A fire brigade truck was called to the Beaufort oval to hose down the centre square at three-quarter time of the reserves game. Umpires had requested the measure, believing that part of the ground was too hard.

Power told The Courier the water had made the surface slippery, a message that was relayed to him from the Crows’ onballers during the senior match.

“Players were then slipping all day in the middle. Once they were committed to one direction, they couldn’t change direction because it was fairly firm and then adding water to it made it like a skating rink on top,” Power said.

Power said the ground should have been left and attended to before the next home game.

Both clubs had ticked off on the playing arena before the start of the day.

Beaufort president Michael O’Connor believed football could have continued without watering, but said more water would be on the ground in the lead-up to future home matches.