Quote Originally Posted by Undertaker View Post
According to a Westlakes player Stockton didn?t give them a bench, players had to sit on the ground or stand. Pathetic at this level if true
A Stockton Committee Member has asked me to pass on these comments in regards to your comments here

"Your comments are incorrect. Before making public accusations or assumptions, it would have been far more productive and intelligent to ask questions and seek clarification?especially on matters you?re clearly not fully informed about and clearly have no idea.

I know exactly what occurred, as I personally handled all comms:

0727 ? I messaged the Westlakes contact number I have, advising Third Grade was washed out, but we were still hopeful Reserves and Firsts could go ahead. I mentioned reassessment would occur at 9:00 AM. No response

0800 ? I followed up, asking for thoughts on pushing kickoff times back to allow more drying time. No response

0914 ? I messaged again: ?Thoughts on moving games to Westlakes? Corroba is no good.? No response

These messages were sent to both a listed Westlakes contact and a known player. No response was received from either party.

From there, I actively searched for alternate grounds:

0933 ? I informed NF that Corroba was unplayable and asked if they knew of any alternative fields.

0940 ? 0950 ? I contacted Mayfield Juniors, Azzurri and Raymond Terrace to check for spare fields. Both had none available. Completely understandable.

0950 - NF contacting me saying that had a ground at Tarro Park which was potentially available.

1007 ? NF confirmed Tarro Park was good to go with slightly delayed kickoffs. I asked if we needed to bring equipment.

1010 ? NF confirmed nothing was required from us equipment-wise.

All of this was done to ensure the games could go ahead?despite having already had three washed-out games and receiving no response from Westlakes during a two-and-a-half-hour window.

1018 ? I made phone calls to two Westlakes numbers given to me by NF?one new, one already contacted. One call went unanswered. The other was answered and met with aggression, asking why Westlakes hadn?t been contacted?despite our repeated attempts.

1032 ? A follow-up call confirmed that Westlakes were happy to play wherever, as long as referees were appointed?which they were.

1230 ? At the ground, our squad manager offered to source bench seating for Westlakes' Reserves. He was told it wasn?t necessary.

Given all of the above, to label our club as ?disgraceful? or ?embarrassing? is not only inaccurate?it?s deeply unfair to a club that went above and beyond to get the games played in tough conditions.

What is embarrassing is making public accusations without having the facts and having any idea what actually happened. Also completely ignoring the effort that went into making sure Westlakes didn?t lose another weekend of football.

The Sharks look forward to your apology.

Rolo"