Dulwich Hamlet superbly criticise controversial Telegraph article

Dulwich Hamlet superbly criticise a controversial article which was issued by the Telegraph is relation to Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portugal international is getting ready to make his second debut for Manchester United, and that’s expected to be Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Newcastle.

His arrival at the club at the very tail end of the transfer window threw the ‘importance’ of this match on its head and this run-of-the-mill home fixture is now deemed one of the biggest events of the season.

Football’s 3pm blackout must go – Cristiano Ronaldo’s return is for everyone to see, writes @JBurtTelegraph | https://t.co/B3omCc6VWP

— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) September 6, 2021

However, there has been some criticism with the match to not be shown live on the television because of the ‘3pm blackout’, which prevents matches taking place during 2:45 and 5:15 from being broadcast.

The blackout came about when league football’s first dalliance with live televised football came in 1960, when the Football League signed a contract with ITV to show a live match on Saturday evenings. The League was reticent because attendances had already been falling consistently for a decade since their post-war peak in 1950, and when the first match between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers turned out to be a disappointment both in terms of ratings and match attendance, the experiment was quickly dropped.

It was then 23 years before live league football returned to television screens in England, and even when Match of the Day was launched in 1964, the Burnley chairman Bob Lord refused to allow cameras into Turf Moor, and the Clarets consequently didn’t make their televised debut until December 1967. TV cameras remained to be viewed with a considerable amount of scepticism by clubs, and for many years, especially with crowds continuing to fall after regular televised highlights began.

It continues to cause anger however with the financial gap between the biggest and the rest is a regular debate, with matches being scattered across the weekend schedule for the benefit of broadcasters.

The Covid pandemic hit in March 2020 and football had no fans in the stands, so the decision was made to allow all top flight matches to be shown live on the TV, while EFL clubs were given dispensation to screen their matches through their iFollow service. This made sense.

However now we’re back to normal, the 3pm blackout sets in, but critics argue that you can watch a 3pm kick off on a Saturday afternoon anywhere in the world apart from the country in which the match is actually taking place.

England’s football ecosystem depends upon it. Clubs further down the leagues are increasingly dependent on match-day revenues, in the National League, teams only receive £7,000 per home appearance and £1,000 per away appearance for live televised matches, an amount that is dwarfed by their match-day income.

Below this level, broadcasting money received by clubs comes from (very) occasional appearances on the television in the FA Cup.

It’s hard to wonder what the exact effect on lower-division clubs would be if the 3pm blackout ended. Average spend of a match-going non league fan to be £20-£30 per match for entrance, refreshments etc, a small number of people withdrawing their support would cost each club tens of thousands of pounds over the course of a season that they simply cannot afford to lose, while also diminishing the fact the Saturdays afternoon are for ‘going to the football’.

The unpredictability of the transfer window means that it was too late for any broadcaster to selected the game in which Cristiano Ronaldo would make his debut. Games had already been picked, for this weekend it’s Chelsea v Aston Villa, Crystal Palace v Tottenham, Leeds v Liverpool and Everotn v Burnley.

No doubt all the attention in order to watch CR7’s expected appearance will turn to the highlights, Gary Lineker loving the fact Match of the Day will get a boost in ratings.

Meanwhile, Dulwich Hamlet superbly criticise a controversial Telegraph article, see what they said below…

The irony of this being behind a paywall is not lost on us.

DHFC💖💙 https://t.co/hrlcqBbEgF

— Dulwich Hamlet FC (@DulwichHamletFC) September 6, 2021

FAN REACTION:

@pengedragon: It’s all very well going to watch your local team but what about the real fans who can only see 4 games a day from the sofa

@floody1978: Football is not a TV show

@tomfm8: How is it ‘for everyone to see’? Actual football fans will be at their own team’s game on Saturday at 3pm if they’re playing, and couldn’t give a flying fuck about any other team or their players

@smokeandkia: I’m a United fan and I agree completely with this. I wouldn’t be arsed if any other team had signed a,b or c player! United fans want to see ronaldo….leeds, Liverpool, Everton etc etc do not!

@Impanalytics_: Never mind about our unique football pyramid down to hundreds of non-league clubs. Should be encouraging people to watch them instead of turning football into an armchair sport.

@TrapitJon: 3pm blackout is pointless and from a bygone era. Is there a blackout when full fixture lists are played midweek? Including PL? Not sure why this relates to Ronaldo though. Big partridge shrug gif for that

@MinesaLongHop: Prefer to be @LewesFCMen to watch @ETFCOfficial not some overpaid pansies

@HC15OnTour: Couldn’t give a flying f*ck about Ronaldo or the wankfest going on in Manchester, London & Surrey

@ianb74: Typical media Ronaldo wankfest. @JBurtTelegraph out of touch with the football supporting public, no one outside Utd gives a fuck mate.Shove ya pay wall up your arse.

@hopey550: Tell me you can’t be arsed travelling up and down the country to support your club without telling me you can’t be arsed travelling up and down the country to support your club.

@RyanMKIV: The 3pm blackout is to encourage people to go out and watch their local sides whose matches aren’t on TV every week instead of watching football all day on the weekend. It’s not from a “bygone era”, it’s a campaign to encourage support of lower league/non league football.

@richardmiles90: The hype is over the top. Football is bigger than one player. Most fans will be watching their team at the ground at 3pm, illegally streaming or waiting for highlights in the evening. I don’t think many people care they are missing watching Ronaldo live on a £30 p/m subscription.

@JonMainy: Yep let’s affect the attendances and finances of the smaller teams in the Football League to see a guy on half a million pound per week play for a club in masses of debt. You may as well have stuck with the Super League plan if this is your footy ideas for the future.

@Craig1707: Calling for a 3pm blackout to end by writing from behind a paywall is ironic.

@spotter1266: As a Newcastle fan I don’t want it to be shown live, it could get messy lol

@lofc1971: Absolute cobblers…….actual football fans will be going to home matches or travelling the country for away games to watch THEIR team..to support THEIR players..also there are leagues other than the PL in this country its not the be all and end all….seems forgotten sometimes

@palacecarlton: Like if you could not care less about watching Ronaldo’s return