Row as 3pm games will be shown live

ALL EFL MATCHES ONLINE FOR FIRST TIME TODAY

FOOtBALL League chiefs were yesterday accused of breaking one of the English game’s 10 commandments by allowing all today’s 3pm matches to be screened for the first time.

Every fixture from League One and two during this international break is available online — for a £10 fee — but several clubs believe this could be the beginning of the end of a sacrosanct ruling agreed in the 1960s.

No saturday 3pm match has been shown live in England since Burnley’s Bob Lord convinced fellow Football League chairmen it would lead to a fall in attendances.

Fears resurfaced this week after two EFL emails reminded clubs they could stream matches. Andy Holt, Accrington stanley chairman, said: ‘ It’s sleight of hand by the EFL. I’ve spoken to half a dozen clubs and they had no idea.

‘If there were a football 10 commandments, that’d be in it. It’s one that shouldn’t be broken — it’s not broken in the Premier League.

‘saturday 3pm is lad and dad time, mum and daughter time — part of culture. ’ In two EFL emails seen by

Sportsmail, chief executive shaun Harvey said that crowd figures linked to domestic streaming will come under the strangely named ‘Project Genie’ — which looks at ‘the alternative business model for the EFL from 2019-20’.

the EFL has offered streams of all 3pm saturday games outside the UK since the start of the 2017- 18 campaign.

this season, they announced that all midweek games would be available on iFollow, their online streaming service.

In one letter to clubs, dated July 5, the EFL said: ‘Games played in League One and League two during international periods will also be eligible as the Blocked Hours protection does not apply.’

Another, dated July 20, read: ‘For 2018-19, all eligible games will be streamed... so we can compare this against any loss of gate receipts’.