Summer Football

[LadywellToi]

I did a search before starting this and couldn't find anything similar, so here goes.

 

I'm an advocate for summer football for the following reasons outlined below. I think our game needs some reinvigoration to give it oomph and make it an attractive prospect again. I know there will be traditionalists out there who will argue "don't fix what ain't broken" but I think our game at present is in need of a jump start.

 

The gate at Fir Park has been dwindling since I first attended, I can see a notable difference since I worked on the gates 15 years ago to now. If the next 15 years follows the precedent t set then I fear it looks bleak.

 

So for me here are the pro's, feel free to add to the list and I'll update the first post.

 

PRO's

1. All the boffins seem to point to our climate being better summers, worse winters, more rain. Think of a season without postponments, traffic issues, sitting in a stand at -2 degrees. Think how enjoyable watching football in the first and last months of a season. With the later nights more kids would be inclined to come along, and a winter shutdown from mid December to mid March avoiding the worst of our weather/conditions. Clubs better enabled to plan and not have call off/rearrangement costs (according to Dundee Utd, it equates to half price re-entry for every member of away support).
   
2. Playing surface integrity, an end to heavy pitches, destroyed goal mouths and punt the ball football.
   
3. Improved player technical skills as a result promoted as a result, filtering down over time to improve our game. A fair bit off I will agree.
   
4. There is always a market for football, think about how we all itch for the season to start, summer football could ensure Sky has something to fill the summer with opposed to its current nonsense, the SPL would get a higher billing as a result (think how many will watch the Japanese J-League if its on just because its football) and addicts down south would heighten awareness and revenues.
   
5. We live on an island dominated by our southern neighbour, their product is quite rightly the most entertaining on the planet at present and gets all the exposure, the BBC news on a Saturday has to show Scottish football highlights and scores through obligation rather than desire or interest. We could have centre billing for 3 months. Exposure = Revenue.
   
6. A pre-scheduled break of 1 month every second year starting 3 weeks before the major championships that could be extended to a further month if Scotland is successful in qualifying. This would allow for summer holidays, and pre-tournament build up. Lets be honest how many Scottish based foreign players will be affected by a World Cup?
   
7. No more debacles like the Norway game because we start too late, only issue that will affect us will be 2nd phase European knockout games, however not an issue if we qualify for the Euro's or WC as we'd have to factor an extra month in from mid February.
   
8. Players and all club staff can spend Christmas and New Year with friends and family.
   
9. Plenty of alternatives for us to get that football fix when our league is on downtime.
   
10. Everyone having a sunnier disposition as a result of the nicer conditions ...... jury's out.
    

CON's

1. Some may like football intertwined with the Christmas/New Year break
   
2. Tradition
   
3. Overlaps with summer holidays/major tournaments
   

Before anyone says it, I know playing in December and March will still encounter testing conditions and won't eradicate all issues, but I think it would be reduced by at least 80-90% a season.

[fatcalf]

Think you'll find more and more converts as the years go by. This year in particular will see many more jump on the bandwagon.

Me? I'm a traditionalist mainly but can see the benefits looming larger every season, a winter shutdown wouldn't work because you can't predict exactly when the weather will be at it's worst therefore a radical change is probably best, missing out the majority of potentially bad months.

Girls fitba' changed last year, forgot to tell the councils who run the pitches so no games n June and July as per normal but they finished before the realy bad weather kicked in although near the end of the season (November) one or two games fell victim.

Looking at last couple of weeks there, I wasn't fussed about games being on or off due to the cold, "fuck that for a gemme of sodjies" I said to myself, how many more felt that way?

So I suppose I'd be in favour if it came to it. Will anyone ask though?

[wunderwell]

I am 1000% behind summer football. If you need any help with anything to push this forward just tell me where to sign! In the latest SPL POLL I did try to mention it at least 8 times

[fizoxy]

I think the major argument for this is the period of no competition with the EPL and other major leagues. This could result in us securing a better TV deal and some much needed exposure.

 

The major issue with this though would be selling it to players coming into the league. Could this result in a load of loan signings over the summer? We see a similar system in cricket, where county players will go to South Africa or Australia during the winter here, but that works because the seasons don't overlap, where ours would.

 

Major tournaments could be an issue, but we have to get to them first! Other countries manage fine combining summer football with internationals and European competition so we could look at how they do it.

 

I don't think this would dramatically improve the quality of the game, or suddenly double attendances, but I do believe it would at least be an improvement over the current product which is very stale.

 

Unfortunately I can't see this, or any other major changes, happening as I don't believe the people in charge have the balls to make the bold moves which are required. We also have too many people in charge, but that's a different argument.

[Guest 'Flow]

So I suppose I'd be in favour if it came to it.

