SOCCER fans in the Western Isles have slammed the Scottish Premier League for changing the dates of the Edinburgh New Year derby to fit in with television schedules.
The date change from January 2nd to the following day for the upcoming Hibernian versus Hearts match has left some island fans being forced to change the dates of economy air tickets which can be hugely expensive. Some fans are also facing having to pay for an extra night’s accommodation and trying to negotiate more time off work if they want to see their heroes.
One Stornoway fan said they were facing charges of up to £100 extra for each leg of the air journey to change the dates on Flybe air tickets to Edinburgh. He said: “That is just not fair. The dates should not be announced until they are set in stone. We have to book early to get cheaper tickets.”
The supporters believe it is scandalous that they are sometimes left to pick up unexpected costs and some even say they should be paid compensation if the SPL changes the dates.
Another said: “Not all Hibs and Hearts supporters are in Edinburgh, you know. They should get it confirmed first with the TV companies. The dates should be set in stone before being announced.”
The Scottish Premier League confirmed it was aware of the difficulties but stressed that the initial fixture list is always provisional. A spokesman said: “The list is published in June but the TV games are selected on a period-by-period basis. This Edinburgh game was confirmed for television on the 24th of October.
“Our message is please don’t make travel plans until that set of fixtures has been prescribed for television because there is always the danger the games will move. Of course, the dates are set early but they are only provisional pending TV selections.”
He said that the SPL currently had TV selections up until the end of January so if a fan was going to a game, for example, on the 9th of February they would urge them not to make any plans until it had been confirmed they had been selected for broadcast. It was conceded that some games are regularly switched from Saturday to Sunday, for example.
Although the fixture list is published in June, it is always regarded as being subject to TV-related changes, he said. “In July we do the first selections but there are so many other factors like European and other matches that can impact on the dates. It is not straightforward.” The SPL, he said, was always happy to help any fans looking for guidance and they appreciated some people would be unhappy that the Hearts-Hibs game had been moved to January 3.
Another island fan said: “It happened to the Old Firm game last New Year as well. My mate got tickets for himself and his two sons – then the date was changed. They had to re-book flights and that cost a small fortune. They then also had to try and get accommodation for the new dates.
“The easiest thing would be not to announce the fixtures until the dates were absolutely confirmed.”
The SPL insisted it completely understood the cost to fans in time and money of making an air journey and that many supporters do not live near to stadiums. However, its spokesman insisted Scotland was no different to other nations. He said: “There are the same issues in other European countries where they only finalise the games about a fortnight beforehand when TV is involved.”
