Cockermouth face a major issue on the eve of the new Cumbria League season with their home ground unable to stage matches after Saturday.
The wrong weed killer has been put on the square at Sandair and has damaged the surface, with an estimate of seven to 10 weeks before it might be ready for use.
Fortunately it hasn’t rained since, meaning the grass coverage is still fine, so Saturday’s opening game of the season at home to champions Carlisle will go ahead as planned – although the weather forecast isn’t good.
The League has been kept fully informed of Cockermouth’s predicament and will be liaising with the clubs over temporary home venues.
Club chairman Gareth White said: “It was a genuine mistake in putting on the wrong weed-killer. Everything was a picture at week-end training but on Tuesday you could see a change in the colour of the square.
“It looked burnt and the grass was discoloured on the top and as it covered the whole square we are talking about 18 different wickets we can use for seniors and juniors.
“Work will be done to re-seed the square next week. We will be working with the league and other clubs to try and source alternative venues for our home games going forward from Saturday until Sandair is fit again.
“We have made a couple of suggestions but it’s not going to be easy because you can’t just reverse fixtures because other clubs have second team fixtures.
“During the floods of 2009 I know we borrowed other grounds – playing three times at Gosforth; twice at Egremont and twice at Keswick but that wasn’t really ideal.
“We had asked Baggrow if they could possibly help us out. They only have Midweek teams now who play on an artificial wicket but the main square hasn’t been used for a number of years and will take a good while to get it match ready, which sadly rules it out as an option.”
The other games set for the opening day on Saturday are: Cleator v Workington; Haverigg v Egremont; Keswick v Lindal Moor; Millom v Furness; Wigton v Whitehaven.
