Lightning/Thunder Delay

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by scarolinablue

On the topic, I have a game management question. Sitch: Working an American Legion game last week. "Threatening" skies to begin with, and with the visitors coming out for the bottom of the first, a nasty bolt threaded across the right field sky - about 12 seconds to the thunderclap, so only about 2-3 miles away. I cleared the field. We spend the next 75 minutes waiting out a lightning delay - looking at radar, we were right on the edge of a huge, slow-moving storm, but didn't get more than a couple of drops of rain. However, the lightning was always within a couple of miles.

Eventually, the storm wrapped around us and the bottom fell out, and we finally called the game. The problem I had was this - I had cleared the field due to the lightning. After about 30 minutes, and no rain, but the lightning threat was still there, the players (and some coaches) started trickling back onto the field - throwing, playing pepper, and generally horsing around. There was no way I would have allowed this to happen if I were the coach, and expressed this to the GM, and was waved off. This did not sit well with me, but I let it go, and prayed like crazy nobody got hit by lightning. In hindsight, I will not allow teams to go back on the field if at all possible, but I felt somewhat powerless once I had suspended the game, and was met with indifference by game management. What would you do in this situation?

Screw Game Management. Once the game starts, YOU are in charge of the field, and YOU are in charge of whether the game starts again. It's your field - you cleared it for a reason, it should stay clear for a reason.