Creditors in the Dislocations of Sport,
Professional football in Scotland has faced many challenges this summer. Livingston FC and Clyde FC both struggled to pay bills and manage debt, in both cases, council ownership of their official stadiums is an issue. Clyde managed to avoid being placed in administration by releasing all of their players and replacing them with lower paid part-time players. The debacle at Livingston still continues as a new consortium of businessmen tries to undo the problems as series of previous owners have developed through the years. The fans of Stirling Albion FC tried to take ownership of their club as they didn’t trust the current board of directors. East Fife FC seems to be scaling down its spending after the departure of controversial chairman, William Gray.
The Premier League clubs faced a worrying time after the collapse of Setanta and the lost revenue from the sale of broadcasting rights. Sky/ESPN eventually agreed a deal to screen SPL matches but on less lucrative contract than that held with Setanta. My own feelings at the time was that the SPL should have appealed to the BBC, I think selling broadcasting rights to the BBC at a smaller cost would have been a better deal for the public. The shortfall would then have to be covered by attracting people back into stadia to watch games. This is a numbers problem.
The BBC Scotland would have treated the Scottish matches with the respect and knowledgeable comment that it deserves. BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and Red Button services would all have been available to broadcast games on. I am a great fan of the BBC and they would have presented a television package that is superior to Sky, Setanta or ESPN. The BBC always employ the best people.
Ignoring how Scottish football will be presented on screen, the football clubs are simply looking for the most profitable deal from broadcasters. Setanta did a deplorable job of presenting Scottish football to the world, they repeatedly broadcasted games from the least attractive venues and of the least competitive nature, either Celtic or Rangers featured, a match between the third and fourth placed teams may be completely overlooked in favour of a top versus bottom match on the same weekend.
I think the main aim for clubs should be to sell tickets and fill stadiums. Fans should be the only sustainable income (in broadcasting terms, the BBC is the only sustainable interest). I had no sympathy when it appeared that armchair supporters would have no access to matches when the SPL clubs were struggling to find someone to buy broadcasting rights. I wanted the clubs to make an effort to attract them to stadiums and equally, I wanted the fans to make an effort to attend, with their families.
One aspect of attracting more fans to football matches that I have never seen or heard debated is the relation of amateur, junior and professional football. As an amateur player, I cannot attend professional football games that frequently. Amateur football players must be the people most interested in the sport in the whole country, but given the time of their matches and those of professional teams, they are isolated from each other. In my experience, amateur footballers even seem to have a greater affinity with their local professional teams than the average group of people. In Fife, amateur football matches kick off at 1400 hrs on Saturdays, there are around 50 teams and at a conservative estimate, 20 people involved with each of these teams (playing, coaching, refereeing, supporting). I’m sure East Fife FC would love an extra 1000 paying supporters, or even 250, if the total was to be split amongst the four Fife-based professional clubs. If professional matches were to be moved back to 1600 hours, amateur players would be able to attend. The problem with this is that amateur players generally retire back to pubs after their matches as a gesture to their sponsors. Without satisfying these pub owners, sponsorship would be withdrawn and there would be no amateur football, it’s a Catch-22 situation. Only concerted agreement between local business, government and all of football’s organisational bodies can solve this and many of the problems of the Scottish game.
The Premier League clubs faced a worrying time after the collapse of Setanta and the lost revenue from the sale of broadcasting rights. Sky/ESPN eventually agreed a deal to screen SPL matches but on less lucrative contract than that held with Setanta. My own feelings at the time was that the SPL should have appealed to the BBC, I think selling broadcasting rights to the BBC at a smaller cost would have been a better deal for the public. The shortfall would then have to be covered by attracting people back into stadia to watch games. This is a numbers problem.
The BBC Scotland would have treated the Scottish matches with the respect and knowledgeable comment that it deserves. BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and Red Button services would all have been available to broadcast games on. I am a great fan of the BBC and they would have presented a television package that is superior to Sky, Setanta or ESPN. The BBC always employ the best people.
Ignoring how Scottish football will be presented on screen, the football clubs are simply looking for the most profitable deal from broadcasters. Setanta did a deplorable job of presenting Scottish football to the world, they repeatedly broadcasted games from the least attractive venues and of the least competitive nature, either Celtic or Rangers featured, a match between the third and fourth placed teams may be completely overlooked in favour of a top versus bottom match on the same weekend.
I think the main aim for clubs should be to sell tickets and fill stadiums. Fans should be the only sustainable income (in broadcasting terms, the BBC is the only sustainable interest). I had no sympathy when it appeared that armchair supporters would have no access to matches when the SPL clubs were struggling to find someone to buy broadcasting rights. I wanted the clubs to make an effort to attract them to stadiums and equally, I wanted the fans to make an effort to attend, with their families.
One aspect of attracting more fans to football matches that I have never seen or heard debated is the relation of amateur, junior and professional football. As an amateur player, I cannot attend professional football games that frequently. Amateur football players must be the people most interested in the sport in the whole country, but given the time of their matches and those of professional teams, they are isolated from each other. In my experience, amateur footballers even seem to have a greater affinity with their local professional teams than the average group of people. In Fife, amateur football matches kick off at 1400 hrs on Saturdays, there are around 50 teams and at a conservative estimate, 20 people involved with each of these teams (playing, coaching, refereeing, supporting). I’m sure East Fife FC would love an extra 1000 paying supporters, or even 250, if the total was to be split amongst the four Fife-based professional clubs. If professional matches were to be moved back to 1600 hours, amateur players would be able to attend. The problem with this is that amateur players generally retire back to pubs after their matches as a gesture to their sponsors. Without satisfying these pub owners, sponsorship would be withdrawn and there would be no amateur football, it’s a Catch-22 situation. Only concerted agreement between local business, government and all of football’s organisational bodies can solve this and many of the problems of the Scottish game.
posted by Leif at 7:37 PM
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