Not sure the colours are right in that OTD pic, Bedford played in blue and we would have been in red shirts and white shorts

On that OI, we can agree. And similarly Pete - that is the issue. Increasing politicisation of sport in which the authorities are very muddled about in terms of what and what not is allowed.

If it's about player safety then you should insist that players have consumed enough food and drink before a game for them to not be at risk. It's different to games played in hot weather where they don't know what the temperature is going to be on the day.

I see the WC boat is being rocked by the orange one. I would've thought that was a far larger subject for debate than a few blokes taking on fuel before KO. It seems politics and religion are intent on forcing themselves into the game, despite long held resistance. Need some wise heads involved atm, but twiddling with VAR and other stuff seems to be the priority. Germany threatening a WC boycott woke 'em up though.

Fair enough Nick, it would be great if it was the biggest of football's problems.

Morning all. Proper SW19 report on Mansfield now up - [Link]

We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one OI as player safety in this instance does not hinge on the entire game being stopped.

*conclusive

They introduced breaks in hot weather for player safety, this is the same. One can argue about 'player welfare gone mad' and that is going to be prominent in the next decade as the evidence that heading the ball is a factor in dementia becomes more inclusive. I'm just not sure what harm is being done by a short break for the welfare of some players.

They build that in for all players OI, not just those who are choosing to fast for religious reasons. I don’t choose to be diabetic but no-one ever stopped a game for me when I was younger to take stock of glucose tablets, nor would I ask nor expect them to. I thought we all agreed that personal religious choices should not influence sport, but that was until yesterday it seems.

What do you mean by justified Spit? I can't see into the minds of Leeds supporters (that would a be cruel and unusual punishment on me) so I don't know why they were booing, but I am in general in favour of free speech including free booing. Personally I'm in favour of measures that improve player safety when they are fairly simple.

So were the Leeds fans justified to boo and whistle during the break oi?

They could do that in high temperatures too Nick. Do you want to stop that? If a break for Iftar is a significant problem for football at the moment then the game is in a far better place than I thought.

OI - I'm sorry but that reason is completely disingenuous. The game does not need to stop for them to take on fluids. As you say, if it only takes 30 seconds, they can do it as the game progresses.

Potentially, not stopping for Iftar could harm players. Equally it is reasonable to have drinks breaks in high temperatures because not doing so could harm players. Most fit players ought to be able to play in 40 degree heat without a break but why take the risk? It is about player health more than pandering to a religion.

Some winnable games coming up though Wigan have really picked up since they switched managers. Hopefully relegation, whilst not impossible, is improbable from here and it’s nice to enjoy football matches again as we really do look like a higher-bottom-half L1 team. Capable of spells of decent pressure and goals but also capable of switching off and being punished.

OI - 3.05 didn't harm anyone but we have since decided it shouldn't happen. Similarly, not stopping games for Iftar wouldn't have harmed anyone, but we've decided that one will stick?

Some fans got cross about that break, some fans get cross about other things. Has anyone actually been harmed by the break for Iftar? The 3.05 Good Friday kick-off was weird as 3pm UK time doesn't correspond to the time Jesus supposedly died but beyond that it didn't actually do us a lot of harm.

Keep religion and politics out of football. I lost a lot of respect for the Muslim players who refuse to wear rainbow laces, etc etc - should we be tolerant of intolerance, works both ways I guess

a4e - no, no criticism on either side. This is just good, healthy conversationa and debate. And even if I was offended by something, that's on me!

Does anyone have definite news on when todays women's game kicks off. On the website its 2pm. In the Bradford programme and a recent email it says 3pm!

NickD - I agree with you that in general terms football doesn’t need to be interrupted by religion. However, I personally wouldn’t want Muslims to be put off the idea of becoming professional players just because the sport might not accommodate one specific moment in time each year. Moving all kick off times to the hours of darkness during Ramadan might generate more negative comments from people asking “why is one religion dictating what time our football games kick off!”, and in all honesty, I feel that would be a more legitimate complaint. I’m perfectly happy to see players taking on water during games, and if a short break of play encourages us to support Muslims being represented in sport here, then I approve of it. Only my opinion, and definitely no criticism of you here at all Nick 😌

I remember the half time marching bands at Plough lane back in the sixties. Better than some music we have to listen to at todays New Plough lane

a4e - I think the problem people have is the "it's just". It's just a few players for a short period of time ... it's just ditching rainbow laces and armbands ... it's just Man Utd not wearing LGBT jackets ... these are all about religion dictating what the sport does, and I'm sorry, querying whether we want that or not doesn't fall into any catergory of intolerance on the side of the people saying, "this isn't okay", especially when we consider our fanbase has had one instance in history of religion affecting our game (Good Friday 2009) and, I was part of this, the opposition was loud and angry to the point that such a move has never been repeated. We can't pick and choose our ethics, morals, and beliefs depending on which sections of society are involved. FWIW, if we are now saying that religion should be accommodated (and don't forget, religious messaging is prohibited in the Premier League), then I would fully support no football on Good Friday at all. I have always argued the opposite but if the rules have changed, then they should be applied consistently.

In all honesty it’s just a few players being given a brief opportunity to take on fluids - nobody complains about a players having a water break when the weather is really hot, and this particular example is just about showing respect towards one section of our community, and it takes less time than the average VAR review… Yes, there are those who don’t like that we have Muslims living in Britain, and they may choose to claim that they aren’t racist or that they’ve got Muslim friends or whatever, but if someone says “no religious symbolism in sport please”, then some might argue that a player shouldn’t cross themselves with the sign of the crucifix as they enter the field of play or after scoring a goal or something… What we surely don’t need interrupting play is teams having to walk off the field after racist comments have been shouted at black players (4 examples reported just last weekend I believe), and we also don’t need American football style half time shows with singers and god knows what else… 🤪 Someone didn’t like the “no room for hate in sport” message last weekend - well I’d argue that it’s very clear we do need that message to be continually put out because there’s very obviously still a lot of hate around, especially racism and homophobia. Let's try to be a bit less intolerant towards those whose skin colour or chosen faith isn’t the same as your own - it really isn’t that hard if you try (that’s not aimed at you, NickD, it’s a gentle suggestion for anyone to whom it may apply…).