How the EFL could react to abandoned Blackburn Rovers v Sheffield Wednesday match | OneFootball

For the second time this season, Blackburn Rovers had suffered the embarrassment of having a game abandoned. Here's what the EFL could do next.

For the second time this season, Blackburn Rovers have suffered the embarrassment of having a match abandoned after their pitch was waterlogged. Here's what the EFL could do next.

It never rains but pours, for Blackburn Rovers.

For the second time this season, they've suffered the embarrassment of having a match abandoned, after referee Ruebyn Ricardo called a halt to their Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon.

The referee took the players off the pitch after 61 minutes had been played, with Blackburn leading 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal scored by Yuki Ohashi, but despite the best efforts of the Rovers ground-staff to get the pitch back into a playable condition, the referee was left with little option but to call a halt to proceedings.

Blackburn had only just got their season caught up with as a result of their previous abandonment, having played Ipswich Town last Tuesday in a replay of the fixture that was called off in similar circumstances in September.

The EFL have a range of options over how to deal with Blackburn's second abandonment of the season

The EFL have a range of options at their disposal, but they now have to decide which to go with after a second Ewood Park game this season had to be called off due to the unplayability of the pitch.

As the Blackburn Rovers statement on the match being called off confirmed, "In line with EFL Regulations, any league match that falls short of 90 minutes’ duration may be ordered to count as a completed fixture, may be replayed in full or may be replayed in part, on whatever terms and conditions the EFL Board determine."

After the match, the Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen said: "Today was not a great day for playing football. As everyone could see, the conditions were very poor. Player safety must always come first and, as the rain showed no signs of stopping at all, the pitch became totally unplayable."

The EFL Board will now meet to decide what further action they should take.

The EFL have recent precedent over their Blackburn-Wednesday replay decision

The very fact that this was the second time that this has happened at Ewood Park this season means that there is very clear precedent for what could happen next with regard to the match between Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday being replayed.

When Blackburn played Ipswich in September, the match was called off by referee Stephen Martin with eleven minutes to play because he considered the pitch to be unplayable after a downpour following a break of 20 minutes, with Rovers leading 1-0.

In a statement which confirmed their decision to make the teams replay the fixture in full, the EFL said a board meeting comprehensively considered all options available in accordance with the regulations and that it was decided "by a majority" that the game should be replayed in full.

The match was replayed on the 2nd December, and Blackburn again took a one-goal lead through Andri Gudjohnsen, but Ipswich levelled four minutes into stoppage-time through Sindre Walle Egeli, leaving Rovers rueing having dropped two points at home.

The Sheffield Wednesday match had been going for 61 minutes, when Ruebyn Ricardo reached the same conclusion as Martin had a couple of months earlier. In view of the decision taken by the EFL after the Ipswich game, it seems most likely that they will also insist on this match being replayed in full as well.

Blackburn Rovers paid a heavy price over their previous abandonment with that late Ipswich equaliser in the rescheduled match, and they will be hoping that there are no repeats of that should they have to play Sheffield Wednesday again. While the EFL have the option to simply allow the result to stand or just make the teams play out the last half-hour of the match, it seems most likely on the basis of their previous decision that they will have to replay the match in full.

Whether this is a specific issue relating to the pitch at Ewood Park is not clear, though the ground's topographical position at the bottom of a hill does render it more prone to water settling on it than most following sudden downpours. It may be to Blackburn's benefit to look at what they can do to improve pitch drainage as a short-term measure, though completely re-laying it will likely be out of the question because the fixtures keep coming thick and fast.

Not for the first time this season, Rovers could be forced to completely replay a game which they'd already gone a considerable way towards winning before the weather got involved. Should they have to again, they'll be hoping for a very different result, next time around.