Rotherham v Cardiff abandonment: 'They had sprinklers on while rain was pouring'

Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi (left) and Rotherham boss Matt Taylor inspect the pitch with referee Oliver Langford

The English Football League (EFL) is to review the circumstances that led to abandonment of the Championship game between Rotherham United and Cardiff City.

With Cardiff leading 1-0 through a Jaden Philogene goal, the match was suspended because of an unplayable pitch following heavy rain at New York Stadium.

Referee Oliver Langford stopped play to allow the surface the opportunity to drain, but following a 45-minute delay and further inspection, the game was eventually postponed.

Rotherham released a statement shortly after the postponement, saying the decision to call the game off will be reviewed by the EFL, which has yet to make an official comment.

"Rotherham United's game with Cardiff City has been abandoned following a torrential downpour of rain which left the field of play waterlogged in the 48th minute," the Millers' statement said.

"Match referee Oliver Langford initially suspended play to allow the surface the opportunity to drain, but following a period in the dressing rooms, the pitch had not cleared and upon a further inspection, the game was called off.

"The circumstances surrounding the abandonment will now be considered in line with EFL regulations."

'Sometimes there's nothing you can do'

It is understood Cardiff were unhappy with the decision to abandon the match.

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor had sympathy for Cardiff and their travelling fans, but felt the postponement was the correct call.

"I was so busy at half-time trying to get some information, some tactical changes, to the group that it was only when one of the coaches came in and said to the players to check their footwear that I realised it had started to rain," Taylor said.

"Then we went out in the second half and it was incredible - incredible for the middle of March, incredible that it wasn't forecast.

"It just hit the ground, like you all saw, and within minutes of the second half being under way, the referee made the right decision to take us off the pitch.

"You saw it was unplayable, it was farcical - the ball was getting stuck. It was only a matter of time before a decision was made.

"All of a sudden we are back in the changing room and then it's a race against time to see if the pitch will improve at any stage.

"The water wasn't draining through, as much as the ground staff were trying their hardest to push it off the pitch, it was clearly not draining through. It's something that can't be helped - it was a downpour like we have never seen. Sometimes there's nothing you can do about the weather.

"There is only limited number of ground staff, a limited number of those brushes. That is where we are as a Championship club."

Taylor and Cardiff boss Sabri Lamouchi were on the pitch with Langford before the official called the game off.

"The only gripe the Cardiff manager had was that we didn't try [to play] earlier, but if the pitch wasn't playable 50 minutes later, it wasn't playable 15 minutes later," Taylor said.

"If we'd tried it would have been chaos, it would have been how the game finished in the last minute or so.

"I sympathise with their journey, their fans, everyone involved with Cardiff. But we will replay the fixture and when we do it's two teams coming back together."

Taylor said the use of sprinklers at half-time was because the downpour had been unexpected.

"They were on because the pitch has been in good nick," he added.

"Generally we want a quick surface, one with a little bit of moisture on top, but the second half just showed what happens when the water's actually stood on top of the surface."

Supporters' views

"We were 1-0 up and we outclassed them - it was three points all day long. Had they been 1-0 up that game would have gone on.

"They had the sprinklers on at half-time while the rain was pouring down. There was no effort made by Rotherham to clear that pitch. As far as we we're concerned we were cheated.

"Everybody that was up there, including myself, are going to get on to Rotherham Football Club and we want our money back. £24 for a ticket, £30 to travel up and eight hours out of our day."

Cardiff fan Kevin speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Call Rob

"The weather was something else - I don't think I have ever seen anything like it at a football game.

"Our pitch is really good historically, but it was unplayable. It was just a crazy amount of rain in such a short space of time.

"I feel really sorry for the Cardiff fans, I really do. I don't think it would have made any difference if there had been more ground staff. It was just unavoidable."

Rotherham fan and host of the New York Talk podcast Matt Lax

"The rain is one thing but 20 minutes to get the ground staff on and the sheer obviousness that they had no interest in keeping it on is another. Abysmal from Rotherham."

Cardiff fan Chris via text

"For a Championship standard pitch and stadium it was just shocking. For 20-30 minutes you had two people with squeegees pushing the water off the pitch. You had two people where there should have been five to seven people with squeegees pushing the water off and they were just laughing at the Cardiff fans.

"At the end of the days it is depressing. We travelled four, five hours to come up to South Yorkshire and then to be treated in that way."

Cardiff fan Gareth speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Call Rob

Rotherham groundstaff clear water off the New York Stadium pitch

Commentator's view - Dylan Griffiths

"I came back to my seat after half-time and I've never seen so much rain and volume fall in such a short period of time, and we mentioned in commentary that the game could be in serious doubt.

"However it was a shock to see that the sprinklers were on during the interval. The water wasn't draining and the corner flag area to the right of our commentary position was particularly bad.

"There was much confusion around the ground, but I can understand Cardiff's frustration as it took nearly 20 minutes for Rotherham's ground staff to appear to try to clear the water, and even then, only a small number of staff were on the pitch.

"It is open for debate if the game could have continued had the response been sooner as the ball wasn't bouncing during the pitch inspection at 16:45, but once the announcement came that the game was abandoned, the celebrations of the Rotherham fans around us just added to Cardiff's pain."

Dylan Griffiths was at the game as a commentator for BBC Radio Cymru.

Pundit's view - Nathan Blake

"There wasn't much that could've been done in fairness, but the sprinklers came on. There's no way they knew the rain was going to come down like it did.

"Obviously it looks bad during the rain with the sprinklers on.

"But it was a real deluge - the rest of the pitch was under water so it would've been difficult to play the game, the ball wasn't going to roll or anything like that.

"I think the frustration for the Cardiff fans was probably the fact that for 15 to 20 minutes no-one came out and tried to do anything at all about the pitch and then when they did one guy came out and then the second then the third.

"Then one guy with a fork was trying to relieve some of the flooding but it was never going to happen, it was just one of those things - mother nature. It couldn't be helped.

"Rotherham were far happier to have the game abandoned than Cardiff - Cardiff were trying to get it on and Rotherham were happy for it to be abandoned.

"Rotherham were happy because they had three or four of their main players out also, so everything was good for them to have the game abandoned but not so good for Cardiff in fairness.

"I would've thought that there would definitely be a replay for sure and Cardiff will be disappointed but they can still go there and win.

"But like I said, it was one of those situations where there was a long way to go for an abandoned game and things happen from time to time."

Former Cardiff City striker Nathan Blake was speaking on Radio Wales Breakfast.