The club has advised that supporters who attended today’s abandoned game against Fulham should retain their ticket stubs; season ticket holders will be allocated a new voucher number for the rearranged game.
A new date for the fixture has yet to be announced.
Sunderland’s chief executive Peter Walker said: “Obviously it’s very disappointing for everyone, particularly the supporters, some of whom have made long journeys to get here; but the safety of the players had to be paramount and the referee made the right decision.”
Match referee Mike Riley said, “There was water falling on the pitch and it was not going anywhere. There was a forecast for more of it in the afternoon.
“The players were playing the ball and it was stopping; there had already been a collision when players slipped and injured themselves, so they were not safe conditions to play in.
“Potentially I could have called it off beforehand. You try and be conscious of the spectators who are here, the Fulham fans who had travelled a long way, and you want to get a game on if you can. When you get out there, you think the players running around might keep the surface water away, and you hope for improvement – it just didn’t come, unfortunately.”
And Riley confirmed that he’d consulted both Kevin Ball and Chris Coleman before making his decision.
“I talked to them both and explained the situation – we knew it wasn’t right for football.
“Hopefully the fans will come back some time in April and see sunshine and a good game of football.”
Kevin Ball agreed that Riley was right to abandon the match. “I was in the technical area and I couldn’t see across the pitch. In the end, the safety of the players is the most important thing and it was getting to the stage where he had no choice.
“Two of our players have been injured and I didn’t want to see anyone else get injured – even a worse injury. Rory bumped into George – whether the weather had a contributing factor to that, I don’t know. Rory has taken a right crack on his nose and he’s got stitches and George has a cut as well. We’re not too sure whether Rory’s got a broken nose, he’s being assessed.
“Whether we’re 1-0 up or 1-0 down, safety is the most important thing. I can understand the frustration of both sets of supporters but I’m sure they’ll understand.
“Chris (Coleman) is very philosophical – he understood. It’s probably only in the north east this could happen!”
