What is the impact of weather on the Irish League?

In January alone, 15 fixtures in the Irish Premiership, Irish Cup and BetMcLean Cup have been impacted by the weather.

It is an annual concern as fixtures are called off because of rain or frost, and the total number of league fixtures this season that have been postponed due to weather, European exploits or international call-ups stands at 17.

From the calendar squeeze to pitch maintenance and the summer football debate, how has football in Northern Ireland been impacted by the weather?

As is the case every season, there has been a significant number of fixtures impacted by the wintry and stormy weather in January.

Ballymena United have been the most hit side by the weather, and have only played twice in January after four postponements at their Showgrounds stadium.

The league fixture against Glenavon fell victim of the weather on 3 January, as did their game with Portadown on Saturday, plus two attempts to play an Irish Cup fifth round tie against Larne, on 10 and 20 January, also proved unsuccessful.

Earlier this week, Oran Kearney's side also saw their BetMcLean Cup semi-final with Linfield at Windsor Park pushed back by 24 hours due to Storm Chandra.

Cliftonville and Glentoran also face a backlog of games, and their Irish Premiership match on Sunday was the latest league fixture to be postponed.

In October, Irish League fixtures were postponed by Storm Amy while the Glens have also seen fixtures with Larne and Carrick Rangers impacted earlier in the season.

On Tuesday, storm damage and flooding at the Oval, which has a pitch below sea level and has struggled to deal with heavy rain for years, also led to their BetMcLean Cup semi-final being pushed back from Wednesday until 3 February.

Then there is the Irish Cup, which was set to have all of its fifth-round matches completed on the weekend of 10 January.

Seven of the 16 ties that weekend were postponed due the icy conditions, and two matches - Ballymena United v Larne and Loughgall v Knockbreda - were postponed for a second time due to waterlogged pitches.

Due to the delays, the fifth round might not be completed until as late as 3 February - just three days before the next round is set to begin.

As the season goes on and the number of postponements increase, the window for rearranging fixtures start to close between now and the start of the post-season split on 27 March.

David McClure has been groundsman at Glenavon since 2018 and the grass surface at Mourneview Park is regarded as one of the best in the league.

He says the key to a good surface is preparation and the work done on a pitch comes from groundwork done in the off-season in the summer. He adds that he is already starting to look at his preparations for next season, and is always looking to improve things from the previous year.

"The frustration is that people just expect grass to recover or that it just appears and it just happens to be good," McClure said.

"Where it doesn't, it takes a lot of work and a lot of patience and things like that.

"I always say that clubs need to be aware of that and they need to set money or people aside to look after these pitches because, at the end of the day, it benefits them and it benefits the club to have a good pitch."

He says that when bad weather hits, like with Storm Chandra, it is about "damage limitation" once the worst of the weather passes.

"It's all about it's all about taking time and patience and looking after the pitch properly," he added.

"As long as you can keep your surface open to keep the water moving, then you should be okay."

Of the 12 stadiums in this year's Irish Premiership, only six have traditional grass pitches.

Linfild's Windsor Park, Glentoran's the Oval, Glenavon's Mourneview Park, Carrick Rangers' home at Taylors Avenue, Portadown's Shamrock Park and the Warden Street Showgrounds in Ballymena all still have a grass surface.

Meanwhile, Crusaders and Cliftonville both use artificial surfaces in north Belfast, as do Inver Park in Larne and Bangor's Clandeboye Park, while Dungannon Swifts' Stangmore Park and the Coleraine Showgrounds have both recently made the switch from grass.

It is hard to argue against the increased revenue artificial pitches can bring clubs, along with proving to be a place to train and the reliability when it comes to rain.

However, McClure says that while he understands those benefits, he feels it is a "quick fix but a long-term problem".

In the League of Ireland, Derry City announced they will put in a hybrid pitch of 90% grass to replace the synthetic surface that was installed six years ago.

In Scotland, artificial pitches will be banned from the Premiership from the 2026-27 season, and they have been banned in professional football in England since 1998.

There are also concerns over injuries on plastic pitches and environmental concerns.

McClure feels there could be significant financial implications for clubs if a similar move was made in Northern Ireland, and says there needs to be greater training and resources put towards maintaining a natural grass surface.

Since McClure took over at Glenavon in 2018, he hasn't had a single league match postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, and he feels that is why education is important.

"The long-term effects are being seen by everybody else, but not in this country.

"We should be starting to look at how we can promote grass and make our pitches better.

"In England they have training for their grounds staff and money to help fix the pitches.

"In this country, I can try and get a grant for an artificial pitch but not for a grass one. It's not very well thought through."

The debate over whether the Irish League should switch to a summer calendar is not a new one.

However, when the postponements start to stack up, it is a conversation that rears its head every year.

The arguments for a move to a summer calendar are better weather, larger crowds and teams in Europe being in-season.

On the opposing sides, there are strong cases for tradition, particularly the Boxing Day fixtures, and the impact on part-time players and summer holidays.

In the five-year strategy released by the Northern Ireland Football League in 2023, the governing body said it would consult with clubs about a potential change in the football calendar.

But a move to the summer would not necessarily guarantee against games being impacted.

In the League of Ireland, just like with the Irish Premiership, games were impacted by Storm Amy in October and, in February, fixtures were also impacted by weather.

McClure points out that a switch in the football calendar would also impact the pitches at the other end.

"From a grass point of view, it doesn't start growing until April.

"So if the season is starting in May, when does the grass recover? Our season then will end in January, so when can I grow grass from then until the start of May whenever that's not the growing season, and how can I repair the pitch?".

McClure also said that the heat and lack of rain over the summer months can impact the quality of grass and artificial surfaces.

"I don't have sprinklers at Mourneview Park and the majority of other grounds don't have sprinklers.

"So if we don't get rain for six weeks over summer, the games won't be played anyway because the pitches will be too hard and too dry.

"Then there's the argument about artificial pitches, but they heat up and you would be playing on extra hot pitches."

With that in mind, McClure feels it would be better to keep the current football calendar in Northern Ireland.

"I think it's being pushed to the benefit of a few, but not everyone. In my opinion, in terms of pitches, it would be a horrible decision."