Arnold fears a player could die in intense heat

Mister football - You take your discussion to the ridiculous when you suggest a 2am kick off and say the FFA would object. While that is probably correct would they.the FFA, care to upset "the goose that lays the golden egg"? That my friend is the real question. I remind you again that for nearly 30 years we have been playing our top football in "summer" and as one of the chief instigators I can tell you that in the original suggestion ,kick off times were to be in the early evening (in those days usually at the weekends) for It was envisaged that a say 6.00pm kick-off would allow families (returning from a day of leisure).to take in a game finishing by 7.45pm, while younger,single groups could still attend their normal weekend activities,pubs.clubs etc.. Because of the suggested time for kick off, obviously in most cities and towns floodlights would be needed and it is thought that it may have been this requirement that stopped this part of the suggestion ever being implemented for back in 1986 most clubs in the NSL did not have grounds with the required lights to meet this criteria. (They had training lights but I remember the lights at Perry Park in Brisbane were not powerful enough to meet the requirements of television).As the code was then administered through those same clubs, as usual for those days,it was easier to just ignore parts of the suggestion that could cost money. Now this requirement for "summer soccer" has been consistently ignored over those 30 years by an almost uncountable number of football administrators even until today when most of the grounds nominated by FFA have such light requirements(was that why they were picked by the FFA?) but again the reasoning behind the 6.00pm kick off time has apparently never been discussed. Hence we have a game kicking off at 4.30pm in 35 degree heat.when 2 hours later,after sundown,the temp. would drop considerably. Strange isn't it?. Cheers jb

Fair enough Waz. Having learned that the FFA have a meteorologist on tap 24/7, I was just wondering whether he gives his prognostications from an air conditioned office, or whether he is out there doing 15 minutes of shuttle runs to make sure the "Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT)" is on the money.

Fuss - unfortunately people are focussing on the "absolute temperature" which is not the only or even the main factor. Safety is based on a hybrid measurement, the FFA use the wet globe method to determine the safety of players and a similar system is used for other summer sports including tennis and cricket. If you were to "win" your argument on this game I can tell you there wouldn't be a game staged in Brisbane between December and February when the humid temperatures exceed that experienced yesterday even after the sun goes down! So careful what you wish for imo - as far as I'm aware the FFA's standards have been approved by medical practitioners with expertise in this area which is complex and technical. Where I do have sympathy is fir the poor fans with little cover and would support later kick offs for spectator comfort but as I say, delay the kick off yesterday based on "temperature" and you wint find a time day or night in Brisbane to play a game in summer!

Fuss What you say is common sense you know it,I know it and one would like to think that the men at the top of the tree are equipped with that sense as well,but we have been playing the HAL for 10 years now and still this strange scheduling goes on. You will never convince me that the TV people don't have a say in when games are being scheduled but that is another discussion point and the main point I was trying to make was that so far in 30 years of "summer soccer" we have never yet lost a player o heat exhaustion. Cheers jb

Was going to post the same thing

Maybe Mr. Happy just wasn't thrilled about having to get out of 'the mansion'

In November EPL doesn't kick off before 11:30AEST so a 9:30AEST kick off in Perth would have (and has) worked perfectly.

It was also played on a rectangular pitch. Perhaps the next IR test should be at AAMI Park.

You don't need to be a clairvoyant to know that Perth gets hot in late November and an evening kick-off is preferable to an afternoon one. Perhaps this match should have been on Friday night if Fox wanted to avoid clashing with the EPL.

jb, my comment is not about rescheduling matches. It's simply about using basic common sense & not scheduling matches during summer to kick-off at 4:30 pm. The FFA should not schedule any matches before 6:00 p.m. in Australia during summer. With more Thursday night matches played this season, I get the feeling we're heading that way. With Perth & Wellington time-zones 2 hours difference to east coast Australia, it's possible to have 5 matches played at after 6 p.m. between Thursday & Sunday.