Wooofftt! That's a positional change from you Mj is it not?

 

Me personally, I'd love summer football!

 

First Saturday in March to the last Saturday in October! That might require a tweak to the size of the league but that would be no bad thing either if you asked me!

[fatcalf]

Wooofftt! That's a positional change from you Mj is it not?

 

Me personally, I'd love summer football!

 

First Saturday in March to the last Saturday in October! That might require a tweak to the size of the league but that would be no bad thing either if you asked me!

 

It certainly is mate, mind I used to argue you can run about to keep warm in winter

Not that I'm retiring or owt but my time's about up for playing so standing watching in sub-zero temperatures just isnae appealing any more.

We also need a bigger league, play each team twice in the league to avoid the boring repetitive nonsense we have now and spread the money about more. Should have done it years ago so it might be too late already but the Premier League has been one massive failure in my book.

[ONeils40yarder]

Going to the fitba in jeans and a t-shirt instaed of ten layers, a hat and gloves etc? Being able to feel your feet on the way home? Enjoying a pint to cool you down in a beer garden before hand, as opposed to drinking brown wattery bovril in the ground to heat you up? Perfect pitches, nae games called off because of burst pipes or 'unsafe' conditions? Crowds (families) would be more inclined to turn up, wouldnt even think about taking my wee boy to the games at this time of year.

 

Dont see or understand any argument against Summer Football.

[Ya Bezzer!]

1. Predicting the weather is a difficult business, are these the boffins who thought it unlikely we'd get a month of lying snow? As for summer weather here are some facts rather than predicitions. a) There has been MAJOR flooding two summers in a row. b) Rainfall in Scotland increases each month from May until December. October, November and December are the wettest months of the year and according to the winter shut down timetable we'd still be playing in these months.

 

2. Placing surfaces would not be immune to the elements, as pointed out the wettest weather is October, November and December. Admittedly pitches tend to get worse at present around February/March but it that because they've had three quarters of a season played on them? In any case all most all pitches are much better now (excluding ours a couple of seasons ago!) than they were 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago. Also summer pitches, assuming we actually have warm weather might have grass on them but they dry out and get bumpy which is just as bad as bald muddy pitches for good football.

 

3. Improved player technique has NOTHING to do with summer football. It has to do with the amount of practice kids get with a ball at an early age. Player technique has decreased since the virtual abolishment of schools football, since kids weren't allowed to play for more than one organisation and with the rise of the computer game and the sale of just about every football pitch by councils for housing. At the professional level Scottish supporters are not interested in watching highly technical football. Think of the booing that goes up when someone plays a sideways pass. Scottish footballer supporters want to see a high paced, exciting matches.

 

4. and 5. TV in the summer. Scottish football would be up against all the major golf competitions, major events like the Olympics, European Championships, Wimbledon, rugby world cups, cricket etc etc. It would be a great idea to REDUCE the amount of coverage that Scottish football gets. Outside of Old Firm matches there is no real television audience for SPL matches - that will not change by switching to summer football. Ask any television executive when the lowest television audiences are and they will say "the summer".

[numpty]

Dont see or understand any argument against Summer Football.

Main argument that usually gets trotted out is that, if we were any good, we'd have to disrupt the season for the Euro and World Cup Finals every two years. Other countries seem to cope with this, though.

[underboyleheating]

I'm all for summer football. There might still be some call offs but they should be few and far between.

 

People opposed to the idea always say it will clash with the big UEFA tournaments. Maybe so, but it would only require a short break during that particular league season to accommodate them.

And we have to remember that Scotland don't qualify for these showpiece events anymore. Maybe even UEFA would allow the lower leagues to carry on as normal during this time.

Going to a game in milder weather is very appealing, and you never know that orange thing in the sky may even come out now and again.

[Andy_P]

I'm not sold on a full blown switch from March - October but I do believe we should be looking to start earlier, finish later and have a break in January.

 

By incorporating that model I think we would still be able to incorporate many of the valid benefits that Ladywell illustrates in the opening post such as being more competitive for the European games and early Scotland games.

 

Personally I would have our New Year games then close down and kick in with the Scottish Cup in the last weekend of the month. The usual argument levied against a winter break is that you don't know when the bad weather would be and there's no time to fit in the games that would have been played in January.

 

For me avoiding the worst of the weather is only one part it. The players would get a breather and be able to recover from any injuries - important for a team such as us who kicked off our season so early. Fans get a chance to recover financially when January is generally a long month if you've had your wages early.

 

The other part is fitting the games in. Again I feel that could be overcome - getting rid of the split when the fixtures are required to be squeezed in by the last week in March/first in April would help that.

