Early kick offs

[nw6pie]

I see Mansfield are experimenting with a 1pm kick off for their upcoming home game against Walsall. Be interesting to see who follows suit. Even if we don’t, you can imagine quite a few away games being moved forward a few hours…

https://www.thesportsman.com/article...o-1pm-kick-off

Mansfield Town have announced that their forthcoming home match against Walsall has been brought forward by two hours due to the growing strain of rising energy bills.

The Stags are set to welcome The Saddlers to the One Call Stadium on Saturday 15th October and they have agreed to bring the start time for the match forward from the traditional 3pm slot to 1pm as football starts to suffer the effects of the energy and cost of living crisis.

A club statement detailing the switch read: “The match was originally scheduled to get underway at 3pm. The club is endeavouring to mitigate the forthcoming, considerable increase in energy bills.

“As part of these efforts, the earlier kick-off time will enable the club to discern whether significant savings can be made on floodlight usage and other energy costs. Moreover, following the trial of this change in kick-off time, the club will be able to better determine whether an earlier kick-off on a Saturday would have an effect on prospective attendances.”

Their Walsall meeting comes just over two weeks before clocks in the UK go back an hour for daylight savings. This will see days get darker much quicker, meaning prime time 3pm Saturday kick-offs until March will all end under lights. Sunsets typically occur around 4pm for the majority of the winter, which makes the use of floodlights at football matches essential. However, the cost of floodlighting is currently up by an astonishing 200 per cent due to rising energy bills, leaving EFL clubs with big decisions to make ahead of a challenging period.

The move from Mansfield comes just a few weeks after Bradford City CEO Ryan Sparks made initial comments promoting the idea of 1pm kick-offs in the winter to save on costs.

"We are already taking measures to reduce our impact on the environment but also not to further reduce our energy usage, such as the use of solar power," Sparks told The Sunday People. "There is a suggestion within the game that we could move kick-off times in the winter months to 1pm on a Saturday and that’s something we would consider.

"Floodlights are expensive to run and when you add that up over the best part of 20 to 30 home games the costs are heavy, and that’s only one area of energy demand.

[Notts78]

I see Mansfield are experimenting with a 1pm kick off for their upcoming home game against Walsall. Be interesting to see who follows suit. Even if we don’t, you can imagine quite a few away games being moved forward a few hours…

https://www.thesportsman.com/article...o-1pm-kick-off

Mansfield Town have announced that their forthcoming home match against Walsall has been brought forward by two hours due to the growing strain of rising energy bills.

The Stags are set to welcome The Saddlers to the One Call Stadium on Saturday 15th October and they have agreed to bring the start time for the match forward from the traditional 3pm slot to 1pm as football starts to suffer the effects of the energy and cost of living crisis.

A club statement detailing the switch read: “The match was originally scheduled to get underway at 3pm. The club is endeavouring to mitigate the forthcoming, considerable increase in energy bills.

“As part of these efforts, the earlier kick-off time will enable the club to discern whether significant savings can be made on floodlight usage and other energy costs. Moreover, following the trial of this change in kick-off time, the club will be able to better determine whether an earlier kick-off on a Saturday would have an effect on prospective attendances.”

Their Walsall meeting comes just over two weeks before clocks in the UK go back an hour for daylight savings. This will see days get darker much quicker, meaning prime time 3pm Saturday kick-offs until March will all end under lights. Sunsets typically occur around 4pm for the majority of the winter, which makes the use of floodlights at football matches essential. However, the cost of floodlighting is currently up by an astonishing 200 per cent due to rising energy bills, leaving EFL clubs with big decisions to make ahead of a challenging period.

The move from Mansfield comes just a few weeks after Bradford City CEO Ryan Sparks made initial comments promoting the idea of 1pm kick-offs in the winter to save on costs.

"We are already taking measures to reduce our impact on the environment but also not to further reduce our energy usage, such as the use of solar power," Sparks told The Sunday People. "There is a suggestion within the game that we could move kick-off times in the winter months to 1pm on a Saturday and that’s something we would consider.

"Floodlights are expensive to run and when you add that up over the best part of 20 to 30 home games the costs are heavy, and that’s only one area of energy demand.

I think the 1pm kick off would have more than just financial benefits to clubs saving on energy bills.
- Fan disorder in theory would be reduced due to less drinking time.
- Travelling fans would be getting home at a reasonable time. I think this would need to have more research with the larger travelling distances ie Dover away.

I’m not sure how local businesses who rely on football fans business to survive will think of 1pm kick offs.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Is this Mansfield's owner saying they're in financial difficulty? If they can't afford to put their floodlights on as that would be the only difference, they must be in dire straits?

Our flood lights are LED and vastly reduce the amount of energy usage, surely switching out the floodlights is a better option than reducing the gate as those working Saturday Mornings won't be able to attend

[upthemaggies]

Wouldn't be a first for Notts if they do decide to kick off early due to an energy crisis, five home games over winter 1973/74 kicked off at either 2pm or 2:15pm for the same reason.

Personally, I quite liked the 1pm-2pm kick offs as it meant not waiting around after dinner time. Not great though for away fans of Carlisle, Plymouth etc. when they have a long trip and have to get up at a silly hour.

[nw6pie]

Wouldn't be a first for Notts if they do decide to kick off early due to an energy crisis, five home games over winter 1973/74 kicked off at either 2pm or 2:15pm for the same reason.

Personally, I quite liked the 1pm-2pm kick offs as it meant not waiting around after dinner time. Not great though for away fans of Carlisle, Plymouth etc. when they have a long trip and have to get up at a silly hour.

Hard to see how kicking off 45 minutes early would make much of a difference - you'd imagine it must have been pretty dark by 4pm on most winter days.

We'll know things are really bad if clubs decide to play their midweek games in the afternoon as well. I seem to recall a 6pm kick-off against Dagenham a few years ago due to the cold weather (the legendary "Schmeichel Doyle" game when fans couldn't attend), but I guess that's the earliest we've kicked off midweek?

[upthemaggies]

We'll know things are really bad if clubs decide to play their midweek games in the afternoon as well.

That did happen in the 73/74 season, we played Luton and Swindon away on Tuesdays in February with both games kicking off at 2:30pm.

[nw6pie]

That did happen in the 73/74 season, we played Luton and Swindon away on Tuesdays in February with both games kicking off at 2:30pm.

Interesting, thanks.

[ALPIECINO]

Is this Mansfield's owner saying they're in financial difficulty? If they can't afford to put their floodlights on as that would be the only difference, they must be in dire straits?

Our flood lights are LED and vastly reduce the amount of energy usage, surely switching out the floodlights is a better option than reducing the gate as those working Saturday Mornings won't be able to attend

Also vastly reduced the viewing experience as well. I wasn't the only one in the Kop to comment on how dark it seemed to be...

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Also vastly reduced the viewing experience as well. I wasn't the only one in the Kop to comment on how dark it seemed to be...

I think that is a configuration issue. They seemed to be pointing to the middle of the pitch, perhaps they need adjusting?

[Notts78]

Also vastly reduced the viewing experience as well. I wasn't the only one in the Kop to comment on how dark it seemed to be...

I agree completely. It seemed much darker to watch the game. Maybe we have been spoilt with the previous lights, which at one point we’re (allegedly) the brightest in the the league.