Rye choose not to play game

The New Roaders were unwilling to go ahead with their Sussex One match away to Seaford as they considered the playing surface waterlogged. The fixture has subsequently been rearranged for tomorrow (Saturday).

Injured Rye captain Matt Cooke said: “Seaford did an inspection at 10.10am and then half-an-hour before kick-off at 1.30pm. Some parts of the pitch were absolutely fine, but there was a little bit of standing water in other places.

“The referee said to the players ‘if you’re happy to play, I am’. At that point we decided that it was unsuitable to play, especially as we had a free weekend this weekend.

“Although it was disappointing not to get a game, the right decision was arrived at in the end. We had a similar situation at Eastbourne last season where we played on a pitch which was probably in a worse state than the Seaford pitch, and the

Eastbourne captain suffered a broken ankle and dislocated knee.

“It’s one of those cases where you’ve got to take the slightly more sensible approach to it rather than ‘let’s go out and play rugby come what may’.”

Rye have been training inside this week due to the bad weather as they seek to build on an uplifting performance against high-riding Brighton II last time out.