The vibrancy of summer football.

[LaMotta]

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Would also increase our chances of competing in Europe

Whats the evidence to support that though?

[tonyrougier123]

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So, if it falls on a football day, we are getting absolutely soaked then

I’d rather get soaked in June than December 😂🥶.
The weather situation is clearly much better this time of year,just need to look at the pitch for proof of that. Your best argument imo against summer football is winter is crap in Scotland need something to do. Which is a fair enough point. But not without remedy.

[tonyrougier123]

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Whats the evidence to support that though?

Because we don’t currently play in the summer there’s little data to use in Scotland. However when Scottish teams qualifying for Europe come up against teams with a pre season and match sharpness generally we struggle. I’d also point out Scandinavian teams play in group stage football a whole lot more than we do,it might be preparation is better starting early or it might be our league is just not at that standard. I think it’s a good mix of both. Maybe summer football would see us produce your Haalands and odegaards but maybe it wouldn’t.
But either way testing the water could be worth it.

[LaMotta]

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I’d rather get soaked in June than December 😂🥶.
The weather situation is clearly much better this time of year,just need to look at the pitch for proof of that. Your best argument imo against summer football is winter is crap in Scotland need something to do. Which is a fair enough point. But not without remedy.

People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

[CapitalGreen]

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People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

Winter training camps are thing, we have been to Spain and UAE during January in recent years.

[tonyrougier123]

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People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

If it never happens it’s not because it can’t happen. You have break weeks in England in January teams go abroad. As as been said scandinavian teams would be in pre season also,they seem to cope with preparation.
It would take an expansion of people’s minds to migrate to the idea,and better much more thinking folk I’m sure could at least draw up a blueprint and let the supporters up and down the country have a look. We do fund it mostly after all.

[Bristolhibby]

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Because there is a notion that moving Scottish football to summertime would suddenly see better TV deals and a surge in interest in people from elsewhere watching games as we wouldnt be competing with English leagues. The LOI tried it and it hasn't made a difference.

The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

[Blaster]

I wouldn’t change to a Summer season but I’d try and avoid as many games in December and play an extra few midweek games in March/April/May instead

[G15 Hibs]

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I wouldn’t change to a Summer season but I’d try and avoid as many games in December and play an extra few midweek games in March/April/May instead

This would be a sensible solution

[Bishop Hibee]

I’d stop getting a season ticket as I’d miss too many games going away at the weekends during summer.

[CapitalGreen]

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The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

[LaMotta]

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Winter training camps are thing, we have been to Spain and UAE during January in recent years.

As the greenest club in Scotland we should be against long avoidable flights

[LaMotta]

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The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

But its still crap to wider TV markets. People in England arent interested in our game, moving it to summer wont change that.

[superfurryhibby]

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League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

That's interesting, so one myth blown out of the water (do you have a link for this?)


I would like summer football, It works in other places, our game is moribund and this would be an innovation. I think it would give our teams a better chance in Europe, instead of going in cold, after a couple of warm up games.

There have been many freezing nights when I sat and watched and thought that this is brutal. It's entertainment, not the Scottish equivalent of some freaky game show endurance test. Worth considering

[Carheenlea]

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League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

I go to the occasional Galway Utd game if they’re at home when I’m over, and their home crowds are similar in size to our travelling support.

I’ve never really enjoyed it that much and the only highlight was sitting along from president Michael D Higgins one night. Given they also play in maroon I’m not sure why I bother to be honest.

[vercol36]

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What’s the relevance of the league of Ireland? A different country where football is the 4th most popular sport?

I mean, I get where you’re coming from. But to call football the fourth most popular sport is perhaps a bit disingenuous. Every single pub is packed out for English Premiership games.

[NAE NOOKIE]

The worst we could do is have a feasibility study on it. There are other summer leagues in Europe, instead of speculation why don't the SPFL / SFA actually try and collate some facts and figures from those leagues, especially ones who have changed from winter to summer and see if the pros outweigh the cons.