Martyn 50 - In Australia football is played all year round it is only the top level that is played in our summer and that is because there are greater considerations to be taken. When that decision was made.It meant that our top players were playing in a time schedule roughly in time with the rest of the world game which in it's scheduling make up has "international weeks" built in to its year long programme,so that the 100 or so countries involved in world wide and continental competitions can take place in a "common " time zone.The other codes played in Australia don't have that "problem" to consider though I did notice an "AFL International" being played last weekend in what suspiciously looked like an Irish Football pitch ,goalposts,nets and all.??????? .Cheers jb ps You do appreciate that the HAL is a 135 game competition and that being so would you like to know how many have been cancelled because of excessive heat over those 270 weeks,in fact,in over 10 seasons, 1350 games -------none. jb.

Whilst I have certain degree of sympathy with the general sentiment, the argument would have greater weight if Mr Arnold raised such concerns prior to a game rather than after a negative result.

So how does the FFA solve the problem or not having to play in the heat? Simple. Play during the winter months like other football codes

err, it is already. Didn't you watch the game yesterday then? If you had you would have seen the breaks

That's right, you have no knowledge of this topic, no training, no expertise, basically nothing but you feel obliged to run your mouth off anyway. So you change the subject to Qatar. Try doing some research before you post on something you know nothing about in future, this is a well researched and tested area, done by experts in their field!

Fuss- Why do you bring Qatar in to your discussion.Everyone who has passed through that region knows that temperatures can reach into the 50's in high summer there. In this discussion we are talking about temperatures of around 35 degrees.Comparison is not valid. Now another question,how would the FFA know what the temp is going to be on a certain date in a certain city in a 27 week season?? I would have thought that would have been quite obvious to someone with your knowledge of scheduling etc. Now let's assume we are all in agreement that the game could have started later,how are the public, catering,paid and volunteer labour, tv crews etc etc etc going to be informed that the game has been put back two hours???? Pignato and Arnold are right in their thinking, but it is not the time or place to moan about a start time,that should be done when discussions are taking place with the FFA,s scheduling dept. Cheers jb. You are well aware of my thoughts on when "summer soccer" should be played it was included in the original submission but was ignored by the then powers that be,probably because not every club in the NSL had floodlights available at the grounds where they played. As I have told you before,heat was not regarded as a problem in Brisbane for the Met Office ,when asked,suggested thunder storms were a far greater threat to game abandonment. Cheers jb

You're selecting your data to suit your argument, you're also demonstrating that you don't understand the topic. Try reading this: "Football Federation Australia defended the decision not to delay the start on Saturday’s Perth-Sydney clash, citing its Wet Bulb Globe Temperature threshold. “The WBGT threshold to consider delaying a Hyundai A-League match is 28,” A-League boss Damien de Bohun said in a prepared statement. “The WBGT at 4pm (on Saturday) at nib Stadium in Perth was 25.2 and remained around 25 during the entire match so the game was played as scheduled and drinks breaks were also incorporated as per the FFA Heat Policy. “The WBGT thresholds in the Hyundai A-League are lower than FIFA standards and those used by other sports played in summer including the Australian Open Tennis, giving our players better protection from heat.”

Waz yes, here it is: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/article/ffa-links-up-with-leading-global-weather-forecaster/eshot4yj9uzs1hu5jx6qqyi8y And I quote: “The Weather Cockpit allows us to measure the weather in accordance with our own weather parameters in the FFA Heat Policy, based on Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT),“ said Head of Hyundai A-League, Damien de Bohun. “Should these parameters be breached or exceeded, the Weather Cockpit will notify us. Importantly, if we need further clarification, we also have 24-hour-a-day access to a meteorologist.“ Sounds fantastic! There's a weather cockpit, there's 24 hour access to a meteorolgist, and they base it on the WBGT, there are parameters, rules and regulations, there's even a heat policy! As George Costanza would say: "oh...you have a policy!" That's all great. But none of it helps explain why they are starting a game in 36 degree heat in full sun.

Composite temperature measurement? Is that a bit like the Qatari air conditioned stadiums?

What makes you say yesterday's game wasn't safe to play?? What's your exiertise in this matter? The FFA seem to have consulted externally with relevant professionals and created standards based on a composite temperature measurement, you seem to be challenging those but based on what?