 

In contrast to what fizoxy says though I do actually think their is a growing desire for change, albeit from the SFA if not the SPL so I wouldn't be surprised to see some movement over time.

[steelboy]

i like things the way they are. there's plenty of other stuff do in the summer and the idea of january and febraury without any games would be torture. surely the last two games are proof that winter football is working - good games, good travelling support and a great atmosphere.

 

there were also a few threads on P&B where posters demonstrated that if we were to maintain a 38 game season with two cups the "summer season" would have to run from the end of february to the start of december. does anyone actually want to see the scottish cup final played in november or december?

 

we live in a country with shite infrastructre and unpredictable weather, i think we just have to accept that call offs will happen. the main thing is ensuring that fans get plenty of notice (which to be fair we have had).

[numpty]

there were also a few threads on P&B where posters demonstrated that if we were to maintain a 38 game season with two cups the "summer season" would have to run from the end of february to the start of december. does anyone actually want to see the scottish cup final played in november or december?

I'd have no problem ditching the 'diddy cup'. Having two cup competitions is a bit daft for a country our size anyway.

[weeyin]

Increase the number of teams in the league to 16.

 

Play each other twice.

 

Winter break for a few weeks.

[gdalli10]

Increase the number of teams in the league to 16.

 

Play each other twice.

 

Winter break for a few weeks.

 

you'd only play 30 games a season with that. surely an 18 or 20 team league would be better

[numpty]

you'd only play 30 games a season with that.

Bonus. We all think football's too expensive, so fewer games = cheaper

 

(Yes, I know, they'd probably hike the prices up even further to cover costs...)

[LadywellToi]

1. Predicting the weather is a difficult business, are these the boffins who thought it unlikely we'd get a month of lying snow? As for summer weather here are some facts rather than predicitions. a) There has been MAJOR flooding two summers in a row. b) Rainfall in Scotland increases each month from May until December. October, November and December are the wettest months of the year and according to the winter shut down timetable we'd still be playing in these months.

I think the drainage at present can cope, if the roof in the East stand could is a different matter. If their is a torrential downpour before/during the game then we'd be in trouble. Remember its 1hour 45minutes. We'd be playing in October-December under the summer football argument or under the current system, don't really understand the argument here.

2. Placing surfaces would not be immune to the elements, as pointed out the wettest weather is October, November and December. Admittedly pitches tend to get worse at present around February/March but it that because they've had three quarters of a season played on them? In any case all most all pitches are much better now (excluding ours a couple of seasons ago!) than they were 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago. Also summer pitches, assuming we actually have warm weather might have grass on them but they dry out and get bumpy which is just as bad as bald muddy pitches for good football.

If we start in March the pitch should be in good nick to start with rather than being churned up. Confused now, I thought we were having floods to rival Noah's and now you are talking about a drought, if you think we wouldn't cope, they still manage to play in the south of Italy and Spain without hitches, I don't think its beyond us to manage it. And its safe to say that the best months are May, June, July and August, easier for the pitches to recover between games.

3. Improved player technique has NOTHING to do with summer football. It has to do with the amount of practice kids get with a ball at an early age. Player technique has decreased since the virtual abolishment of schools football, since kids weren't allowed to play for more than one organisation and with the rise of the computer game and the sale of just about every football pitch by councils for housing. At the professional level Scottish supporters are not interested in watching highly technical football. Think of the booing that goes up when someone plays a sideways pass. Scottish footballer supporters want to see a high paced, exciting matches.

Getting kids out to play when the season is running when they can emulate their hero's goes a long way though, think how many try tennis during Wimbledon. I agree the councils should hold their heads in shame. Look at Motherwell, two ash pitches and a 5-a-side demolished for white shoe box ASDA, town centre ghost town, excellent work there NLC. I just thing the whole summer football thing would boost our game.

4. and 5. TV in the summer. Scottish football would be up against all the major golf competitions, major events like the Olympics, European Championships, Wimbledon, rugby world cups, cricket etc etc. It would be a great idea to REDUCE the amount of coverage that Scottish football gets. Outside of Old Firm matches there is no real television audience for SPL matches - that will not change by switching to summer football. Ask any television executive when the lowest television audiences are and they will say "the summer".

Ladies day on the first Saturday at Wimbledon and Women's final on the second. Third round of the Open, Rugby World Cups take place during the football season, well the last one was in October. Olympics .... OK you got me on that one, we'll miss table tennis semi-finals and the 10,000m walk. A football game including build up is a 3 hour event. Even in the summer there is still 40m people living south of the border allowing for 10m in Marmaris, Valarakie and Tenerife.

[nethertonwellfan]

Stick your summer football up your arse. I am a traditionalist.

