Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:54 am
What are the challenges facing away fans in the age of televised football? – video
The away-day experience for thousands of football fans is becoming increasingly difficult due to the number of games that are rescheduled for television. Some kick-off times require fans to take time off work and broadcasters only need to provide six weeks' notice when moving fixtures, leaving some supporters unable to book cheap travel and hotels. We follow three sets of travelling fans to gain an insight into away days in the age of televised football
' Cardiff City Fan on Away Days / The Guardian '
Link
https://www.theguardian.com/football/vi ... -age-video
Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:50 am
It's is very difficult to plan in advance due to fixture changes. As a fan I accept that maybe once or twice a season a fixture date may change but it feels like it's a regular occurrence now. So far this season there are 2 away matches that I haven't been able or cannot go to as a result of a fixture change. The most annoying one is Reading away. I've booked time off to go and arranged for the whole family to go but now due to the change - none of us can go! We all had a free day on the Saturday and had planned to drive down for it. What a waist of time off etc. I can't even watch it on TV now as we all have stuff on on the mo day night. like many people I have to book my annual leave a long time in advance. You can get cheaper public transport tickets and hotel stays by booking in a long time in advance. If I know I'm goi g to an away match and won't get back until the following early hours of the morning - I'll book the following day off too! Imagine you arrange all that then suddenly the fixture is changed! You loose money because of it. Get time off for no reason having to mess ur work about to cancel the annual leave. And the miss the game as well! It's so annoying and messes so many fans about all the time! I have no problem with matches being live on TV and sometimes it's nice to watch them at home but we as fans need more notice really. 6-8 weeks is t good enough. We should really have 3 months notice or not change the fixture at all! Reading would have been a great away fixture for us. Not too far to travel on a Saturday. many people already have the time off on a weekend to go. But now on a Monday night - we've got rush hour on the M4! More People will have to take time off to do the fixture resulting in less away following!
Birmingham away! - a Friday night! Rush hour on the M4 and M5! Time off work needed on the Friday day! How annoying. resulting in less people goi g.