Portsmouth chief explains reasoning behind abandonment of Charlton fixture after medical emergency
Pompey’s match at Charlton was abandoned this afternoon after 12 minutes
Andy Cullen has explained the reasoning behind the abandonment of this afternoon’s televised fixture with Charlton.
And Pompey’s chief executive has sent his best wishes to the Addicks supporter who was taken ill, prompting the Championship game to be called off.
It later emerged, following Cullen’s interview, the supporter had tragically passed away, with Charlton revealing the sad news.
The match was stopped in the 12th minute with the scoreline goalless after fans had alerted stewards to a medical emergency in the Covered End stand.
Eventually both teams returned to the dressing room, before the match was called off about 45 minutes later - and, afterwards, Cullen addressed the situation.
He said: ‘These are not great situations for people who come to watch their team play football, our thoughts are with the individual, family and friends.
‘We know only too well from the incident that happened at Fratton Park in January as to what that means, that’s the starting point for this and our thoughts are very much with those affected.
‘I am not fully up to speed with exactly what happened, I wasn't there, I was in the stands like everybody else. But we could clearly see what was happening - and it didn’t look good.
‘What we do know from the process is these situations are dynamic and you end up in a situation where there will be consultations with first and foremost, the safety officer, who will have full knowledge of what’s happening around him, and his team will also be in dialogue with the medics and stewards.
‘That information will then be relayed down to the match officials and then, ultimately, there will be a discussion. In this case the head coaches were kept informed of both teams as to what was happening and what was going on while the incident was fully assessed.
‘Then there will be dialogue with EFL to keep them informed - because they are involved in the process - and determine whether a game should be abandoned or not.
‘Given the set of circumstances I am told, and again I am not in full possession of the facts, so it would be wrong for me to comment any further.
‘But, based on that intelligence and based on that information, a decision was made to call the game off.’
The 63-year-old from Gosport was taken ill around kick-off, yet the match continued, with John Mousinho’s men subsequently collecting a 2-1 victory.
On this occasion, however, the Valley game was abandoned after 12 minutes.
Cullen added: ‘Every game, every incident is a dynamic one and you have to judge everything in that situation. There were some differences to our incident at Fratton Park, in respect of we hadn't actually kicked off that match at that time when Alec sadly passed away.
‘The decision in that instance was made to kick off the game, while Alec continued to receive treatment outside the ground. So I don’t think you can start comparing them in terms of each situation.
‘You have to look at the dynamics of the stadium, the position of ambulances, everything will be taken into consideration by those responsible for safety inside the ground.
‘Ultimately, the judgement is can the game continue safely? In this instance, I presume the decision was made that the game was best to be called off and our condolences are extended to Charlton as a football club in terms of what has happened today.’