Late Dover postponement prompts fiscal frustrations for Torquay United fans and players

Torquay United’s postponed National League South game at Dover Athletic last weekend has cost the club more than £6,000 – and they stand little chance of getting any of it back.

The Gulls are waiting for Dover to offer new dates for the fixture, but it will involve a difficult 530-mile round-trip, for the team and supporters, on a midweek night sometime in the next six weeks.

Meanwhile, United and their fans are counting the cost of a wasted longest journey of the season for a match which always seemed in some doubt, but was eventually called off just before midday on Saturday.

The cost of coach hire, hotel accommodation and meals for United’s squad will be around £4,000 + VAT, and the club was also due a £2,000 live TV fee from the DAZN channel.

United co-chairman Mike Westcott declined publicly to criticise the way that the postponement was handled.

But he did confirm that the club had been in contact with Dover, the match referee Joe Dann-Pye, who hails from nearby Maidstone, and the National League in the 48 hours before kick-off, because of the obvious concerns about the cold weather.

Westcott did accept that, because of TV coverage (Athletic were due to receive £6,000 as the home club), the anticipated arrival of around 350 Gulls fans, Dover would have been anxious to keep one of their largest paydays of the season on.

He also pointed out that, because of the weather, the league had sent out a list of postponement protocols to all clubs on New Year’s Eve.

Westcott, who recently announced a range of belt-tightening redundancies at Plainmoor, added: “In purely financial terms, we’d need to get 350 more people on our gate this Saturday just to cover those costs.”

The episode, and the way it was handled, has certainly left United and their fans frustrated as well as out of pocket.

The collateral ‘damage’ to United’s promotion hopes wasn’t as bad as it might have been – in-form leaders Worthing needed a 97th minute equaliser to snatch a point at home to struggling Chippenham Town, Dorking Wanderers (4th) also drew 2-2 at Tonbridge, although Weston-super-Mare (3rd) did beat visitors Farnborough 4-1.

It means that, with 24 games played, Torquay (5th) are six points behind Worthing heading into Saturday’s home match against Hampton & Richmond Borough (21st).

With Matt Worthington and Munashe Sundire both now back in full training, manager Paul Wotton has a full squad at his disposal.

To the point where young Bolton Wanderers midfielder Sonny Sharples-Ahmed has returned to the League One club after five substitute appearances on loan.