Winter Break

[DornochJAGGIE]

It has been debated for ages, But I just thought that since there had been soo many games cancelled due to the weather recently, who would be in favour of a break between December and January just to avoid most of the snow.

I would be in favour of the break, it would solve the problem of re-arranging games and, clubs would benefit, the attendences wouldn't be as low, because the conditions for travelling fans would be better ect.

[Jay_7]

You honestly think it's the weather that's keeping fans away?

[DornochJAGGIE]

You honestly think it's the weather that's keeping fans away?

Yes, Some fans are put off by the weather. There are many ICT fans that don't live locally, that wont risk there own lives to travell in such bad conditions.

I was also thinking about the Away fans too.

[Jay_7]

Yes, Some fans are put off by the weather. There are many ICT fans that don't live locally, that wont risk there own lives to travell in such bad conditions.

I was also thinking about the Away fans too.

Nothing to do with the frankly s***e football product on display in stadia throughout Scotland? If pricing structures were to change nation-wide, I think you'd see fans coming out the woodwork - rain, hail or snow.

[DornochJAGGIE]

Yes, Some fans are put off by the weather. There are many ICT fans that don't live locally, that wont risk there own lives to travell in such bad conditions.

I was also thinking about the Away fans too.

Nothing to do with the frankly s***e football product on display in stadia throughout Scotland? If pricing structures were to change nation-wide, I think you'd see fans coming out the woodwork - rain, hail or snow.

Yeah i am not disagreeing with you about that, but bad conditions won't help. If you look at the average attendences around the country recently, of the games that actually went ahead, you will see that there has been quite a big decrease in attendences.

[Jay_7]

Yeah i am not disagreeing with you about that, but bad conditions won't help. If you look at the average attendences around the country recently, of the games that actually went ahead, you will see that there has been quite a big decrease in attendences.

I don't see any point in changing the football calendar. If it was the other way about, there'd be people complaining about potential heatstroke for the players and that too many fans can't make it because they're on their summer holidays.

As for your recent attendances argument, I'm pretty sure that traditionally we don't get big attendances over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

[12th Man]

No winter break for me.

This current cold spell has proven we cant predict when the bad weather will arrive, it used to be the tail end of January and well in to February,it has now arrived 4 weeks earlier. Would this put too much strain on our players who will be playing for their countries in summer competitions. What else would you be doing in the middle of winter when it is cold and dark outside,at least it gets you out in the fresh air and lastly what about your other hobbies and interests that are better to do in the middle of summer.

And lastly, yes I really mean it this time, would a winter break upset the logistics of the transfer window.

[DornochJAGGIE]

Yeah i am not disagreeing with you about that, but bad conditions won't help. If you look at the average attendences around the country recently, of the games that actually went ahead, you will see that there has been quite a big decrease in attendences.

I don't see any point in changing the football calendar. If it was the other way about, there'd be people complaining about potential heatstroke for the players and that too many fans can't make it because they're on their summer holidays.

As for your recent attendances argument, I'm pretty sure that traditionally we don't get big attendances over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

Yes. I was thinking about ICT and the first division... That is why this thread is in the ICT section. As the bigger clubs dont really need the break, as they can cope with the conditions, with all their technology, more ground stuff ect.

If there was a winter break, there wouldn't be the problem with having to re-arrange games which is quite alot hassall.

[Jay_7]

Yes. I was thinking about ICT and the first division... That is why this thread is in the ICT section. As the bigger clubs dont really need the break, as they can cope with the conditions, with all their technology, more ground stuff ect.

If there was a winter break, there wouldn't be the problem with having to re-arrange games which is quite alot hassall.

Umm, what? Is this a response to my post that you've quoted?

We haven't needed technology in the past to cope with wintery conditions so I fail to see your point here. As a matter of fact, I really don't think we need under-soil heating.

