blues six glens nil
09-09-08, 04:20 PM
Last Sunday was a pretty normal day for me, pretty mundane and uneventful.
Woke up a bit later than usual, had breakfast, went out for a run, read the paper, watched The Simpsons, went on the internet, then had a bath. Sunday 7th September 2008 was a pretty average day for me.
In amongst that, I went onto BBC Ceefax to check out the score between Glentoran and Bangor. Because of that, I am supposed to feel like I have just done something historical. I hadn't.
Sunday Football, seen as either the saviour of the Irish League, or the beginning of Ulster's descent into a godless society. In truth, it's neither, a handy option for clubs who are struggling to find suitable dates for their fixtures.
People seem to forget that Sunday's game at The Oval was not originally scheduled for Sunday. It was arranged for Saturday but a deluge on Friday night meant that The Oval was unplayable and a bolt of quick thinking from two clubs with a close proximity to each other, eager to avoid adding to an already crowded fixture list, saw the game moved to a Sunday.
A pretty run of the mill fixture, which wasn't the main game in that weekend's fixture list, Crusaders v Coleraine and Glenavon v Linfield (If it went ahead) being more attractive fixtures in my opinion, suddenly being thrust into the spotlight
It says something about Northern Ireland that if an event has a religious protest outside it, then there will be a media pack there to report it, often giving more column inches to the protest, than the actual event.
It may sound silly after my previous complaints about the lack of Irish League coverage in the local media, but I felt that the coverage of Glentoran v Bangor was over the top, with many reporters actually forgetting that there was a match.
Why does it take the novelty of a match on a Sunday to get more coverage?
And, given the amount of coverage given, why don't all Irish League games be moved to a Sunday?
If you were asking for my own personal opinon, my preference is to play on Saturday afternoons at 3pm. I am not anti-Sunday football, more pro-Saturday football. It is not based on any religious reason, merely football reasons, as I feel Saturday football is the best date for attracting larger attendances.
Likewise, when Friday night football is mooted, Saturday still remains the first choice option for me, as, in my opinion, attendance figures for a Friday do not match those on a Saturday, where people have had a night's rest and can spend an afternoon at an event, as opposed to rushing in after a long working week, then heading out.
It would be strange to go to a match in Northern Ireland on a Sunday, despite attending Man United matches on a Sunday at both Old Trafford and Wembley. Perhaps the reason for this is that Sunday football is a normal occurrence on the mainland and people think nothing of it, whereas in Northern Ireland, it's a concept only at the beginner stage.
Even in England, the current level of Sunday football we have is a relatively new concept. Previously, only one match would have been chosen for live broadcast on a Sunday by ITV, then Sky, when they bought the rights.
The rescheduling of European Cup-Winners Cup, then UEFA Cup matches, to Thursday nights has led to the competing clubs to re-arrange their Saturday games to Sunday in order to avoid tiredness, married with increased amounts of games needing to be shown live, and not enough time to schedule them has led to the amount of Sunday football.
What people seem to forget is that Christians not only watch football at senior level (ie - a top-flight national league), but play it as well, and others work in spin-off industries based around football (such as policing the game, serving burgers at the ground, etc).
But Christianity is not a standardised or uniformed way of life. People choose to worship in a way they feel comfortable with. It is possible to watch Sunday football and not feel as though your faith is being compromised.
Watching a football match on a Sunday does not make you any less of a Christian, nor does missing a game as it clashes with a church service make you any less of a supporter.
In fact, one of the more high profile Christians in English Football, Gavin Peacock, regularly spent his Sundays analysing that day's games as part of his role as a pundit on Match of the Day. He is now training to be a priest in Canada, and his work on Match of the Day has not been counted against him.
Many other sports take place on a Sunday. This issue is not exclusive to football.
Glentoran and Bangor were lucky that this weekend was an international weekend, with no top flight football in England and/or Scotland being on TV, there was a window of opportunity that they felt they could draw a bigger crowd.
In any 2 of England's 'Big Four' - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, for the benefit of giddy Manchester City fans, were playing each other in a Sky Sports Super Dooper Mega Ooober Family Sized Bucket Sunday, or whatever it's called, would Glentoran and Bangor have arranged to play each other in the face of such competition?
It is interesting to note, that since clubs have been free to play Sunday football in Northern Ireland, the floodgates have not opened, and that the only senior game played on a Sunday was arranged out of nescessity, not desire.
Perhaps clubs see Sunday football as an option to fall back on, should it be needed, as opposed to a profitable scheduling arrangement?
What people in support of Sunday football argue is that there is less on a Sunday in terms of social activities that creates an environment where Irish League attendances could flourish, having no competition.
On a Saturday, Irish League clubs are up against City Centre shopping and pubs showing Premiership Football on a Saturday.
But playing on a Sunday would see Irish League clubs compete against, erm, City Centre shopping and pubs showing Premiership Football.
Whilst Saturday 3pm football is broadcast through foreign satellites, often with foreign commentary and the pictures at the mercy of technical difficulties, Sunday football in pubs is broadcast through a British based broadcaster, with perfect pictures and English commentary, making it worse for the Irish League in terms of attracting fans.
The only thing harder than identifying a problem, is identifying a solution. The problem (getting more people through Irish League turnstiles) has been identified, but Sunday football is not the answer for senior football.
Better marketing is one of the solutions. A start has been made with the billboard campaign, but a profile needs to be built up, the best way which is through a weekly TV highlights programme, which so far, the broadcasters and authorities have failed to deliver.
Moving junior football to a Sunday, would also a start, allowing junior players who follow local clubs be able to participate and spectate, instead of having to choose.
