course, friendly matches can also be played away as well as at home.

Try to avoid arranging friendly matches during prolonged periods of bad weather. We need to protect the pitches as they get heavily used from time to time during the season. There is an attempt to be fair by rotating Kick off times so that everyone gets a chance of morning and afternoon kick offs. The only exception to this will be the two Adult Teams whose leagues normally kick off in the mornings.

Occasionally there are teams that will request mostly afternoon home fixtures but by and large, teams prefer to have a morning kick off and Carol does her best to give everyone a fair & even spread. Finally, leave the pitch area and the Changing Room clean & tidy at the end of the day. Your team may not use the Changing Room, but your opponents might. The work carried out at the ground by Bob Hitchcock, Colin Bullar and Keith King is all voluntary and their time is better spent working on the ground, marking the pitches etc than cleaning up any mess that is left by teams on matchdays.

Alan Mac Ilvaney