Fans should chill out about postponements

With the country gripped in the midst of what has come to be officially known as “the big freeze”, football has taken a back seat and us English folk have been given the opportunity to enjoy two of our other favourite pastimes: moaning about the weather, and moaning about travelling. 

And what fine voice we have been in too. Our airports have pulled the shutters down and quashed the dreams of those wishing to spend Christmas Day in the sun; many of our roads remain no-go zones for vehicles other than snow ploughs; and our trains have lived up to expectations and ground to a halt either just before, or just beyond the platform we are waiting at. 

But whilst few of us are surprised that the weather has caused travel chaos aplenty, many seem less willing to accept that the majority of Premier and Football League games were unable to be played this weekend. One newspaper reporter on Sunday recalled how in years gone by, fans would arrive at the ground early to clear away the snow and paint blue pitch markings. The games would go ahead with minimal fuss, and that was even before undersoil heating was a fixture at English grounds.

Many have argued that football clubs, together with the police and local authorities, were over-cautious and too eager to trot out the health and safety line before cancelling their fixtures this weekend. There may of course be some truth in that, but whatever their reasoning, the football clubs that did postpone their matches this weekend made the right move. 

I say this not as a fully paid up member of the fun police, but as someone who would delight in listing a thousand things he would rather be doing than sitting outside for two hours, watching football whilst the temperature fails to get above freezing. 

I take nothing away from the fans that did make it to matches this weekend - especially those West Ham supporters who made it to Blackburn - in fact I applaud their dedication. I just don’t personally consider watching football in freezing conditions a pleasurable experience, and admit that I would probably have made my excuses and stayed in the comfort of my own flat had West Ham been playing at home this weekend. That may be sacrilege to some, but I'm not about to justify my love for the club by sacrificing my nose to frostbite.

Clubs also have a responsibility to visiting fans who may be caught up in traffic or rails delays as a result of the snow. Manchester United were due in London this weekend to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and had that game have been called off following a lunchtime pitch inspection rather than on Saturday, thousands of United fans would have been marooned in London and facing treacherous journeys back to Surrey, sorry, Manchester.

It’s not often I say this about professional football clubs in England, but in the main I feel common sense prevailed this weekend. The travel situation was appalling, and temperatures far from conducive to a pleasant viewing experience. 

Fans in Germany, where a full Bundesliga programme was played, may well disagree and believe football clubs in England should prepare better for such conditions. It’s also true that many other countries are also set up to cope with freezing temperatures and widespread snow much better than ourselves. 

For example, I recall once sitting in a rural Norwegian airport watching a blizzard in full flow wondering if we were ever going to get home. A small army of staff then took to the runway area to clear a path for take-off, before dousing our plane with what I can only assume was some kind of liquidised grit. Ten minutes later we were ready to depart and that was typical of our weekend; when public services ran without delay despite constantly arctic weather. That said, I also recall paying £8 for a pint and £12 for Burger King on that same trip, so it’s not all plain sailing for the Norwegians.

But countries such as Germany and Norway have the infrastructure in place to cope with the kind of weather we are currently having because they have this weather every year. Sub-zero temperatures are expected throughout their winters, whilst here they remain the exception. For those countries, not investing in public services to deal with the weather is not an option: the country would be in chaos for months on end. 

Here, it’s unlikely that snow will still be on our streets come the end of February like it will be there. If it is and our football programme manages to soldier on, you’ll find me hanging out with Jeff Stelling and the cast of Soccer Saturday, safe in the warmth of my local public house.

The real reason why football is not coming home

Nearly a week after FIFA’s controversial decision to award Russia hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup, the debate - in England at least - rages on.  How could football’s governing body ignore the technically superior English bid, and opt instead for the far riskier Russian option?

For many the answer has corruption at its heart: Russia was willing to play the political game, and used its financial might to grease the palms of FIFA delegates to get their way. England was not; choosing instead to naively concentrate on developing a bid that ticked all the commercial, technical and logistical boxes. A classic case of evil using underhand tactics to overcome good. 

The bid team, FA and the English media have peddled this theory ever since Sepp Blatter opened that envelope last Thursday and disappointed the nation’s football followers. As fans, many of us have bought it and remain outraged at the injustice of the system. But it’s time we all woke up and realised we are missing the point. 

England presented FIFA a low risk option that offered ready-made stadiums certain to be full for every game, involved minimal infrastructure development and would easily attract corporate investment because of its existing commercial power. A perfect bid then? Well not exactly; for England’s strengths turned out to be its weaknesses: England may want the World Cup, but it doesn’t need it.

Let’s ask ourselves this: how would having the World Cup in England change our football? I can’t see how it would bring any significant change at all, and therein lies the reason behind FIFA’s decision. 

Our stadia are already amongst the very best in the world, and attract huge attendances on a weekly basis. Despite our frustrations with the roads and rail links during the snow, our travel infrastructure compares favourably with other nations. London, Manchester, Birmingham and many of the other cities that were to host games if England was successful have proven track records at hosting international events and coping with tourism. The money generated by the Premier League is held up as an example to others of how commercial partners can successfully be engaged in the sport. In short, England hosting the World Cup would leave no discernable legacy; and we all know how much FIFA likes a legacy.

This is not to say that I agree with the decision, because I certainly don’t. I believe that either England or the Iberian bid would have provided a festival of football played out in front of fanatical fans. The passion of the supporters of  the countries involved in both bids would have created an incredible atmosphere, and given the experience of those countries in hosting big international and club level games, the tournament would most likely have been organised smoothly and without incident.

But the decision has been made, and we need to accept that FIFA believes its focus should be on extending the game beyond the traditional powers of international football. This is its priority, and there is a good argument to suggest that whilst England may feel it has been treated unjustly, there is little fair about the World Cup only being alternated between Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. We might say it’s our turn after 44 years of waiting, but how long is Russia expected to wait for the World Cup? 

As a nation, the reaction to the decision has been misguided at best, and arrogant at worst. At times, there has been an imperialism about the way we have conducted ourselves in the days since the decision; a school of thought that we brought the game to these buggers, so we’ll bloody well tell them how we want the world game to be run. Boris Johnson’s decision to withdraw VIP invites to FIFA delegates for the 2012 Olympics is quite frankly embarrassing, and will win us even less friends than BBC’s Panorama expose. No, it’s time we got over ourselves. 

We have much to be thankful for as football fans in England. We see some of the world’s top stars week-in-week-out, and get to watch our football in mostly fantastic facilities. We have extensive television coverage, and despite what some might say, still have fair play at the heart of our game. Football will go on whether England hosts the World Cup again or not, and we should be concentrating on building a team that regularly challenges to win the tournament, rather than simply hosting it.