Afternoon Kickoffs

[Jetmaster]

While watching the crap that is occurring in Perth I thought I'd do a bit of statto work on afternoon kickoffs. It was mentioned in David Lowe's column last week so I thought it worth investigating.

This is what I have found...

Mariners and Perth started their seasons with six and seven consecutive afternoon games respectively - both started poorly.

WSW had a mid season run of 10 consecutive evening games - the longest run and coinciding with a great run of results. Melbourne Victory have had three good runs of consecutive night matches.

The longest run of afternoon games is the Jets, who finish their season with eight consecutive games at 5pm.

Based on the whole draw this is how the table stands based on night games v afternoon games, with night games being positive.

1. Melbourne Victory (22/5) 81%
2. Melbourne City (21/6) 77%
3. Adelaide United (20/7) 74%
4. West Sydney Wanderers (20/7) 74%
5. Sydney FC (19/8) 70%
6. Brisbane Roar (18/9) 66%
7. Wellington Phoenix (16/11) 59%
8. Central Coast (11/16) 40%
9. Perth Glory (10/17) 37%
10. Newcastle Jets (7/20) 26%

Make of it what you will but I believe that teams that play more afternoon games are at a decent disadvantage and on the whole the stats back that up.

Discuss.

[boz-monaut]

the better teams get evening games as they get better ratings

correlation does not equal causation

[q-money]

the better teams in the competition on a whole will drag more TV viewers...maybe if the jets were worth watching they'd get more night games

clearly an FFA conspiracy

[Jetmaster]

I understand it is done because of the ratings....what this causes is a vicious circle that will be hard to get out of.

[q-money]

like most leagues everywhere really. who says that the a-league isn't anything like europe? it's exactly like europe!

few decent teams and a backlog of cloggers.

[Hunter403]

Send those figures to the FFA and Fox. Bet they never give them a mention.

[Superdylan]

At least with the season coming to an end aswell as daylight savings your 5pm starts will become more so twilight fixtures.

Should they consider pushing kickoffs to 6pm on Saturday's for 6/8pm starts. And 5:30pm for Sunday games? Bit stupid how victory hardly get any day games having said that with daylight savings down in Melbourne it doesn't get dark till nearly 9pm in January so they would still be playing some 7:30pm games in direct sunlight for at least the first half.

[plague]

who cares about the Jets, my curtains get super faded due to daylight savings.
and don't even get me started on the cows........

[BodyNovo]

who cares about the Jets, my curtains get super faded due to daylight savings.
and don't even get me started on the cows........

The cows are I reckon the first thing any Queenslander says to me at work when they ring up at 4.55pm every afternoon and I tell them I'm leaving in 5 minutes.

so yeah think about them.



On the main topic. We play in the Australian summer, if coaches and players can't prepare for this then they really don't deserve to be in the finals etc. The jets knowing 3-4 months from the season that they will play the majority of there games in the afternoon should be a motivation to be fitter then the other teams to cope with the heat. We have got the rough end off the draw to the bigger teams for years and you can complain all you want about it but fox aren't going to change there minds.

[pv4]

Actual table // Jmasters interesting table

1. Adelaide United // Melbourne Victory
2. Western Sydney Wanderers // Melbourne City
3. Brisbane Roar // Adelaide United
4. Melbourne City // Western Sydney Wanderers
5. Melbourne Victory // Sydney FC
6. Perth Glory // Brisbane Roar
7. Sydney FC // Wellington Phoenix
8. Newcastle Jerks // Central Coast
9. Wellington Phoenix // Perth Glory
10. Central Coast // Newcastle Jets

Roar and Perth are the only teams I'd really say are breaking the code, per say.

No doubt about scheduling, shit teams not deserving prime time, etc.

But I'd love to see the season ladder if an experimental reverse-fixturing was done - and say Victory were given the most afternoon games and we were given the most night games. I wonder how much it would affect general performance and results..

Anyone got the motivation to do a season ladder of night games vs afternoon games? Similar to a home & away one? I cbf but am interested.

[RAM]

The cows are I reckon the first thing any Queenslander says to me at work when they ring up at 4.55pm every afternoon and I tell them I'm leaving in 5 minutes.

so yeah think about them.



