Winter Weather - Chaos Ahead for SPL?

The ‘split’ in the Scottish Premier League’s fixture list has been a bone of contention for some since it was introduced in 2000. This season a new variable, the weather, could cause a major problem.

Clubs play each other three times between August and early April. This means they play some opponents twice at home and once away, and others twice away and once at home. The split divides the League into a top half and bottom half, with teams playing another five games. What this invariably means is that some clubs will have an imbalance of home and away fixtures – 20 at home and 18 away, or vice versa. Some team or teams will have to make three visits to the same ground. These anomalies make it more difficult to price season ticket packages and the late arrangement of the closing fixtures can make it more difficult to organise sponsorship and corporate customers.

The system has already run into problems. During Rangers run to the UEFA Cup Final, the postponement of League games and Scottish Cup replays meant that a meaningless ‘pre split’ game had to be played after the split. Nobody seemed to care that fans were being asked to pay to watch a match that had no impact on anything! In modern times the Police have an input into fixture scheduling and the timing of the final Celtic v Rangers clash of the season can be problematic. For obvious reasons, Strathclyde’s finest would not want that game to be the one which finally decides the outcome of the Championship. It would also seem to be unthinkable to ask Celtic and Rangers to play three games at Ibrox or Parkhead, and just one at the other, although it seems to be alright to ask other clubs to be similarly advantaged and disadvantaged.

The smooth running of the SPL depends on the first 33 fixtures being completed on schedule. This season that means Saturday April 10th is the cut-off date. There will be a one-week gap before the ‘run-in’ starts on the weekend of April 24th. However, if the present freezing weather continues and is followed by other inclement conditions, then the SPL schedule could descend into chaos.

Of course, SPL matches are not supposed to be cancelled. Every club needs to have ‘pitch protection’, usually on the form of under-soil heating. But this form of insurance does not guarantee that every game can go ahead. In the past week matches have, quite rightly, been called off on the grounds of public safety. Clubs cannot guarantee that the streets around stadiums, public car parks and the likes, can be in a safe and usable condition. Nor can they guarantee that the main roads across Scotland are open and safe. It’s all very well having a little green oasis in the midst of a frozen waste but it is pointless if people cannot get there safely.

Professional football emerged in Victorian times as a spectator sport. Spectators paid their money to be entertained and the money was used to pay the performers. Simple. But are the needs of spectators always taken into account nowadays? Not really. Matches are moved from Saturdays at 3pm so that they can be shown on television. These days, the media companies plough as much money into football as the spectators do. The comfort and enjoyment of those attending the game are no more important than the demands of the television schedulers. A couple of years ago Celtic played a match at Inverness. The team had travelled north the previous day. The pitch was playable. But on the day of the game the A9 was closed and hundreds, if not thousands, of ticket holders were unable to get there. Was the game called off? Of course not.

To return to the possibility of this year’s weather disrupting the SPL schedule, it is difficult to predict when the worst conditions will hit Scotland. The present cold snap is predicted to last until at least the end of the first week in January. Here could be more to come in January and February.

It might look as if there are plenty midweeks available to play postponed matches, especially following the pre-Christmas European exits of all the Scottish clubs. However, UEFA impose restrictions of when top flight games can be played – apparently they should not take place in competition with televised Champions League football. It’s the power of the sponsors again. Apparently Mastercard might suffer if Falkirk play Hamilton Accies at the same time as Manchester United take on Inter Milan.

Taking a look back over previous years it seems as if Scotland gets hit with a really bad winter every 20 years or so. 1962/3 is flagged up by many as the worst in recent times, but 1978/9 was little better. In those two instances it would have been impossible to complete the programme by early April. The season had to be extended – in 1979 the last Premier Division game was on the last day of May, when Hibs played Rangers at Easter Road. Of course undersoil heating has improved things since then, but it is no help when the surrounds and approaches to grounds are dangerous. Cash-strapped councils are unlikely to regard football grounds as a top priority for snow and ice clearing and neither should they in comparison with hospitals, schools, shopping areas and so on.

The imperative to end the season on time is even greater this season than some. It’s a World Cup year, not that it matters for the Scottish players, but some clubs, notably Rangers, have several players who are likely to be involved. They have to be released for pre World Cup preparations and Rangers would be unhappy at having to complete the season without their foreign stars.