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Post by lambethgull on Oct 5, 2009 9:39:36 GMT
What are people's thoughts on this latest development?
For what is essentially a pretty meaningless game for England fans, who is tempted to sit huddled round their laptop/PC to watch England's A team take on Ukraine?
Isn't watching football all about the communal aspect? Take away the ambience of the pub - or even a room full of mates watching it on TV at home - and what's left is a pretty sad activity in my view.
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Post by aussie on Oct 5, 2009 12:54:53 GMT
I couldn`t care less about that paticular fixture BUT I do believe ALL England internationals should be screened live on `free to air` should be law like in Australia that when ever the national team play the whole country watches for free. There are too many money greedy mother lovers in the entertainment industry nowadays and Rupert Murdock the biggest tw4t out there!
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merse
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Post by merse on Oct 5, 2009 13:46:17 GMT
 It's got nothing to do with the Football Association but the Ukrainian FA. They sold the sole rights to a Swiss agency who sold on to Setanta who went tits up. With England already qualified, NO television broadcaster wanted it then and the only way you would get it "free to air" is if ITV (who are broke) or BBC (who have wasted all their budget on Premiership highlights and employing the boring Gary Linaker) whilst being totally oblivious of the FACT that more people watch non Premiership football in this country than watch Premiership; committed some of their budget to it.. Had England needed the points you bet your life they would have found a justifiable reason to show it and ITV would have probably been able to sell the advertising slots but as it is a nonentity; there is no market for it.........the "market" has spoken and the "market" is not interested. It's about time that people realised that watching football for free on the telly is a piss take (yes, even the national team) and that they should put their hand in their pocket to watch it just as you or I do when we go to matches. I want people to pay to watch the England team and then the FA will have more money to spend on the grass roots of the game that benefit you and I and OUR kids like their excellent "Kits for Free" initiative, grants for ground development and purchase; and training schemes for more coaches. The game badly needs this income and I don't give a shit about some lardy arsed couch potatoe who's main priority is getting the beers in and wearing his ill fitting England replica shirt then falling asleep on his setee before the game has ended. Keep it exclusive, keep 'em appreciative and hungry for the real thing.......................and who the feck wants to watch football on a bloody computer anyway !
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 5, 2009 15:50:34 GMT
It's about time that people realised that watching football for free on the telly is a piss take (yes, even the national team) and that they should put their hand in their pocket to watch it just as you or I do when we go to matches.I want people to pay to watch the England team and then the FA will have more money to spend on the grass roots of the game ! All England game should be free for all the people in this country to watch, it has always been wrong in my view to let Sky and others have the games, as not everyone wants or can afford sky TV. There is more than enough money in the game and the grass root football could and should have so much more of it, only as we know its only the big boys who get the lions share. Far to much in this country that was free, now needs to be paid for, if it carries on like this, we will be going around with meters on our noses and getting charged to the air we breath before too long  |
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Post by capitalgull on Oct 5, 2009 16:01:11 GMT
And that Dave, you can definitely blame the FA for. They decided they needed the money (or wanted more money more likely) for the rights to England games and back in the day only Sky were willing to pay their price.
Now they will find Sky don't want them any more, so if there is a problem they will have to go cap in hand to the terrestrial providers to see if they want the rights - for this game they don't (and Sky don't) so it's the poor old fans who lose out AGAIN!
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merse
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Post by merse on Oct 5, 2009 17:37:59 GMT
I want people to pay to watch the England team and then the FA will have more money to spend on the grass roots of the game All England game should be free for all the people in this country to watch, it has always been wrong in my view to let Sky and others have the games, as not everyone wants or can afford sky TV. There is more than enough money in the game and the grass root football could and should have so much more of it, only as we know its only the big boys who get the lions share. But there isn't "enough money in the game" Dave, that's why you have have shit heaps like KGV and Stoodley Knowle with their disgraceful sloping and rutted pitches with dreadful "dressing rooms"...................crap holes that put the kids forced to use them at an immediate and irrecoverable disadvantage when trying to match the achievements of other kids in more enlightened areas. If local clubs could provide the facilities, those jokes of "facilities" could be shoved back up the Council's arse where they belong. I stopped by Cricketfield Road when I was down in Torquay in August on the way to Plainmoor, looked at a scene that hadn't changed one bit from when I was a kid almost forty years ago and shook my head in sad disbelief....................Jesus Christ, they STILL don't have goal net stantions, and STILL have to play on that ridiculous slope! Nobody has the "right" to watch a sporting event for free, only the privlilege. The only "free" way to watch a game is to take part in it, and by far the majority of those who play the game pay to do so anyway. Do you naively think watching it on the Beeb is free? Well it's not it's paid for by licence payers' money. Only ITV can bring it to you "free" but then it's reliant on the advertising rights being taken up by commercial interests, and at this point in time ITV companies are going down quicker than Plymouth Argyle from The Championship because the money just isn't there. Why any active football player, official or fan should want to give the game away for free is beyond me. |
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Post by chrish on Oct 5, 2009 17:46:58 GMT
