Thursday, March 31, 2011

Time Out



Tut tut.....stubborn old Real Murcia have refused to allow San Roque to delay the kick-off of Saturday's crucial top of the table clash by a couple of hours (from 6 to 8 p.m.). "Whats the big deal?" I hear you asking. Real Murcia alledge that they don't want to change the start time as all their (and ther fans) travel arrangements will have to be changed. Pretty limp excuse for the sake of a couple of hours.

But this story just shows how poorly organized Spanish football is, and how it all revolves around and is governed by, just 2 clubs. Hang on a minute.....a segunda B game to be witnessed by 2 or 3 thousand fans? Yes. San Roque failed to notice that Real Madrid's home game against Sporting Gijón hadn't had it's kick-off time agreed, and when they finally decided on the time, oh shit, it was also at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the exact same time as the San Roque - Real Murcia game.

In England of course this would not be an issue. You wouldn't get to a Tuesday without knowing what day of the weekend (let alone what time) a Premier league (or any other level) game was going to take place, would you? How would fans be able to make travel plans? Plus.....the fact is a (for example) Brentford or Rochdale fan isn't going to stay at home and watch Man Utd or Chelsea on telly if their team are at home at the same time. It's not even up for discussion. That is why we often have full league programs coinciding with champions league nights; attendances do not suffer. But here there are so many sheep that have their local side as second choice to Madrid or Barcelona, that many will prefer to stay at home and watch their real (winning of course) side than their local club. And I'm sorry to say that this is quite deep seated in the charachter in a percentage of the population.

So.....I think in reality, the reason for being stubborn....is that if any advantage at all can be gained, by having 200 less San Roque supporters turn up....so be it. But surely the LFP or RFEF need to realize that we can't have everyone waiting on one clubs late decision on when to play effecting timings and the plans of thousands (clubs, players, fans, bus drivers, TV people) further down the league ladder?

Piss ups and breweries come to mind.

Music : Time Out - Joe Walsh.

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