Supporters launch campaign for more Saturday football

THE biggest supporters' organisation in the history of English football has launched a campaign to have more matches kicking off at the traditional time of 3pm on Saturday afternoons.

The newly formed Football Supporters’ Federation, with more than 100,000 members, is unhappy at the number of matches being switched to other days to accommodate the demands of television. And the FSF, which officially comes into being today, is particularly unhappy at some of the kick-off times which are being determined by TV. They’ve called their campaign “Keep Saturday Special” and have requested a meeting with Sky.

Malcolm Clarke, co-chairman of the football body, is adamant that the fans are being victimised.

“Kick-off times are a big issue. There was a ridiculous situation last season when an Arsenal-Liverpool match was given a 1pm kick-off on a Sunday. The first train into London from Liverpool that day wasn’t due to arrive until three minutes to one.

How were Liverpool supporters supposed to get to Highbury in time for the kick-off?” he told redissue.co.uk. “It’s that lack of consideration towards genuine fans who actually want to buy a ticket and attend a match that we want addressing.

"We know there is nothing we can do about the present TV contract, which has already been signed. The football authorities have signed away their rights and the TV companies can just do what they want. But we want to get in now and address this problem before the current TV deals are renegotiated. The football industry should retain some control.”

Many fans attending that FA Cup fourth round tie at Highbury missed the only goal of the game - scored in the 28th minute by Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp. Issues affecting fans will be discussed in October at a conference to be held at the NEC in Birmingham. These will include safe standing areas in stadiums, concerns at the banning of away fans at Millwall and the distribution of money in the game. But a flagship cause for the new fans’ body will be “Keep Saturday Special” campaign.

Clarke added: “There have been so many organisations for supporters in the past that it led to confusion. But through the merging of these two bodies, a stronger base has been established. We have in excess of 100,000 members and we are aiming to increase that. That should give supporters in this country a stronger, more powerful voice - that is our aim.

"The encouraging thing is that it was made clear to us that this is the sort of organisation supporters want. At the Football Supporters’ Association Meeting last weekend, the merger plan was passed unanimously. And when the National Federation got together, there was only one vote against the proposal and one abstention. For the first year, the two national committees will work together to get us up and running.

“There is a lot to be addressed, like how the police respond to hooligan problems when they occur. But the basic thing has to be supporters actually being able to get to games at a time when they can see them.”