Hopefully, we aren't asking for a miracle.
Woke up a bit later than usual, had breakfast, went out for a run, read the paper, watched The Simpsons, went on the internet, then had a bath. Sunday 7th September 2008 was a pretty average day for me.
In amongst that, I went onto BBC Ceefax to check out the score between Glentoran and Bangor. Because of that, I am supposed to feel like I have just done something historical. I hadn't.
Sunday Football, seen as either the saviour of the Irish League, or the beginning of Ulster's descent into a godless society. In truth, it's neither, a handy option for clubs who are struggling to find suitable dates for their fixtures.
People seem to forget that Sunday's game at The Oval was not originally scheduled for Sunday. It was arranged for Saturday but a deluge on Friday night meant that The Oval was unplayable and a bolt of quick thinking from two clubs with a close proximity to each other, eager to avoid adding to an already crowded fixture list, saw the game moved to a Sunday.
A pretty run of the mill fixture, which wasn't the main game in that weekend's fixture list, Crusaders v Coleraine and Glenavon v Linfield (If it went ahead) being more attractive fixtures in my opinion, suddenly being thrust into the spotlight
It says something about Northern Ireland that if an event has a religious protest outside it, then there will be a media pack there to report it, often giving more column inches to the protest, than the actual event.
It may sound silly after my previous complaints about the lack of Irish League coverage in the local media, but I felt that the coverage of Glentoran v Bangor was over the top, with many reporters actually forgetting that there was a match.
Why does it take the novelty of a match on a Sunday to get more coverage?
And, given the amount of coverage given, why don't all Irish League games be moved to a Sunday?
If you were asking for my own personal opinon, my preference is to play on Saturday afternoons at 3pm. I am not anti-Sunday football, more pro-Saturday football. It is not based on any religious reason, merely football reasons, as I feel Saturday football is the best date for attracting larger attendances.
Likewise, when Friday night football is mooted, Saturday still remains the first choice option for me, as, in my opinion, attendance figures for a Friday do not match those on a Saturday, where people have had a night's rest and can spend an afternoon at an event, as opposed to rushing in after a long working week, then heading out.
It would be strange to go to a match in Northern Ireland on a Sunday, despite attending Man United matches on a Sunday at both Old Trafford and Wembley. Perhaps the reason for this is that Sunday football is a normal occurrence on the mainland and people think nothing of it, whereas in Northern Ireland, it's a concept only at the beginner stage.
Even in England, the current level of Sunday football we have is a relatively new concept. Previously, only one match would have been chosen for live broadcast on a Sunday by ITV, then Sky, when they bought the rights.
The rescheduling of European Cup-Winners Cup, then UEFA Cup matches, to Thursday nights has led to the competing clubs to re-arrange their Saturday games to Sunday in order to avoid tiredness, married with increased amounts of games needing to be shown live, and not enough time to schedule them has led to the amount of Sunday football.
What people seem to forget is that Christians not only watch football at senior level (ie - a top-flight national league), but play it as well, and others work in spin-off industries based around football (such as policing the game, serving burgers at the ground, etc).
But Christianity is not a standardised or uniformed way of life. People choose to worship in a way they feel comfortable with. It is possible to watch Sunday football and not feel as though your faith is being compromised.
Watching a football match on a Sunday does not make you any less of a Christian, nor does missing a game as it clashes with a church service make you any less of a supporter.
In fact, one of the more high profile Christians in English Football, Gavin Peacock, regularly spent his Sundays analysing that day's games as part of his role as a pundit on Match of the Day. He is now training to be a priest in Canada, and his work on Match of the Day has not been counted against him.
Many other sports take place on a Sunday. This issue is not exclusive to football.
Glentoran and Bangor were lucky that this weekend was an international weekend, with no top flight football in England and/or Scotland being on TV, there was a window of opportunity that they felt they could draw a bigger crowd.
In any 2 of England's 'Big Four' - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, for the benefit of giddy Manchester City fans, were playing each other in a Sky Sports Super Dooper Mega Ooober Family Sized Bucket Sunday, or whatever it's called, would Glentoran and Bangor have arranged to play each other in the face of such competition?
It is interesting to note, that since clubs have been free to play Sunday football in Northern Ireland, the floodgates have not opened, and that the only senior game played on a Sunday was arranged out of nescessity, not desire.
Perhaps clubs see Sunday football as an option to fall back on, should it be needed, as opposed to a profitable scheduling arrangement?
What people in support of Sunday football argue is that there is less on a Sunday in terms of social activities that creates an environment where Irish League attendances could flourish, having no competition.
On a Saturday, Irish League clubs are up against City Centre shopping and pubs showing Premiership Football on a Saturday.
But playing on a Sunday would see Irish League clubs compete against, erm, City Centre shopping and pubs showing Premiership Football.
Whilst Saturday 3pm football is broadcast through foreign satellites, often with foreign commentary and the pictures at the mercy of technical difficulties, Sunday football in pubs is broadcast through a British based broadcaster, with perfect pictures and English commentary, making it worse for the Irish League in terms of attracting fans.
The only thing harder than identifying a problem, is identifying a solution. The problem (getting more people through Irish League turnstiles) has been identified, but Sunday football is not the answer for senior football.
Better marketing is one of the solutions. A start has been made with the billboard campaign, but a profile needs to be built up, the best way which is through a weekly TV highlights programme, which so far, the broadcasters and authorities have failed to deliver.
Moving junior football to a Sunday, would also a start, allowing junior players who follow local clubs be able to participate and spectate, instead of having to choose.
Hopefully, we aren't asking for a miracle.