How many times have you tried to arrange a trip to watch a football game, but can’t do so until maybe a week - maybe two if you’re lucky - beforehand, only to find that the prices for train fares, flights, hotels & the like are astronomical? Or even worse, the fixture gets moved so it can be aired on TV, thereby meaning you have to change any plans you have already made at yet further personal expense? Lets face it, it’s a pain in the arse, yet there is a simple solution to this problem…..
First of all, lets look at those who ‘run’ the game of football in the UK - more specifically England. To start with, you may think that the running of the game falls to a select few organisations - namely the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League - but you would be wrong.
Also in the mix are other organisations, such as the Chairmen of both the Premier League and the Football League -who’s regular meetings are always held ’behind closed doors‘, like some secret society. (To see how the Premier League is run, see their own description here). Then there are the League Manager’s Association, the Professional Footballer’s Association and the Referee‘s Association. Then you have to include the TV companies: Sky, ESPN and less so (namely for the FA and Carling Cups), ITV and the BBC.
In short, there are an awful lot of people who make decisions on the game that directly involve those who the game is really for - no, not the corporate sponsors! - I’m talking about the fans. You & me. The people who buy the match tickets, the shirts (& other cheap tat from club shops) and who subscribe to the satellite channels, & yet those who run football seem intent on making life as difficult - and more importantly expensive - as possible for us fans to follow our teams.
Allow me to explain. The first fixtures scheduled for airing live on TV at the start of the season are generally announced 2 months or so in advance. This gives supporters fixed dates by which to make travel arrangements in plenty of time in order to see their teams away from home (or even AT home for those who now live away). However there are always spare slots left open for fixtures to be moved at short notice (Newcastle United v Sunderland at St James‘ Park earlier this season being one of those) and, especially at this ‘business end’ and ‘squeaky bum’ time of the season, the TV companies are only required to give the FA, Premier and Football Leagues, and indeed the clubs themselves, a mere 30 days notice that they wish to move games for live broadcast - throwing the travel plans for thousands of supporters into nothing short of chaos.
To cite an example of this, is Sky TV’s decision in 2008 to move Newcastle United's longest away game of the season at Portsmouth (682 miles round-trip) from Saturday 13th December to Sunday 14th December with a 1:30pm kick-off time. This was done with only the minimum allowable notice of just 30 days. So, to hell with all those Newcastle fans who had already booked planes, trains and automobiles, let alone hotels, all done at great expense and using time-consuming effort from fans to not just make their own bookings, but also to get numbers, prices, money & promises for group trips…..
To be honest, the contempt shown for supporters is normally aimed at over-paid, namby-pamby, heartless, gutless players, and wayward owners. Yet in actual fact, it should also be levied at not just the TV companies who see fit to do as they damn well please with blatant disregard for the fans, but also the clubs, the Premier League & the FA for allowing it to happen. I know things get interesting around this time of year and the completion for league titles, Europe and relegation begin to hot up, but surely, surely, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to choose what games they wish to show live well in advance.
So much so, that if the FA and Premier League had any sort of backbone whatsoever, the TV contracts would contain a simple clause stating “should you (the TV companies) wish to move the date & time for any fixture, this must be done with a minimum of 60 days (or even better, 90 days for that matter) notice”. Should that clause ever be inserted into the TV contracts, the clubs themselves should also be forced to sign a charter stating that “all clubs must make details of tickets for forthcoming fixtures available to supporters no less than 60 (or 90 depending on the above) days in advance, and inform fans as to their obtaining of tickets for said fixtures no less than 45 (or 60) days in advance of the fixture date”.
These simple measures would ensure that we supporters would be able to make travel plans far enough in advance to take advantage of discounted fares and special deals, thus helping to keep our already high expenses to a minimum. Lets face it, the cost of going to home games, let alone away games, is high enough as it is - what with season ticket prices, busses, food & drink, etc. - so the very least they could do is to help us out a little bit.
The newly announced FA Chairman, David Bernstein, stated in his very first press-release that he would listen to the thoughts and ideas of those people who make the game what it is - the fans - and would put practices in place so that we are treated fairly at all times. Now is the time for him to put his words into action and see if he really means what he says, or if - like all the FA Chairmen before him - he’s only interested in pandering to the money men hell bent on lining their own pockets, without giving 2 seconds thought to the supporters.
Football fans don’t ask for much these days, but being treated respectfully, fairly and with our finances in mind, it would go a long way to making our life just a little bit easier. It speaks volumes for the current state of our game when a gesture so simple & small would make such a big difference.
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