 

We are talking about this because we have had a fanny of a winter. We get a winter like this once a hundred years.

 

What is the plan for major tournaments then ?

 

Stop being pussies an straighten your faces. Status Quo all the way.

[Haggischomper]

Seems a no-brainer to me. The best parts of the year we have for playing fitba' we are actually off and then we play in the dead of winter. There's no logic.

[Wellfan1984]

Stick your summer football up your arse. I am a traditionalist.

 

We are talking about this because we have had a fanny of a winter. We get a winter like this once a hundred years.

 

What is the plan for major tournaments then ?

 

Stop being pussies an straighten your faces. Status Quo all the way.

 

The same thing Nations around the world do I guess? You know the Scandinavian countries, or Australia, or the USA or Russia - and these nations are more likely to qualify than we are

[MJC_MKI]

We go over this same point year in, year out, almost as often as the "Old Firm moving to England" debate.

 

But it won't happen and neither should it.

 

For starters it's not practical when you take into account European Championships & World Cups which take place every two years and also, as has been said before it would greatly affect the TV coverage of our game as it would be up against Wimbledon & cricket & World Cup/European Championships etc. So they won't support it, given that it's the TV companies that pull the strings in football these days.

 

Also, folk need to remember that is Scotland that we live in, not the south of Spain. We get bad weather here, not just in the winter months, but in the summer aswell, when we can get 'monsoon' type conditions, unseasonable wet spells that can go on for weeks and 'freak' summer thunderstorms that cause flash flooding, chaos on the roads etc. If you think back to the day we qualified for Europe in 2008, had the thunderstorm that happend that day struck fifteen minutes earlier, then that game would not have finished as the pitch would not have stood up to it. And that was in May!

 

The folk that keep banging on about this seem to come at it with the view that we get wall to wall sunshine from April until September but nothing could be further from the truth.

 

This has been a severe winter, but how often is it quite as bad as this? It wasn't just the football calender that was affected, it was the entire country as travel was severely disrupted, supplies of road salt was running low and some folk couldn't even get to their work for weeks.

 

This country as a whole is not equipped to deal with severe bad weather so it doesn't matter when the football is played, there will always be problems with the elements.

[nethertonwellfan]

We go over this same point year in, year out, almost as often as the "Old Firm moving to England" debate.

 

But it won't happen and neither should it.

 

For starters it's not practical when you take into account European Championships & World Cups which take place every two years and also, as has been said before it would greatly affect the TV coverage of our game as it would be up against Wimbledon & cricket & World Cup/European Championships etc. So they won't support it, given that it's the TV companies that pull the strings in football these days.

 

Also, folk need to remember that is Scotland that we live in, not the south of Spain. We get bad weather here, not just in the winter months, but in the summer aswell, when we can get 'monsoon' type conditions, unseasonable wet spells that can go on for weeks and 'freak' summer thunderstorms that cause flash flooding, chaos on the roads etc. If you think back to the day we qualified for Europe in 2008, had the thunderstorm that happend that day struck fifteen minutes earlier, then that game would not have finished as the pitch would not have stood up to it. And that was in May!

 

The folk that keep banging on about this seem to come at it with the view that we get wall to wall sunshine from April until September but nothing could be further from the truth.

 

This has been a severe winter, but how often is it quite as bad as this? It wasn't just the football calender that was affected, it was the entire country as travel was severely disrupted, supplies of road salt was running low and some folk couldn't even get to their work for weeks.

 

This country as a whole is not equipped to deal with severe bad weather so it doesn't matter when the football is played, there will always be problems with the elements.

 

This must be the first time ever but I do agree with you.

 

Wellfan1984, excuse my ignorance but what do the other countries do? Do they play without their players ? Do they have a shutdown during the tournament ? Plus most of the countries - apart form maybe Russia- you mentioned have a vast majority of their international players playing in Europe.

[Wellfan1984]

To be honest nae idea, although I should remove Australia as they seemed to have changed a few years back to play between August and February...

 

I know Brazil doesn't close down - and to be honest they'll lose at most 7-10 players. Norway, Russia et co. all have a large chunk of their players playing in their National Leagues and they seem to be able to cope every two years.

[nethertonwellfan]

To be honest with me if convinced I would probably changed my position but because it's cauld isn't a strong enough argument for me.

[Wellfan1984]

Nor I. But I remember last winter people saying oh it was just a one aff, extra cauld winter... this year we just didn't get the cold weather we got snow tae, added to the H&S Brigade on overdrive we had call offs across the country.

 

If the league doesn't change then the SFA will need to look at the Scottish Cup, as in what two seasons we have had 6 attempts or something to play two games. That was added to all the other attempts the Locos had to play the game the round before.