Uefa.com “Europe’s Football Website” has covered the combined effort by staff and supporters from earlier in the week.

Now in hindsight, the time put in on a voluntary basis by staff and supporters of Rochdale AFC alike, during the 48 hours before the Notts County fixture were in vein.  

But there were many positives to come from the oil drums that couldn’t have been dreamt of even by Dave the random groundsman at Walsall FC. 

For a start, the work put in by everyone related to Dale during the 48 hours prior to kick off showed just how much the club can do when it works together with the supporters.  

There was people coming and going with wood in forms ranging from cupboard doors to garden fences. There were supporters who even brought soup and some cans to keep the volunteers going.

As well as editions of the Rochdale Observer from a long while a go, with even a poor Rochdale fan’s personal FHM collection fuelling the fires too. 

I just hope whoever brought their Playstation 3 box doesn’t need to take it back for whatever reason! 

Not only was the sheer amount of help and good faith by supporters and the club impressive. But so was the way the club managed to spin the postponement into a terrific success. 

The club has absolutely everyone looking at the pitch and at how the club had worked with it’s supporters to try and get the game on. There was Sky, BBC, Channel M, The Sun, The Rochdale Observer, you name it, they probably mentioned it. 

But if the praise and attention on a national basis wasn’t enough, it’s clear that even European teams are now hearing about what Dale have been up to this week. Even if they did get some of the details wrong… 

‘While Liverpool were defeating FC Internazionale Milano on Tuesday, not far away Rochdale FC had a scheduled fourth division fixture against Notts County FC.’  

‘But the northern English weather was unseasonably cold, and the eagerly-awaited Spotland clash looked like falling foul of the elements. But fans had a brainwave – scattering 40 oil drums around the pitch and burning wood and coal in an attempt to thaw out the pitch.’  

‘Sadly, the efforts were in vain as the match was postponed, but not entirely wasted. “Our fans have proved they are simply the best and we can't thank them enough," Rochdale chairman Chris Dunphy told his club's website. "

We will continue to keep the fires burning because we have a massively important game on Saturday. Though we have lots of wood now we need more braziers so we can cover the full length of the pitch,” finished Dunphy.’

Photo: Action Images

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