So the "take home" message of your post here is that in order to prevent the hassall [sic] of re-arranging indidual fixtures on an ad-hoc basis, you're quite prepared to go through the hassle of re-arranging the entire Scottish football calendar? Would you say that's a fair summary of your arguments on the topic so far?

[Council Juice]

If the clubs gave a jot about the fans and not wanting to get money in over January there would be a winter break. Doesn't have to be a month. Just 2 weeks after the 1st weekend in January.

If anything it might help refresh players for summer tournaments as they would be able to ease off niggles during a gap in playing and then start fresh and be in prime form for summer tournaments. We used to have a break and other countries implement it (Netherlands and Italy) so why cant we?

[TopSix]

Personally I'm in favour of summer football. If we continue as we are, I'm not in favour of a winter break.

[Scotty]

no to winter break as no-one knows if and when winter will arrive !!!! Traditionally, the coldest month with the worst weather in Scotland is February and a break in December/January would do nothing to help that !

Summer football is probably the answer but I doubt that will ever happen !

[Council Juice]

I always thought January was the worst. With generally the most call offs due to snow/frozen pitches. February is bad because of the thawing and ruined pitches i thought. Obviously you'd have to discount any motherwell call offs because unless its a plus 10*C clear blue sky for a week, Fir park will be closed.

[Alex MacLeod]

Start the season beginning Feb through to July. Have a month of. Resume beginning August till end November.

[starchief]

I'm also in favour of summer football. It would be more pleasant to watch, better for players to play and train, plus boost our chances of getting further in Europe and the World Cup/Euro Championships (if we ever qualify!).

The argument about fitting in the World Cup etc is nonsense. Plenty of other countries do it. Follow a programme similar to Alex's suggestion, then no problem.

[Scarlet Pimple]

The SFA recently made a decision to firmly dispell the idea that a winter break would be allowed. Something to do with scheduling--T.V. scheduling etc.

Soccer is played in Canada in the Summer months and it really is a good feeling to be sitting on a nice Summer's evening in the stand in shirt sleeves watching a decent game .

Last Summer we had a very important game extended by about 1.5 hours by a ferocious lightning storm at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby , B.C.. They abandoned the game about half time with the Whitecaps up by one, as I recall,and after waiting for about 45 minutes the game resumed. The sheets of lightning were so frequent and the rain so torrential that thye really had no choice since they had to evacuate the spectators from the seating on the far side of the pitch and told them to either get under the cover of the stand or get right out of the park--I assume that was so that the Management of the park would not entail any liabilities for people out in the open inside the park if they were struck by lightning.

The lightning show alone was worth the price of admission alone. Not to mention the claps of thunder that seemed to just about lift the roof off. It was quite exciting to be honest.LOL. Not so much for the players because the pitch was awash in water. I seen o point i theplayers trying to perform in appalling conditions which for them can also be exceptionally dangerous, if not career-ending. But since money rules football these days who cares about the health or physical welfare of the actors upon the stage of football? Maybe secondly but not firstly.

For me havinga two month break in Winter makes some sense but playing in the Summer months makes even more sense. I also think that attendances would soar.

[skifreak]

Probably no, because the odds are if you fix a 2 or 3 week winter break, the weather problems will land either side of it (Sods law and all that).

The advantage winter football has over summer football is that the final run in to the end of season happens as the weather should be improving if not at its best, with Summer Football the season run in would be late autumn or early winter which could cause more problems than it solves.

There might be a case for a spring break - a couple of weeks with no fixtures scheduled that would allow a buffer to recover from any potential fixture backlog?

[Scotty]

Soccer is played in Canada in the Summer months and it really is a good feeling to be sitting on a nice Summer's evening in the stand in shirt sleeves watching a decent game.

This coming season (starting in April) will be the first time that MLS that has actually taken account of FIFA dates. Up until now MLS teams could have games scheduled during international dates and I remember one TFC game where there were 9 players missing on international duty yet the game went ahead. Now that MLS is actually listening to fans and clubs about international dates things should be even better.

