FOOTBALL supporters and motoring organisations have called for changes in the scheduling of fixtures to prevent supporters from having to drive home from matches well into the early hours of the morning. Night matches for which supporters have to travel great distances cause inconvenience and, potentially more seriously, fatigue for drivers, an issue highlighted by the many long journeys negotiated by supporters on Wednesday night, when their plight was worsened by bad weather.
A lack of public transport late at night forces fans on to the roads and, according to the AA’s website, Charlton Athletic followers driving the 300 miles back to southeast London from St James’ Park in Newcastle can normally expect to take about 6½ hours — let alone when they are confronted with terrible conditions, as they were on Wednesday night, when their match against Newcastle United was postponed 25 minutes before the scheduled kick-off. Had the match gone ahead as planned in fine weather, therefore, Charlton fans might have arrived home at about 4.30am.
Four other matches scheduled for Wednesday involved clubs who are based at least 240 miles apart — Plymouth Argyle v Preston North End, Stockport County v Torquay United, Bournemouth v Barnsley and Swansea City v Gillingham — and Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, wants the fixture computer to solve the problem.
“We would like the fixture computer programmed in a way that, for night games, supporters don’t have to travel these long distances,” he said. “Often the travelling supporter, the game’s best customer, is the most abused. I feel really sorry for those fans who had to travel back through the night having not seen a game on Wednesday.”
Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the AA Motoring Trust, said that scheduling such matches at certain times of the season to try to ensure that fans did not have to travel great distances during bad weather would be problematic as icy conditions can occur any time between November and March, but he said that steps could be taken to improve safety by halting long journeys for midweek games. “You have to think about the issue of fatigue, which is present when you are coming back from a night match,” he said.
The Premier League reiterated its point about the difficulty of drawing up a calendar that satisfies all parties, especially in a season that has been shortened by the need for a four-week break before the World Cup next summer.
“When you are talking about (giving England) four weeks at the end of the season and we have a full fixture calendar to fit in, it becomes increasingly difficult,” Dan Johnson, a spokesman, said.
He said that the Premier League had tried to make sure that clubs travelled the shortest distances over the Christmas period. “We work very hard with clubs, supporters’ groups and the police to ensure that the holiday fixtures are as close as possible, but there are not enough derby fixtures to go around,” he said.
As culprits were sought for events at St James’ Park, Charlton blamed local authorities for failing to grit the surrounding roads well enough, but Newcastle City Council defended itself, pointing to heavy snowfall and quickly-falling temperatures after 4.30pm that coincided with rush-hour traffic. “Because of the amount of snow and the slow pace of the traffic the salt was not worked into the road,” a statement read. “To compound the situation, due to the severe traffic congestion it proved difficult to get the gritting vehicles to some of the roads in most need.”
While Blackburn Rovers apologised profusely to fans after their undersoil heating system failed to prevent the postponement of their match against Sunderland, the message from Bolton Wanderers, whose home game with Middlesbrough was called off after their heating system broke, was of foreboding at a possible fixture pile-up.
Sam Allardyce, the manager, predicted “complete and utter chaos” if their match at home to Liverpool on Monday is not played. “The Middlesbrough situation was a tremendous blow, but something we really should have avoided,” Allardyce, whose team’s match away to Birmingham City in November was called off because of fog, said. “If the heating is not working, we have got to do something about it to get the Liverpool game on because we simply cannot afford to get any more games called off.”
If the Birmingham and Middlesbrough games are rearranged for next month or early February, Bolton could play eight or more matches when four of their players are at the African Cup of Nations.
A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE OFFICIALS WHO DEVISED THIS FIXTURE LIST
FOOTBALL supporters are set to take to the roads again with the second half of the holiday programme. Here are the Barclays Premiership matches this week and the round-trip mileages involved for travelling fans.
TOMORROW
Aston Villa v Arsenal 230 miles
Charlton Athletic v West Ham United 13 miles
Chelsea v Birmingham City 238 miles
Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United 550 miles
Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion 187 miles
Middlesbrough v Manchester City 236 miles
Manchester United v Bolton Wanderers 40 miles
Portsmouth v Fulham 152 miles
Sunderland v Everton 340 miles
Wigan Athletic v Blackburn Rovers 52 miles
MONDAY
West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa 8 miles
West Ham United v Chelsea 26 miles
Birmingham City v Wigan Athletic 182 miles
Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool 80 miles
Everton v Charlton Athletic 470 miles
Fulham v Sunderland 594 miles
Newcastle United v Middlesbrough 88 miles
Blackburn Rovers v Portsmouth 537 miles
TUESDAY
Arsenal v Manchester United 386 miles
WEDNESDAY
Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur 416 miles
Among the longest journeys for fans of clubs in the Football League will be:
MONDAY
Darlington v Torquay United 718 miles
Plymouth Argyle v Leeds United 642 miles
Norwich City v Preston North End 529 miles
GARY JACOB
- What is the solution to the fixture chaos? Email your views here.
