Midday kick-offs

[basskadet]

I hate the fact that television has such an influence over modern football it can even cause fixtures to abandon the traditional 3 o'clock kick-off in favour of ridiculous lunchtime ones.

There is absolutely no thought put into this other than it benefits television & makes them money by being able to show live fixtures at more reasonable times in other countries.

No consideration to the players or the fans at all. If the kick-off is 12-30, then you need to be getting into the stadium at around 12. Fine if you are a local but, like this weekend, if you are the away side & you have to travel halfway across the country to get there, it is ridiculous & it is unfair. lackburn is a good 4-5 hour drive from North London, perhaps longer depending on traffic. That means you ought to be leaving at around 08-30 in the morning to make sure you get there in time! Not ideal for a saturday when you've been working all week & want to go for a day out at the football! you have no time to get to the city & enjoy yourself, no real time for a drink first, you just end up with a bunch of grumpy away fans. I know in our case we'll make just as much noise as usual, but that's because we're Spurs & not everyone is as dedicated & passionate as we are.

also, the players don't get a fair ride. I'm not sure whether they get to travel up the day before but they usually still travel by coach themselves, so if they do travel up on the day of the game they too would have to leave very early. Either way, lunchtime is quite early to be playing a competitive football match & you have to wonder whether you are going to get they best out of footballers at this time as it all feels rushed & uncomfortable & who knows whether they get to eat anything beforehand, I seriously doubt it.

I get that this is now league watched globally but still, it needs to be remembered that this is still an English league & leaving behind its traditions will lose all the things that made it great to begin with. However, why does it have to be Live? If you watch games abroad I think you ought to expect to watch pre-recorded games the following day. If you absolutely have to see them live I think people shoukd coe to England . . . better yet, go to the game itself! It makes a hell of a lot more sense than inconveniencing all the faithful fans who make the effort to follow their team week in/week out, up & down the country.

[mangobus24]

And it causes me to have to get out of bed much earlier than I would like on a Saturday morning!

So is the problem of a Spurs supporter in the US...but I'd rather be watching Spurs than sleeping any day!

Nice points though, Bass, and where as the history of the league and what made it as special as it is today is concerned, I agree wholeheartedly.

[ditch and burn]

Some very good points, Bass. I'm kind of split on this issue because I do enjoy watching the televised away games, but obviously you need to put the interests of the supporters who pay their money to watch the game first.

Could their not be some kind of concession, say allowing one 3pm game to be screened live on a Saturday and one on a Sunday and if needs be, an evening kickoff during the week. Surely this would be enough for Satellite viewers/ broadcasters?

Interesting stat: 9 of our first 15 games were screened live by either Sky or Setanta!

[Scaleracing]

Living in Tacoma WA USA I will be up at 4.45 AM to watch the feed here if I can get 10 posts by then.

I always get up for Tottenham and Formula One

Come on you Spurs.

Cheers

Alan

[ditch and burn]

That's some real dedication there, pal. I have absolutely no idea what 4.45 AM looks like.