On Tuesday 3rd March 2018, BT Sport, who broadcast live National League football, moved Orient's away trip to Macclesfield Town back to a 12:30 kick off 11 days before the game for live television coverage. Here is my argument against these changes from both the broadcasters BT and the league. To confirm, these are my views and should not be generalised to other writers on this website.
Personally, I think this is out of order as us Orient fans who have made travel plans to watch the game haven't been taken into consideration. For example, I booked on a certain train which won't get to Macclesfield until about 20 minutes before the game so it'll be a rush for the taxi's as soon as we arrive. Furthermore, the Supporters Coaches have amended their departure time from 10:30am to 6:30am to accommodate the new kick off time, not too bad if you're travelling with them but either way it just ruins the away day.
If BT would of informed us a month ago, we could've done something about our train tickets but 11 or 10 days is too little notice for Virgin Trains, who can take no fault or blame from this. This move from BT Sport will surely put many O's fans out of pocket and possibly have an impact on the attendance on the day, in my situation as there is now advanced tickets if I am lucky enough to get a cab to the ground I will face a long wait actually getting inside or if worse comes to worse the away end might sell out.
In the Premier League/Championship, if the broadcasters haven't confirmed the game has been chosen for broadcast between 4-6 weeks prior to the fixture, it cannot be on TV. What I would like to know is how has the National League not put a stop to this? The league work very closely with BT Sport as they are the only broadcasters to have rights to National League Football from 2015 to 2021.
In fairness, BT and Vanarama has pumped a bit of money into the division since 2015, before it was as worse as the Isthmian Leagues. However, this isn't the first time BT Sport have annoyed Orient fans this season.The O's are yet to win in all televised fixtures this season, which is four, and moved Tranmere away to a Wednesday night, which in my opinion the is best away day in the league.
This is exactly why some people who support the likes of Spurs and Arsenal choose to support smaller clubs like Orient to get away from this new age of football, where TV and media controls the sport. This game has been made for coverage as Macclesfield could possibly go a step closer back to the Football League should they get past Justin Edinburgh's men. Former Brighton & Hove Albion Defender and former Football League Tonight pundit, Adam Virgo, has been announced as one of the pundits for this fixture.
I agree with @LenM4 on twitter who says:
"I hate this division with a passion, the sooner we can bin BT Sport and those Primark blue Jumpers the better."
Comments