Dirty boots

I’m becoming quite an expert on the weather now. If there’s hour after hour of heavy rain, it must be Saturday.

At Step 5, the Essex Senior, Hellenic, Sussex County, Wessex and Western Leagues managed six games between them. The Isthmian and Southern Leagues lost 32. There were five postponements in The FA Trophy’s First Round Proper.

I saw one of the three Kent League fixtures that beat the wet conditions, Whyteleafe v Corinthian at Church Road, and I suppose I should be grateful for that. (Yes, I know Whyteleafe is in Surrey.) When they kicked-off under a grey sky with the lights on at 3pm, we’d had six hours of relentless rain. But the pitch was absorbing all that moisture very well and there was little chance of an abandonment.

‘Leafe have pulled themselves up to fifth spot but Corinthian, down in 13th, gave them a hard game. The visitors went 2-1 up early in the second half and grittily held onto that lead until the 85th minute, when ‘Leafe’s No.7 headed in at the far post to send the crowd behind the goal wild at 2-2. And the rain was still coming down. Would it ever stop?

Sunday was disappointing. Even though it was dry and sunny, all the football was off. During the course of the day I tried seven different grounds in west London, including one that was due to stage an FA Sunday Cup tie, and it was the same depressing story in each case. The pitches, having dried out, were firm and well-grassed but I suspect the decision to cancel must have been made on Saturday.

My quest for action took me through 50 tube stations and most of the time I was standing in packed carriages with Heathrow-bound tourists leaning on me with suitcases the size of wardrobes. There was a long delay after the emergency handle was activated near Boston Manor, the driver eventually informing us that “a trespasser has been removed from the train”. A trespasser?!

Some Chelsea fans on the train were becoming agitated as they feared they might miss the start of their game against Manchester City at the Bridge. They ended up not seeing any goals either. Now we can look forward to at least four months of not knowing whether games are on or off. Oh joy.

The Barber will be back next week with his latest tale from this travels. If you'd like to contact him, or suggest a game he should go to, follow @thebarberfan on Twitter