And that Dave, you can definitely blame the FA for. They decided they needed the money (or wanted more money more likely) for the rights to England games and back in the day only Sky were willing to pay their price. Now they will find Sky don't want them any more, so if there is a problem they will have to go cap in hand to the terrestrial providers to see if they want the rights - for this game they don't (and Sky don't) so it's the poor old fans who lose out AGAIN! You can blame the FA and the ECB. Both decided to cash in for the greater good. I wonder how many kids managed to witness Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss efforts during the Ashes series this summer? I have to say that the BBC's Grand Prix coverage this year has been excellent. It's even worth watching some of the practice sessions to listen to a little of Eddie Jordan's gems of wisdom. It's not just here it happens though. French football whored itself out to Canal Plus a long time ago, German Bundesliga is now coming into a bit of money through a company called Sky Deutschland AG on Pay per view (used to be Premiere) but they haven't nearly gone so far down the road as us and the french. It's still very reasonable (and very enjoyable) to watch live football in Germany anyway especially when teams like Energie Cottbus who actually refunded travel and match ticket costs to every single fan who watched their side capitulate away to Borussia Dortmund. I've always thought that the German Bundesliga was all about football and supporters first with money a necessary but distant second. How long it'll stay this way is anybody's guess. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 5, 2009 17:49:56 GMT
There is enough money merse, if clubs can afford to play players millions of pounds to play for just one season, there is enough money if clubs can pay millions in transfer fees, only its those clubs who do take the bulk of the cash and sure won't want to let any be given to remove the sloop on the Cricketfield Road pitch. The people in this country, should be allowed to watch and support the national team for free, the FA should not even be charging any company to screen it. Its one of the few things when the team wins, that can give this country and its people the real feel good factor. Why would anyone want to charge for that. |
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Post by aussie on Oct 5, 2009 18:01:54 GMT
There`s too much money in the game and it all goes in the pockets of the overpaid over-rated diving show ponny premiersh1te players pockets, it`s completely and inappropriately distributed, fans get ripped off everywhere, Sky`s coverage has helped in destroying home gates at lower levels and if you can`t see that then I think you need a re-think, the Premiersh`te is imploding on it`self by slicing it`s self in two, the top few and the not rich enough too compete, before long it will be as boring as the muck up Scotland with just two teams in it! I know loads of people that would rather go to the pub or a mates house to watch the early kick off and the late kick off and just watch the results come in on the telly printer so they can keep an eye on their betting coupons. If it went back to the days when people could only follow the big teams on the radio or wait for MOTD then gates would rise at lower level football games and also fill the stadiums properly in the Prem, thus giving the bottom half of the Prem more money too compete with the top few!
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Post by capitalgull on Oct 5, 2009 18:09:48 GMT
Sorry Aussie, can't agree with you about that. All clubs in the Football League, from Manchester United to Darlington rely on the TV deals for a large slice of their income. Take that away and something would have to give...most likely a further increase in prices or a further reduction in quality of matchday experience.
And then people would start moaning again.
It's not the TV companies you need to look at, it's those over-paid primadonnas you talk about. Some of them get more in a week than Torquay get for their year's worth of TV money - the money that helps keep OUR club alive.
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merse
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Post by merse on Oct 5, 2009 18:18:30 GMT
You live in a very idealistic and unrealistic world Dave. The FACT is that grass roots football depends on the money that the F.A. can realise from the game's appeal and it is the duty of those elected from within it's membership to maximise that income. Virtually every professional football club provides facilities and development far in excess of what you seem to realise they do. Yes, the very top clubs DO pay stupid money to get the foreign stars but they also charge stupid money for mug punters to come and watch them. But by far the majority of people involved in football in this country are involved in football far removed from that so called elite and THEY are entitled to have their game responsibly marketed and governed. Tell the guy who spends all his after work hours running a local youth side, doing the paperwork, organising the matches and coaching, buying and washing the kit, transporting young lads around that his game should be given away for free and he'll laugh in your face. Ask him how welcome that free kit for his youth team was from the F.A this summer and then consider how it was paid for and come back and tell me the game should be given away for free; but before you do tell me how it all is going to be paid for....................and don't tell me something that is just not going to happen ~ come up with something constructive and practical.
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Post by lambethgull on Oct 5, 2009 18:26:51 GMT
Can see where Merse is coming from with the 'something for nothing' angle, but something's gone wrong somewhere if the only way to view an England away fixture is to pay to sit around a PC.
The arrangements for this fixture are in nobody's interest except the (no doubt vey small amount of) people who have somehow managed to get their mitts on the rights for this particular fixture.
These rights may have been purchased through the Ukranian FA, but the (English) FA should be raising serious questions with FIFA as to how this farcical state of affairs came about.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 5, 2009 18:38:54 GMT
I'm not that sure any youth teams around here get any free kits from the FA. Lots of people have to do things for free for the good off local football Merse. Ant will be more than happy to tell you how much free time he has to give as the fixtures secretary for the South Devon League and all the work he does in his position on the Devon FA.
How many nights he has to go to places like Plymouth and sit on disciplinary panels to listen to players appeal etc, how many meetings he has to attend and guess what he does it because he loves football. Plays in the South Devon League and the seven asides leagues at Clennon Valley and still finds time to be a bank manager.
If the FA did not give the vast sums to the top clubs like they do and let them get on and get their money by over charging their fans, then so much more money could reach the very grass roots football it should.
Its time to get the game in order at the top and if that means clubs won't be able to pay such stupid money for over seas players then so be it.
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Post by lambethgull on Oct 5, 2009 18:55:02 GMT
These rights may have been purchased through the Ukranian FA, but the (English) FA should be raising serious questions with FIFA as to how this farcical state of affairs came about. I should have said that the FA should be raising serious questions with FIFA should it be in a position to do so. Unfortunately the FA gave up any moral authority it might have held in this regard years ago. |
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merse
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Post by merse on Oct 5, 2009 18:59:32 GMT
I'm not that sure any youth teams around here get any free kits from the FA. Any youth, team or for disabled or female players can apply, just look at the FA.Com website, so if any teams "around there" are mssing out it's because THEY are not doing their homework.....................South Devon is not excluded! |
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