On the main topic. We play in the Australian summer, if coaches and players can't prepare for this then they really don't deserve to be in the finals etc. The jets knowing 3-4 months from the season that they will play the majority of there games in the afternoon should be a motivation to be fitter then the other teams to cope with the heat. We have got the rough end off the draw to the bigger teams for years and you can complain all you want about it but fox aren't going to change there minds.

It does actually affect dairy farming.

[pv4]

Daylight savings ffs.

Can we just pick one, either for it to be on or off, and just stick with it forever?

[plague]

Daylight savings ffs.

Can we just pick one, either for it to be on or off, and just stick with it forever?

Agree, having 12 months of the year at 24 hours a day then the other half at only 24 hours a day is difficult to deal with.

[plague]

It does actually affect dairy farming.

So now we've got daylight savings upsetting the Jets, the cows and the curtains.

If the pollies were serious they'd add this referendum in with the one for the homosexual people next election.

#MAKEAUSTRALIASUNSHINECONSTANTAGAIN

[MFKS]

Simple issue easy to fix

The NSL had it right the HAL has it wrong.

Games need to be played in evening times


A few years ago we had a Saturday 5:30 arvo ko for some reason it has been pushed forward to 5 pm


Reality is it should have went the other way to 6pm

Taking it to 5 you get the entire game in the heat.

Taking it to 6 and you limiting the amount of game effected by heat significantly.

The night game can KO at 8pm

Considering you have Perth and Wellington in different time zones it allows a hell of a lot of flexibility

It ain't like all 10 teams are on same time zone

It is not the hardest problem to work out.

The FFA and Foxtel can easily fix

It is actually ****ing both of them as it is watering down the quality of product

[stopper2]

Simple issue easy to fix

The NSL had it right the HAL has it wrong.

Games need to be played in evening times


A few years ago we had a Saturday 5:30 arvo ko for some reason it has been pushed forward to 5 pm


Reality is it should have went the other way to 6pm

Taking it to 5 you get the entire game in the heat.

Taking it to 6 and you limiting the amount of game effected by heat significantly.

The night game can KO at 8pm

Considering you have Perth and Wellington in different time zones it allows a hell of a lot of flexibility

It ain't like all 10 teams are on same time zone

It is not the hardest problem to work out.

The FFA and Foxtel can easily fix

It is actually ****ing both of them as it is watering down the quality of product

I think we've been in agreement on this topic a few times now Member and once again In my opinion you are 100% right.

The clueless comments above from some saying that the shit teams deserve the arvo timeslot is not the point here. Don't we all....the stakeholders of the game and FFA want our A League product to achieve it's maximum potential? Playing in 35 degree heat in the late afternoon is not doing our product any favours, it actually looks poor from a TV perspective as well since most of the crowd sit in the shaded side where the cameras are also.
When you work in the heat, your productivity drops too and you are probably only working at 70% capacity, same goes for professional sportsmen and women.
Why is the FFA allowing the players to play in conditions year after year where they know they are unable to play at full capacity?

As Member mentioned it only requires a simple fix too, pushing the starting time back to 6pm would make a big difference.

[q-money]

how are the comments clueless?

our club is such a massive bunch of peasants we even asked for afternoon games back in the day because we didn't want to pay the electricity bill for the lights.

[Jetmaster]

In NSL days nearly all games were at night, but they were the days when there would be 5-6 games at the same time. The original move to summer football had to guarantee night games in the interest of player safety - Fox has thrown that out the window.

Agree with Stopper - think of productivity in hot conditions. I reckon that Nobby of the last 2 weeks in the heat was good but not as good as the previous in cooler conditions.

The crowds are lower and the atmosphere is far less electric at a day game.....for example, look at the 2007 semi against Sydney v the 2008 semi v CC and compare the atmospheres with the crowd suffering a hot one in 2008.

[MFKS]

8pm ko Friday
6pm Saturday
8pm Saturday
6 pm Sunday
8pm Sunday

East Coast time

There's 5 ****ing slots fixed

Add in you can get Perth to play after the 8pm game and Nix to play at 4pm Saturday Sunday

Throw in possible Thursday night Monday night fixtures and problem is solved

Even if you leave out the Thursday or Monday night options you have uncluster ****ed the thing big time


Put me in charge of running the League.

