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Is It On? The Winter Postponement Playbook for Grassroots Club Secretaries

Who's actually allowed to call a game off, how to get an inspection before the away side sets off, who to tell in what order, and a 20-minute committee checklist before the first big freeze.

The Club Toolkit Desk · 4 November 2026 · 7 min read

A volunteer club secretary in a waterproof coat and wellies stands on the touchline of a waterlogged grassroots football pitch on a grey winter morning, phone in hand, while a referee crouches to test a football in standing water by the centre circle, with a small clubhouse lit up behind them

It's 7.40 on a Saturday morning. The pitch has a pond in one goalmouth, the away side's minibus leaves in twenty minutes, and the club WhatsApp already has nine messages asking "is it on?" Somebody has to make a decision, tell the right people in the right order, and do it before anyone sets off.

The same things go wrong every winter: a club calls a game off when it isn't allowed to, the referee drives 40 minutes to a locked gate, or the league hears about it on Monday. Twenty minutes with your committee this week fixes most of it.

First, the rule most clubs get wrong

In most leagues, the club does not decide whether the pitch is playable. The referee does, or in some leagues the groundsman or a league official.

This comes from the FA's standardised league rules, which most leagues adopt. The Thurlow Nunn League quotes the wording directly in its 2025/26 postponement guidance: "No Club shall postpone a Competition match on account of the apparent state of the ground." The league or the appointed match official makes that call.

The Essex Alliance League tells clubs below its Senior Division that "the only people authorised to call off matches" are the referee or the venue's groundsman, and clubs shouldn't lean on them either.

So the club secretary's job isn't to decide. It's to spot the problem early, get the right person to look, and run the communications once they've decided.

Who actually makes the call

Pitch decisions come from three places. Know which applies to each of your grounds.

  1. The council or the landlord. If you hire a council or school pitch, the owner usually decides before the weekend. Mid Sussex District Council, for example, checks its pitches 24 to 48 hours before Saturday kick-offs and publishes the results by 4pm every Friday. If a pitch is closed, "no fixtures or training are permitted until further notice", and the council warns that ignoring a closure may void your public liability insurance. When the owner shuts the pitch, it's shut. Your job is to find an alternative or postpone properly.
  2. The groundsman, where your league allows it.
  3. The referee, on the day or at an early inspection. Their decision is mainly about player safety: standing water, a frozen or rutted surface, a dangerous run-off area.

Action this week: for every ground your teams use, write down who makes the call and how you'll hear about it. That means the council's pitch-status page, the groundsman's mobile and your league's inspection rules.

Ask for an inspection early, not at 9am

If you can see trouble coming, act on Friday, not Saturday morning. Leagues set their own inspection procedures, so read yours. Two examples:

The principle is the same: the away side must know an inspection is happening, and must get the decision before they travel.

Budget for it too. In both leagues, officials who've reported to the ground for a match that isn't played are entitled to half their match fee, and Thurlow Nunn adds travel expenses. In SCEFL, the home club should also offer half the referee's fee for an inspection. Keep a little cash or a quick bank transfer ready.

Who to tell, in what order

Once a game is off, the order of calls matters. The Essex Alliance League's list is a good template: opponents first, then the referee (and assistants, where appointed), the referees' secretary, the results line and the fixtures secretary.

Opponents and officials come first because they're about to travel. SCEFL, for instance, wants its online postponement form completed within two days and treats failure to follow the procedure as a rules breach.

Make it a one-page call sheet and pin it in the clubhouse and in the committee chat:

Phone or text the people who are about to travel. Don't rely on email. At 7.45 on a Saturday, nobody is reading email.

Then tell everyone else, once

After the officials, tell your own people. One clear message beats nine people answering the WhatsApp individually.

If your fixtures live in a team app, check it still does what you think. Teamer's closure on 5 October left plenty of clubs scrambling; our guide to Teamer alternatives covers the options.

The backup plan: alternative venues

Sometimes the game can still go ahead elsewhere. A council closure before the weekend often leaves enough time to find another pitch.

Fix the pitch, not just the fixture

If your pitch is off every time it rains, that's worth fixing. The Football Foundation says more than 150,000 matches were cancelled because of poor pitch quality in a single season (its figure when it launched PitchPower in 2021).

Its PitchPower web app is free and lets a club volunteer inspect the pitch on a phone or tablet. Grounds Management Association advisers then send back an assessment report with tailored recommendations, which Devon FA says arrives within 21 days. Completing a PitchPower assessment is also the gateway to the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund. Devon FA's page is blunt about it: you can't get grants from that fund without one.

Winter is when a pitch shows its problems, so run it now. Our winter funding watch lists other funding rounds worth applying to this season.

The money you lose on a day off

A postponed home game is more than a fixture headache. The tea hut, the bar, the gate and the matchday raffle all go with it. For some clubs a wet January can wipe out a month's matchday income.

Clubs with an online draw or supporter lottery feel it less, because that income doesn't depend on a ball being kicked. If you're building a fundraising plan, PlayFundWin's matchday fundraising guide covers what works on matchdays and how to keep income coming in on the weekends you don't play.

The 20-minute committee checklist

Do this at your next committee meeting, before the first big freeze:

  1. List every ground your teams use and who makes the call at each one.
  2. Bookmark the council or landlord's pitch-status page and save the groundsman's number.
  3. Read your league's postponement and inspection rules. Note the deadlines and the forms.
  4. Agree one named person per team who makes the calls on a matchday morning.
  5. Print the call sheet: opponents, officials, league, results line.
  6. Agree the website-first posting format and who updates the fixture.
  7. Note your two nearest FA-registered 3G pitches and how to book them.
  8. Keep cash or a quick transfer ready for officials' inspection fees.
  9. Book a PitchPower assessment if your pitch is off more than it's on.

None of it stops the rain. It does mean the away side stays home when they should and your volunteers aren't fielding forty messages before breakfast. When those volunteers deserve a thank-you, our guide to a Christmas collection for club volunteers is worth a read.

Rules and figures checked 4 November 2026 against the Thurlow Nunn League's 2025/26 postponement guidance, the Southern Counties East Football League's 2025/26 adverse weather procedure, the Essex Alliance League's adverse weather guidance, Mid Sussex District Council's pitch conditions page, the Football Foundation's PitchPower launch announcement and Devon FA's PitchPower page. Every league's rules differ, so check your own league's handbook before you act.

Up the volunteers. Non-league — making the difference.

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