BRYSON NOW A DRIVING FORCE
THE return of the Premier League brings with it the bulldozing of sacred ground tomorrow afternoon. Unless BT Sport’s historic transmission ends up going down the same rabbit hole as the track and trace app, Brighton v Arsenal will be screened live to the nation. The Saturday 3pm blackout will be lifted.
It is, the Premier League are at pains to point out, a temporary relaxation – although there were a further three Saturday 3pm games in the second wave of fixtures released yesterday – creating the fear that once the genie is out of the bottle he can be hard to wrestle back in.
TV companies will have noted a line has been crossed, and you can be sure they will be leaning in for more of the same in future. Money talks loudly and they paid £4.464billion in the last auction of rights.
Spain, Italy and Germany do not have an equivalent no-go area so why should English football continue to stick by a gentlemen’s agreement drawn up in the Sixties?
The broadcast landscape has changed dramatically since Burnley chairman Bob Lord persuaded his fellow self-appointed guardians of the domestic game that televising games on a Saturday afternoon represented a threat to attendances.
The Premier League has evolved since into a rolling entertainment vehicle with its omnipresent scheduling and the current situation, driven by a desire from Government for every remaining game in the season to be televised, has increased the proliferation even further.
Norwich v Southampton kicks off at 6pm tonight; tomorrow’s match between Bournemouth and Crystal Palace – the first of four live on the BBC – will be shown at 7.45pm.
Still, though, it is the kick-off the Amex which jumps out.
Despite the patchwork quilt of start times these days, Saturday 3pm remains hardwired into most of the population as Football O’Clock.
For that we have to thank the Factory Act of 1850, which brought in half-day working on Saturdays and brought in a closing time of 2pm for the mills and their like. Something had to be done with the working man’s Saturday leisure time and playing – or watching – football became increasingly popular.
The historical resonance of the 3pm slot is one thing but roping it off for broadcast has passed its sell-by date, particularly when those games go out live for overseas viewers. You don’t have to look too hard online to find a streamed version.
The argument that to remove it permanently would affect participation at grassroots level and crowds down the pyramid may once have been true but such is the choice of televised football available now, that has lost much of its power.
If the opening match of the Premier League’s comeback proved at anything, it was that for all the hype, symbolism – poetry even – a boring game of football on telly is still a boring game of football on telly.
At the end of this blighted, straitjacketed period, people will have endured quite enough of staring at a screen. They will crave the feel of live sport again.
Once the restrictions are lifted and people feel safe again, sport should prepare itself for an explosion in attendances as after the Second World War. So let the broadcasters visceral have their Saturday 3pm slot and let the rest of us prepare for the moment when we can switch off our sets, walk out of the front door and head to the match.