By Menace
The League in England & Wales was always a Saturday 3.00 pm match. There was the occasional deviation to a weekday for cup matches but most schedules allowed for the young to accompany their parents to a game without disruption to their education.
The TV impact on Football has been the worst for young supporters. Their season tickets have been totally abused as many of the scheduled matches impact the school work and the school day. A youngster should not be expected to forego homework and attend a weekday match that finishes around 10.00 pm and then have to travel home and be up the next morning to be in school for 8.00 or 9.00 am.
The cost of season tickets does not consider TV rescheduling of matches that youth have to miss or impact their education. The Saturday 3.00 pm match was socially acceptable and allowed families to schedule their weekends.
There has not been a voice for the youth in this money fest from greedy TV companies and greedier football executives across all clubs and associations. It is time for government intervention to ensure football is retained as a sport of the common man and not of the greedy TV companies.
There is nothing stopping TV companies from broadcasting live Saturday 3.00 pm matches outside of England & Wales. It will not give them the volume of live individual games they can bleed for revenue but they can always agree a schedule to the broadcast of recorded games.
What is the point of having dedicated sections for Junior Gunners at late night games when the Juniors should be in bed? Their parents should not be split from each other because of TV greed. This whole debacle is another thorn in the sanctity of the family home.
Too many have enjoyed the wall to wall coverage of Football but no one has stood up for the rights of the youth to an education while enjoying their national game live.
- Ripping the heart out of the Arsenal midfield
- Seven new players coming in, one more leaving as Arsenal’s transfers hot up.
- What will happen to the three Premier League clubs with their new grounds.
From the anniversary files
- 23 May 1891: The first press report emerged of the AGM of Royal Arsenal wherein professionalism was proposed. This was to make Arsenal the first fully professional team in the south (although Luton paid a few of their team earlier in the year).
- 23 May, 2006. Tomas Rosicky transferred from Borussia Dortmund for £6.8m. See also here. Despite numerous injuries he went on to play over 160 times for Arsenal and become captain of his country.
The full anniversary list of the day appears on the home page, while the complete index of nearly 5000 anniversaries appears in Arsenal on this day
@Menace,
While a lot of the criticism you level against the TV companies cannot be disputed, you should not forget the millions of overseas fans whose only chance of watching their heroes is by satellite TV.
Even those closer to home would be unable to watch live matches on TV with kick-offs at 3pm on a Saturday.
Still…ignoring the youth demographic in Islington and area seems poor planning for the future.
The traditional 3 pm Saturday spot was almost ritualistic and I am saddened by its decline. As to the comment about foreign satellite tv, they re-run all the games all week in my experience, so I am not sure they would lose too much revenue. Obviously there will be variations from country to country.
It is very interesting to note that we take the junior Gunners section for granted, yet they, as anyone else have opinions about how to improve the club. Very important that they should be considered by both league and tv scheduling I would think, after all what if they got used to regularly missing games?
I would love to watch the games at a fixed time . Here in Malaysia it would be around 11 PM on a Saturday night . It would also be after all family , temple , church etc functions , as well as dinner or wedding engagements be done with ,and it would be right just before bed .
There are times that I am totally lost as to when our games are being played. This is so as I don’t read the newspapers nor watch the sports programs on local tv , nor ever follow the scheduling times .
I can understand how the sudden changes in time or day would impact on the younglings’ leisure and schooling schedules.
The late night games would be around 3-4 AM , and most of the time I would give it a miss . I do get bleary eyed patients the next morning complaining of being fatigued , especially if their teams lost !
Here is a nice speech that should inspire –
What Is Life About – Inspirational Speech
http://www.fearlessmotivation.com/2016/05/12/what-is-life-about/
Hi BG
Yes, I do remember the ridiculous timing at our end. WC 1982 springs to mind as it was the first time I watched matches from midnight through to the early hours of the morning.
Good times!!!!
How’s the scent of banana leaf rice back home? Been ages since I came back as flight fares are too expensive.
@ Gunner6 – May 24, 2016 at 7:44 am – The food is probably the only thing that’s good at present ! Still enjoyable and with variety . That and probably the quality time with family and friends .
I really don’t get up or stay up to watch WC and EURO games . May watch the highlights . Only watch the Arsenal game over the weekend . Flip the channels mostly . Suffered through the FA final . Probably that’s why they sacked LVG.
Probably won’t be an improvement with Moanin’inho too !
Hi BG
Hopefully, things will turn for the better in Malaysia.
As for football, in the last few years, I only watched international matches when an Arsenal player is on the pitch. Otherwise, I just couldn’t be bothered. Have not followed any international tournaments since USA94.
I lost my appetite for England since the media started worshipping Becks as if he is the only saviour of the team and the rest are irrelevant.
I take nicky’s point that TV companies do help extend coverage to those who would otherwise be unable to view the matches.
Having acknowledged that point, I do agree with the article that there is an oversaturation of football on TV and that too much screen watching is not good for the developing generations.
Screen watching of computer games of all sorts as well as watching football is detrimental to physical development and fitness – with potential health problems being stored up for later life.
Football broadcast to overseas countries will never really be an issue. The issue here in England is live matches for youth to attend. TV, FA, Premier League & Foootball clubs have all lost their social focus & have become greedy. Young supporters must be given priority with scheduling of matches. Matches moved to evenings outside the weekend, disturb the study process that youngsters need for their ‘O’ & ‘A’ levels. Football has become a passion with most youngsters. The rescheduling of matches rips their study calendars so that the TV executives satisfy their motives.
Arsenal would be celebrated pioneers if they took up the baton on behalf of the youth who are still attending school. Force TV to broadcast Saturday afternoon games to overseas markets & schedule recorded whole game broadcasts to terrestrial or UK TV on weekdays. There is nothing wrong with ensuring a consistent market of live 3.00 pm Saturday matches for school going youth in England.