If I were back in Scotland I might say "sacrilege" "leave our footy alone" or other such stuff but having experienced it I would say summer football is good. MLS tend to schedule Toronto's first couple of games of the season away from home (weather can still be dodgy in late March / early April) but after that, I would agree with Scarlet that there is no better feeling than being able to go to the footy in decent weather and watch a game in T-Shirt and shorts rather than a parka and long-johns !!!!

[Scotty]

I always thought January was the worst. With generally the most call offs due to snow/frozen pitches. February is bad because of the thawing and ruined pitches i thought. Obviously you'd have to discount any motherwell call offs because unless its a plus 10*C clear blue sky for a week, Fir park will be closed.

The average temperature over the last 30 years or so for both Jan and Feb are exactly the same. I said February as my own memory tells me it is usually worse ... point being though, a Christmas break (which is probably what the officials would suggest) probably wouldnt actually cover the worst weather in either month

Start the season beginning Feb through to July. Have a month of. Resume beginning August till end November.

That actually sounds good assuming February is mild ! As the current Scottish season tends to be 9 months, Feb-July and Aug-Nov would work and you could tweak the July break to allow for potential Scottish involvement in the first round of any Euros or World Cups

[TopSix]

With you 100% on this one Scotty. There's nothing better than sitting out at Caley Park in a warm summer night. That last Dundee game was too cold to sit through. Perhaps it would be easier on fans if we could stand as opposed to have to sit and endure the cold.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

I'd be against a winter break. Football has traditionally been a autumn/winter/spring game. I think the football season already encroaches too much into the cricket season!

[AJS]

This has been quoted as the worst winter in about 20 years so hopefully it won't be as bad next year.

I for one am against Winter break, some of the best games i have ever seen have been played within December, January time.

[Iain]

No winter break, will give everyone more scope for complaints. Fixture pile-ups, mid-week games blah blah blah. Summer football on the other hand.......

[latviaman]

Am I Hissed, for once I agree with Alex... Here in my chosen haven .. Football stops in November

The pitches are not safe, well with three ft of snow???

Would it not be wonderful that the powers that be, get together? think, and say miss out he winter months.

We all are fans , and we know an injury in Winter is a killer, so why do the SFA persist??

[Scotty]

I am not usually a fan of being completely insular in decision making but on this issue I think we should be. I know this may be a knee-jerk reaction to a "once every 20 year" problem but maybe it is time to look at doing something radical and having a season that suits our weather conditions ?

We may not have a foot or more of snow every December but we know that most years around this time the weather is going to be bitterly cold and roads may be a bit dodgy etc and overall it makes getting to and watching the game a less than pleasurable experience .... If you add the inability of the local authorities to deal with "severe" weather on top of that then its just folly to continue with a system that may not be broken but certainly isnt optimised !

Scottish football is dying on its feet and has been for many years so perhaps as part of a (hopeful) rebirth and rejuvenation under Levein - who we are told wants to get his hands dirty at all levels - we can not only shake the whole system up by looking at the how and why but also look at the when in terms of summer football. It makes no sense to have no football in the potentially good months of May, June and July but to persevere with it in December, January and February when its usually brassic !

The biggest argument against it might be the timing of European and Global Competitions such as the Euros and World Cup but as we no longer qualify for them regularly, why worry about them !!! Once we do actually qualify for these things then perhaps we could tweak dates to better suit everyone ! As for UEFA competitions like the Champions League or Europa Cup etc, again we are not exactly powerhouses in these so forget about them for now (other than being somewhat flexible with re-arranging games for teams who are in them), get our own football sorted out and then build these properly into our calendar at a later date.

The SFA should be looking to places like Scandinavia, Russia, Latvia and any other nations who take a winter break and seeing what works there ..... heck, if enough nations in Northern europe sing with one voice over the timing of competitions maybe even UEFA would sit up and take notice (unlikely I know unless Germany, England, Spain or Italy sign on to the idea but had to throw it in there).