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Football fans "shunted out by train bosses"

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londonbridge

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From todays Daily Mail, Martin Samuel column:

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20200114/283394833773889

In an FA Cup tradition almost as well established as the ribbons on the trophy's handles, there has been an outcry over the shifting of a fixture to a problematic kick-off time.

Chelsea's match at Hull on Saturday, January 25th, will now take place at 5.30pm, making it impossible to return to London by public transport. King's Cross is shut for engineering work, meaning the only option would be trains and buses via Sheffield and Luton, leaving supporters stranded in the outskirts of the capital at 4am.

"Why on earth have BT Sport and the Football Association allowed this to happen"? asked Dave Chidgey of the Chelsea Supporters Trust.

Yet it isn't the responsibility of TV companies and sports administrators to provide an efficient system of public transport. It is outrageous that so often our train companies cannot move people around the country after early evening.

There are too many executives in transportwho think nothing of shutting the network without any thought for the rest of the population.

Moving matches for TV is rarely convenient, but travelling should not become mission impossible. The lack of concern for passengers is troubling here, not just the effect on one group of football fans.

I'll admit I've complained about engineering work affecting my journey home from a match before, but I've learnt my lesson. You can't blame the train companies or Network Rail here.
 
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londonbridge

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Never mind that the works have been planned months (or years) ahead.

Precisely, especially when the match has been arranged at three weeks notice. The fans would still have a longer and/or diverted journey home even if it had been left at 3.00pm.
 

alistairlees

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The FA and BT Sport couldn’t give a stuff for fans. Martin Samuel couldn’t give a stuff for accurate and impartial journalism. I think I’ve summed it up.
 

6Gman

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The FA and BT Sport couldn’t give a stuff for fans. Martin Samuel couldn’t give a stuff for accurate and impartial journalism. I think I’ve summed it up.

This.

Spot on.

Why blame "train bosses" ?
 

Ferret

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If Football fans treated the railway with respect, perhaps the railway might be more willing to accommodate the needs of football ‘fans’?
 

LMS 4F

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The match is on at that time because he who pays the piper calls the tune. The TV company want their monies worth and they want games at different times and days. This not only helps with viewing figures in this country but in all the other countries they have sold the rights too. One would have hoped a football journalist might have known this, some hope.
 

bramling

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If Football fans treated the railway with respect, perhaps the railway might be more willing to accommodate the needs of football ‘fans’?

About right. Why would bosses go out of their way to accommodate a flow which turns up all at the same moment and expects capacity to magically be provided, vandalises assets, causes delays, and upsets staff as well as their regular customer base?

Presumably these fans are too tight to pay out for a hotel?
 

Skie

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If they're that put out by it they shouldnt bother going. The FA will only see sense when teams start losing revenue from this, and a few instances of entirely empty away ends will do just that. Plus will be fairly bad PR for whatever team it happens to, and they'll start putting pressure on them.
 

Max

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About right. Why would bosses go out of their way to accommodate a flow which turns up all at the same moment and expects capacity to magically be provided, vandalises assets, causes delays, and upsets staff as well as their regular customer base?

Presumably these fans are too tight to pay out for a hotel?

Suspect this could be tricky in Hull at this notice - there's a big shortage of hotels in the city.
 

Mag_seven

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I wonder if Martin Samuel is also worried about how Middlesbrough fans are supposed to get home from the Spurs match tonight.
 

pgfb1306

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Suspect this could be tricky in Hull at this notice - there's a big shortage of hotels in the city.

Just had a look and there's plenty of availability at reasonable rates, unlike Manchester when the footie is on!
 

158756

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The match is on at that time because he who pays the piper calls the tune. The TV company want their monies worth and they want games at different times and days. This not only helps with viewing figures in this country but in all the other countries they have sold the rights too. One would have hoped a football journalist might have known this, some hope.

They still aren't actually allowed to broadcast matches at 3pm on a Saturday, which you'd expect a football journalist to know as well. That rule is rather inconvenient for anyone travelling by train.
 

3141

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The match is on at that time because he who pays the piper calls the tune. The TV company want their monies worth and they want games at different times and days. This not only helps with viewing figures in this country but in all the other countries they have sold the rights too. One would have hoped a football journalist might have known this, some hope.

For some journalists, a successful article is one that finds a way to turn something into a gripe and to incite resentment, even if they know the facts are simple and straightforward.
 

Class 170101

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About right. Why would bosses go out of their way to accommodate a flow which turns up all at the same moment and expects capacity to magically be provided, vandalises assets, causes delays, and upsets staff as well as their regular customer base?