Not ****ing hard

[Nou Camp]

no games in Aust should be on before 6 on Saturdays in summer not just for the heat but for that's its summer, daylight savings and people do more in the summer months
beach, cricket etc
the later the game the more its gives people a chance to get to the game

[plague]

look at the Member over there, telling us that moving kickoff back 1 hour will stop him whinging.

i see you smirking, you're not fooling anyone.

[MFKS]

no games in Aust should be on before 6 on Saturdays in summer not just for the heat but for that's its summer, daylight savings and people do more in the summer months
beach, cricket etc
the later the game the more its gives people a chance to get to the game

Agree.

Most people who have a job in the retail sector have no hope of making a 5pm KO

6pm makes much more sense for every reason

[plague]

and then its fire ups from the other 'stakeholders' (serious, does anyone have one of these stakes and if so where can i get one?) blowing up deluxe that the later games prevents Little Johnny from watching or mum and dad getting mugged in the back streets of Parra by some houso's on the way home in the dark etc etc.

swings and roundabouts and all that.

[plague]

hell, play them at 10pm then organise me a minibus to Fannys for all I care.

[borat]

8pm ko Friday
6pm Saturday
8pm Saturday
6 pm Sunday
8pm Sunday

East Coast time

There's 5 ****ing slots fixed

Add in you can get Perth to play after the 8pm game and Nix to play at 4pm Saturday Sunday

Throw in possible Thursday night Monday night fixtures and problem is solved

Even if you leave out the Thursday or Monday night options you have uncluster ****ed the thing big time


Put me in charge of running the League.

Not ****ing hard

Mmmmm great crowds at 8pm Sunday......would rather a 6pm Friday

[Hunter403]

Think how many extra burgers that would be sold with a 6pm kickoff

[stopper2]

Mmmmm great crowds at 8pm Sunday......would rather a 6pm Friday

Are you serious? I remember when we had a lot of Friday evening games at either 7.30pm or 8pm and there were always people struggling to make the kick-off because of work/commitments. Imagine a 6pm kick-off on a Friday....simply would not work.
Can't see why 8pm kick-offs wouldn't work, especially during the Summer months.

[Mitchy]

hell, play them at 10pm then organise me a minibus to Fannys for all I care.

This plz

[hawk]

no games in Aust should be on before 6 on Saturdays in summer not just for the heat but for that's its summer, daylight savings and people do more in the summer months
beach, cricket etc
the later the game the more its gives people a chance to get to the game

And cooler makes the game better to watch.

Its tool time, Jets fans fixing ffa fkups again

[Jeterpool]

Are you serious? I remember when we had a lot of Friday evening games at either 7.30pm or 8pm and there were always people struggling to make the kick-off because of work/commitments. Imagine a 6pm kick-off on a Friday....simply would not work.
Can't see why 8pm kick-offs wouldn't work, especially during the Summer months.

Would rule out families perhaps? Those with young kids.
I know we would need a babysitter. 6pm start is the a test we could handle.

[GazFish35]

When's the early epl game?

Fox want the aleague over before that starts.

While re tv money is needed, tv will dictate kickoff time.

Get the epl to move their matches.

[pv4]

When's the early epl game?

Fox want the aleague over before that starts.

While re tv money is needed, tv will dictate kickoff time.

Get the epl to move their matches.

Won't matter when Optus take the BPL.

[GazFish35]

Good point!

[stopper2]

Would rule out families perhaps? Those with young kids.
I know we would need a babysitter. 6pm start is the a test we could handle.

Most probably, fully understand this predicament as my kids were only little in the Newcastle United era of the early 2000's when all home games were Friday night 7.30 or 8pm kick offs. The missus worked at night back then and I hardly went to any games as i would have had to tag along two littlies at night.

First few seasons there was a better balance of evening/arvo games for the Jets which basically catered to everyone.
We need to get that balance back again and pushing back the 5pm or 5.15pm kick-offs to at least 6pm would go a long way to restoring that balance and essentially it would be a win/win situation for everyone. Daresay crowds would be higher, conditions more comfortable....meaning football better quality which would allround look a better product on TV.

[RAM]

Afternoon sun does not melt steel beams http://www.footballanarchy.net/forum/images/smilies/ib1qV.gif

[stopper2]

Afternoon sun does not melt steel beams http://www.footballanarchy.net/forum/images/smilies/ib1qV.gif

.....and the point is?

[RAM]

.....and the point is?

neither does Jet fuel.

[q-money]

:rof: