Scottish Cup: Morton Chief Questions Games Going Ahead Amid Bad Weather
2 March 2018
ByJonathan Sutherland & Brian McLauchlin
BBC Scotland
Greenock Morton's chief executive has required all four Scottish Cup quarter-finals to be postponed because of the weather condition.
The Scottish FA say "there are no strategies to call off" Celtic v Morton and Aberdeen v Kilmarnock on Saturday or either of Sunday's ties.
All weekend Scottish Professional Football League matches have been postponed.
"I simply look at the blanket weather we have actually had," said Morton's Warren Hawke.
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"We've never ever seen anything like this before - well I haven't in my 20 years north of the border.
"I just think a blanket post ponement for this weekend's components seems the proper choice so everybody can get themselves back on track and start planning once again."
SFA interim chief executive Andrew McKinlay stated: "As it stands there are no plans to call off any of the William Hill Scottish Cup Sixth Round components. The desire and hope is that they continue as planned.
"There are no pitch evaluations arranged for these matches at this stage and each host club has worked tirelessly to guarantee the pitches and the surrounding locations are safe and in the very best possible condition.
"We repeat that we remain in continuous close contact with all clubs worried, authorities and local authorities. The situation will be evaluated routinely on a case by case basis."
Morton's conference with Celtic is scheduled to begin at 12:30 GMT, with Aberdeen v Kilmarnock at 15:00.
"We have actually got advocates that we sent out tickets to on Tuesday this week and they have not gotten them yet," Hawke told BBC Scotland.
"We have actually had call today from our supporters stating, 'I have actually got 7 tickets, by the way I can't get out of my drive - we've got a foot-and-a-half of snow here. What do I do?'
"It's so easy to say, 'Game's on, everything's fine on and around Celtic Park'.
"But you'll have individuals trying to risk it due to the fact that they are pass away tough fans, they are fanatics and they will try and do everything to get to the video game.
"We are just ruling out our consumers one bit."
Falkirk supervisor Paul Hartley, whose side see Rangers on Sunday (14:15) after Motherwell host Hearts (16:15), highlighted the need to think about the security of supporters.
"I believe we have actually got to have the issues of the supporters [on our minds] for sure," said .
"Safety is always paramount. Maybe often just wait to the last minute. But we have actually got to be reasonable too in terms of when we call games off. You can't wait until the eleventh hour. Our concerns is constantly the security of supporters and our players."
Heavy snow implies the Falkirk Stadium runs out bounds and Hartley has actually been required to take his gamers to Ravenscraig for some indoor training in a bid to prepare for Sunday.
But he makes sure his players will be prepared for Rangers if the game does proceed.
"It's been hard in regards to the conditions and players travelling from various places," Hartley added. "Today we believed we could get on the pitch but we needed to cancel at the last minute. We managed to get Ravenscraig and a full pitch for the next couple of hours. It's not perfect however we simply have to get on with it."
McKinley added: "The security of advocates, players and personnel, as always, stays our leading concern. We acknowledge that, either way, some advocates are likely to be left inconvenienced.
"However, we are conscious that a fantastic lots of have already devoted to tickets and travels strategies which - in addition to enhancing climate condition, forecasts from authorities and the views of the bulk of the clubs involved - has actually led to our existing position.
"Any advocate who does decide to take a trip is urged to do so with care and seek advice from all pertinent public transportation and travel bodies before embarking on any journey.
"Conditions are of course adjustable and we remain on standby to react to developments."
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