The Voice - Match preview #25: Bradford City vs Rotherham United Tuesday 24 February 2026 7.45pm

Maybe we should use @Park bantam 's fleece idea and get fans to donate their old fleeces as frost prevention?

 

The shadow cast over the pitch from the stand keeps large areas of the pitch in the shade and doesn’t help the thaw.

This abandonment makes total sense to me and the covers are irrelevant.

Monday - Thursday: we had snow, which melted, and lots of rain. This hung around in the soil.

Friday daytime - local ref inspects pitch. Temps were above freezing and pitch was soft enough to be playable, although retaining moisture from the week.

Friday PM/overnight into Sat AM: temps drop sharply overnight. No new snow or rain set to fall (i.e. covers irrelevant) however the water still lingering in the soil from the previous week freezes.

Sat AM: the temps remain freezing until 2 pm. Pitch inspection called at 10 am but pitch still frozen as temperatures never rose that early in the morning.

the frost covers warm the soil ever so slightly but the problem was the amount of water that got into the ground last week and the persistent low temperatures that didn’t help following days when we did get melting of the stuff above the surface.

racecourses deploy frost covers and lost meetings. Football clubs across the country, likewise. Only undersoil heating or a Sky heat tent would have got the game on, but not many clubs have those luxuries at this level.

 

Well we are on sky this weekend,so will we get a heat tent?.

 

wont need one if temps are 8 degrees and above like today!

not forecast to drop below 5 all week. Your fridge is 4 degrees, so it’s gonna be cold, but nothing is freezing.

 

Someone on Twitter claims to have been talking to the groundsman at City and he stated that the referee was determined to get the game called off as he just wanted to get back to Plymouth during the day. Says he barely looked at the pitch.

 

The covers are irrelevant. Okay, tell the club not to waste money on them then.

 

If they are LeD’s then they don’t generate heat.
Sodium lights do




Football pitch lights for grass use advanced LED or HPS technology, often mobile or fixed, to stimulate photosynthesis, ensuring healthy growth and quick recovery, especially in winter, by providing optimal light spectrums and heat, crucial for maintaining high-quality, consistent playing surfaces year-round. Modern systems are energy-efficient, data-driven, and can be portable for training or fixed for stadiums, with options like SGL Systems or Ritelite offering solutions for both professional clubs and local teams.

Types of Pitch Lighting

• LED Grow Lights: Highly efficient, low maintenance, offer precise control over light spectrum (mimicking sunlight), and reduce energy costs significantly.

 

Have you got a full break down of the costings and estimated lead times for those figures please Rod?

I believe @Eccybantam might be interested.

 

If we do go up the problem will be more in the spotlight. It still niggles me an effective solution has n't been funded so far, but I suppose it is about prioritising short-term priorities (the playing team) at the moment.

The issue about the local area roads/ pavements being ice free, how do the Premiership Clubs/ those with undersoil heating deal with this? Extra cash to the council for salting/ grit the day before match? I dunno.

 

Irrelevant in the instance of last weekends game (because no more snow fell on Fri night). They stop more snow getting onto the pitch but they don’t suck out a weeks worth of water underneath in the soil already!

 

No, they're covers to protect against frost of down to minus 3 degrees. It was deemed playable on Friday, and the weather never got worse than minus 3, so the covers should have been sufficient.

 

They might have stopped frost getting to the surface, who knows, but what about all the ground beneath? That will still freeze at -1 and was full of water. If its baked underneath you are still in trouble - hence why sporting events galore were cancelled even when frost covers had been used.

if the club really wanted the game on they’d have used a hot air tent but meh, its a League 1 game. It isn’t that important and we haven’t got money to spend on such luxuries.

 

I must have missed the huge downpour between Friday and Saturday. Anyway I can’t be bothered as you say there’s bigger things than a league 1 game. Hopefully the club will learn not to declare a game on when it’s in the balance then people travelling far won’t have wasted time and money.

 

Dunno what it was like in Wilsden but we had biblical rain on the Tuesday near Odsal and rain again later in the week.

we’ve had a ridiculous amount of rain in the last few months after the summer droughts, reservoirs have gone from being 1/3 full to brimming again at the moment, and the ground has felt saturated if its anything like my front lawn.

anyway, think we’ve done to subject to death - i Just think this wasn't the clubs fault and was just unfortunate.

now time to cry about Cook leaving :-(

 

It wasn't bad Friday, but as you say there is flooding here now after the news

 

Is this still rumbling on
Get over it people . There are lots of things currently in life to moan about
A football match cancelled 5 hours before kick off, because of bad weather is not one of them

 

For the stands please....

 

Our Sky Bet League One match against Rotherham United will now take place on Tuesday February 24, at the University of Bradford Stadium, with the action getting underway from 7.45pm.