Irish League chairman details how supporters bus 'lost a wheel on the motorway' travelling to match that was abandoned due to floodlight failure

The County Londonderry outfit had to undertake a near three-hour round trip to the Belfast venue and with the score tied at 1-1 after Mikhail Kennedy’s early opener had been cancelled out by Sam Dinu, the match was ultimately abandoned with the floodlights failing to turn back on.

With the arrival of Storm Darragh on Friday evening resulting in a weather warning being put in place across Northern Ireland, travel was heavily impacted due to significant rainfall and road closures, while ‘Stute hit a further issue when their supporters bus lost a wheel on route to Dundela.

"We were in a similar position (thinking if we should travel),” Anderson told BBC Sportsound. “We have players from Donegal, which had a red weather warning in place on Saturday morning.

"We had to ask those players to travel to our meeting point. We were very concerned about those players and we also have one player from Portstewart and the Translink services were cancelled, so I personally had to drive to pick him up and bring him to the game.

"On top of that, when our supporters bus was heading down the road it lost a wheel on the motorway - we don't know whether they hit debris or if it was a mechanical problem.

"Everyone is fine thank goodness and headed home on the players bus because the bus they were in will have to be recovered. Our driver of the team bus dropped the team off and went back up the motorway and brought the supporters to the game."

The Northern Ireland Football League’s rules and regulations state “if through any cause a match has been abandoned before the completion of the full playing time the NIFL Competition Committee shall have power at its discretion to allot the points according to the goals scored at the time of such abandonment, or order the unfinished time to be played, or to order the match to be re-played in its entirety, on a subsequent date to be fixed by the NIFL Competition Committee under such terms and conditions as it may impose”.

According to Anderson, it’s likely that Institute will have to make the trip to Dundela once again next month – something which will come at more expense.

“We were 15 minutes into the second half and the lights didn't come on, so all that activity we did was for nothing and the consequence is we have to come down again on a Tuesday night in January and our players are going to have to get a half-day off work and we'll have to pay £500/600 for another bus,” he added. "NIFL weren't in contact with us until Saturday morning until Dundela had been in contact with them.

"To be fair, NIFL were probably focusing on the home team. You can't decide a football match is going to go ahead just because the home stadium is playable and safe if you have a team travelling from an area which is badly affected by weather.

"You have to have due consideration for the away team too. It doesn't make sense to make a decision based on what the home team wants to do."

In a statement, NIFL said: "NIFL have been in regular consultation with clubs since Friday morning regarding the ongoing weather situation and seeking advice and updates from clubs," the spokesperson revealed.

"While a small minority of clubs would have liked games postponed yesterday (Friday) for different reasons, the overall majority wished to wait and make an informed decision this morning and with league rules and proper procedures and with consideration for sporting integrity with the close proximity of the transfer window.

"Five games have successfully gone ahead today (across the Irish League) but unfortunately losing two games late is disappointing for everyone. Details for rearrangements from today's postponed matches will be announced soon."