Further fall-out emerges from Blackburn Rovers vs Ipswich Town abandonment | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin gives his verdict on the abandonment of their fixture against Ipswich Town

Blackburn Rovers Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin has had his say on the abandonment of their clash against Ipswich on 20th September.

Blackburn Rovers' clash with Ipswich Town last month caused plenty of controversy via social media due to the adverse weather conditions, meaning the referee on the day, Stephen Martin, called a halt to the game 10 minutes before time.

Despite vast areas of the UK being heavily affected by the wind and weather warnings on the 20th September, the Championship fixture went ahead as planned but was the only one in the league that wasn't completed.

Rovers were well on their way to getting their second league win of the season against the in-form Ipswich, who were down to 10-men on the day five minutes into the second half, as Jacob Greaves was shown red before Todd Cantwell put the hosts in front from the spot, just shy of the hour mark.

With supporters, players and managerial staff wanting their feelings to be heard upon the abandonment of the game, it was confirmed that the game would be replayed in full on the 2nd December, much to the frustration of all involved at Ewood Park.

In a video via RoversTV, footage has emerged of Head Groundsman at the club, Trevor Wilkin, giving his verdict on the series of events, highlighting that the weather got the better of them on the day.

"We've just got to hold our hands up" - Blackburn Head Groundsman gives his verdict on the Ipswich game

When the fixture against Ipswich was abandoned due to the sheer excess of rainfall in Lancashire, Wilkin shared his concerns when speaking to RoversTV, not only about their clash against the Tractor Boys, but their following match also where they hosted Stoke City in an eventual 1-1 draw that did go the distance.

Wilkin said: "My views for the Ipswich game, we've got to kind of hold our hands up and say the weather beat us."

"It's a good opportunity to say that. I know there's a lot of scaremongering. It was absolutely nothing at all to do with the river this game, it was just the amount of rainfall that we got."

"We came in on the Saturday morning, myself and Lynsey Talbot. We checked the river, the drains in the river, they were working absolutely fine, not a problem. And as the day went on, it just as anybody that was here for the game, it just got heavier and heavier and heavier, and it got to the point where it was just saturated, and it couldn't physically take any more water."

Blackburn Rovers' pitch could cause further problems as it becomes more mature

Wilkin, during the interview, eluded to fixtures in the past, such as Blackburn's match-up against Portsmouth last season that was called off due to bad weather also, with a common theme being that Ewood Park has had its struggles in dealing with the sheer amount of water seen on occasions in recent times.

With the pitch being over three decades old, Wilkin and his team for sure have a task on their hands that perhaps hasn't been given the recognition they deserve from their fanbase until now.

Wilkin said, "We got the figures for the rainfall the following day, and we had over 77ml of rain, which is over three inches."

"There's no hiding the fact, we all know it's not hidden that the pitch is old. The pitch now is 36 years old, so the old infrastructure, the drainage is old, but that's irrelevant to the Ipswich game."

"Facts are facts, we just couldn't take that amount of water."

"I just think we were really, really unlucky and a combination of, we have got an old pitch, we're not hiding that fact, and literally the amount of rainfall that came down."