Presumably these fans are too tight to pay out for a hotel?

On the basis they trash trains, stations etc, not sure the hotels would want them either - except at high rates to cover potential cost of damage and cleaning.
 

Bungle965

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If Football fans treated the railway with respect, perhaps the railway might be more willing to accommodate the needs of football ‘fans’?
I think you're generalising far too much there, yes there's a small selection of people who set out to cause problems, that's not the majority however.
Sam
 

bramling

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I think you're generalising far too much there, yes there's a small selection of people who set out to cause problems, that's not the majority however.
Sam

Even if one overlooks any antisocial behaviour, it’s still a thorough nuisance to the railway and its regular customers having a sudden tidal wave of people all turn up at the same moment wanting to make a similar journey.

Perhaps the football industry should buy up a batch of scrap Merseytravel-interior Pacers and start their own open-access operation to transport their livestock around?!
 
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sheff1

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Even if one overlooks any antisocial behaviour, it’s still a thorough nuisance to the railway and its regular customers having a sudden tidal wave of people all turn up at the same moment wanting to make a similar journey.

Indeed. All those commuters wanting to travel at the same time and demanding ever longer trains to accommodate them are a thorough nuisance.
 

Bungle965

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it’s still a thorough nuisance to the railway
Is it really a nuisance?
I imagine it’s a real money spinner for some TOC’s, stop selling advance tickets for services after the game and fans (if they want to travel by rail) will have little choice but to buy the walks up fares.
North of England clubs have a large fan base in London and when they’re paying £90+ a pop to watch their beloved football team, you can see why some don’t quite view it as a nuisance.
Sam
 

bb21

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Out of interest, not allowed by who? Why? I don't follow any sports so have no idea.
When TV rights are sold, they specifically exclude showing live matches which are 1500 kick-offs on a Saturday, in order to avoid impacting live attendances. What escapes me is whether this was an FA rule or league rule.

Edit: Someone answered it for me, FA rule.
 

Saint66

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Two things:

1. The vast majority of football fans do not cause trouble, and any that do are just as disliked by fellow fans as they are by non-football supporters, so less of the generalisation please.

2. This is a non-story I’m afraid. While it is very annoying for fans, any anger must be aimed at the FA and TV Companies who choose these KO times. Given which paper it’s published in and who it was written by, it does not surprise me that they’re trying to blame the railways.
 

bramling

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Indeed. All those commuters wanting to travel at the same time and demanding ever longer trains to accommodate them are a thorough nuisance.

A nuisance they may be, but at least they’re a predictable one in that demand is pretty much constant from one day to the next (albeit with an increasing lull on Mondays and Fridays), and doesn’t clash with normal engineering windows. All this makes them fairly easy to plan for.

Unlike football traffic which is pretty random.
 

Bald Rick

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When TV rights are sold, they specifically exclude showing live matches which are 1500 kick-offs on a Saturday, in order to avoid impacting live attendances. What escapes me is whether this was an FA rule or league rule.

Edit: Someone answered it for me, FA rule.

Well it’s the same thing, as the FA control the rights to the Premier League and the FA Cup.

Clubs are reluctant to have games televised (in this country) at 1500 Saturday.
 

bb21

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Even if one overlooks any antisocial behaviour, it’s still a thorough nuisance to the railway and its regular customers having a sudden tidal wave of people all turn up at the same moment wanting to make a similar journey.

Perhaps the football industry should buy up a batch of scrap Merseytravel-interior Pacers and start their own open-access operation to transport their livestock around?!
No matter how many times you say it (and I am well aware of your opinion on this issue from past threads), I still find it a rather harsh generalisation as the vast majority are always well-behaved and no trouble at all. You get a small minority who cause issues but it is the same for all sports or social events. Just in the last few months I have worked trains immediately after football games, rugby games, races, concerts, protests, social gatherings, etc, which all had their fair share of anti-social behaviour but all are restricted to a very small minority. Granted some clubs have more than their fair share of problematic behaviour, but then again same applies to these other areas of life too. In fact I found fans of some of the league clubs on our patch a joy to be around. I have had nothing but fun interacting with them.

Vomexes on Friday and Saturday nights are far worse than football crowds in my experience.

Maybe you get more than your fair share of trouble on your patch, I don't know.
 

yorkie

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Even if one overlooks any antisocial behaviour, it’s still a thorough nuisance to the railway and its regular customers having a sudden tidal wave of people all turn up at the same moment wanting to make a similar journey.
I guess we'd better ban concerts and other sports that can attract large crowds such as horse racing, rugby, etc...:rolleyes:
 
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