From a financial point of view I simply can't see how it doesn't make sense.

If the league was closed from say December to the end of February there would be no need to use stadium floodlights, no need to use undersoil heating, no need to heat or light stadium interiors in that time, basic maintenance notwithstanding ... that has to save a few bob on the water, gas and leccy bills.

No it might not lead to a better TV deal, but for the months the EPL /EFL is closed down there would be no need to move kick off times of live matches to ridiculous times like 12 or 12:30 to avoid a clash with SKY's main event of Bournemouth v Brentford ... a factor which stops quite a few people attending matches. The Scottish cup final would almost certainly have to be moved as well, avoiding the embarrassment of it having to play second fiddle to the FA cup final, to the extent that it's inconveniencing 50,000 of our games supporters.

That fact and playing during 'allegedly' better weather could well see an increase in attendances, it simply has to be the case that some folk look at the weather forecast in January and February and decide not to attend some matches, especially if poor driving weather is a factor. That could well see an increase in away supports.

Clubs could also look at outdoor fan zones if they have the capacity to do so.

Yes there are downsides as well, school holidays, folk who play golf, all the usual summer activities.

But that's the whole point ..... There is a potential here to increase the attendances, possibly get a better TV deal, possibly decrease costs for clubs. It seems daft on the face of it that the people who run football haven't at least attempted a study, which amongst other things involves an intensive supporter survey and intensive consultation with other summer leagues, to find out if it would be worth giving this a go.

[Jones28]

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The worst we could do is have a feasibility study on it. There are other summer leagues in Europe, instead of speculation why don't the SPFL / SFA actually try and collate some facts and figures from those leagues, especially ones who have changed from winter to summer and see if the pros outweigh the cons.

From a financial point of view I simply can't see how it doesn't make sense.

If the league was closed from say December to the end of February there would be no need to use stadium floodlights, no need to use undersoil heating, no need to heat or light stadium interiors in that time, basic maintenance notwithstanding ... that has to save a few bob on the water, gas and leccy bills.

No it might not lead to a better TV deal, but for the months the EPL /EFL is closed down there would be no need to move kick off times of live matches to ridiculous times like 12 or 12:30 to avoid a clash with SKY's main event of Bournemouth v Brentford ... a factor which stops quite a few people attending matches. The Scottish cup final would almost certainly have to be moved as well, avoiding the embarrassment of it having to play second fiddle to the FA cup final, to the extent that it's inconveniencing 50,000 of our games supporters.

That fact and playing during 'allegedly' better weather could well see an increase in attendances, it simply has to be the case that some folk look at the weather forecast in January and February and decide not to attend some matches, especially if poor driving weather is a factor. That could well see an increase in away supports.

Clubs could also look at outdoor fan zones if they have the capacity to do so.

Yes there are downsides as well, school holidays, folk who play golf, all the usual summer activities.

But that's the whole point ..... There is a potential here to increase the attendances, possibly get a better TV deal, possibly decrease costs for clubs. It seems daft on the face of it that the people who run football haven't at least attempted a study, which amongst other things involves an intensive supporter survey and intensive consultation with other summer leagues, to find out if it would be worth giving this a go.

Great post NN.

Pitch maintenance as well. Grass doesn’t grow in December, January and February.

So it would be a plus point for “ball on the ground” football.

[hibby rae]

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Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

I would far rather sit watching football in the summer than a gloomy winter.

I have hobbies outside football anyway so can entertain myself other ways.

[davhibby]

The main reason it would never work is that we’d be totally out of sync with our biggest transfer market. Teams would lose out of contract players to English clubs at the end of our season and would then have to wait until the middle of the season to sign replacements unless they were able to pay a transfer fee.

You’d also have the problem of losing players for months in the middle of the season and again unless you had a massive summer transfer window mid season (other countries who play in the summer tend to just have August) you’d be left waiting up to 2 months to replace people.

If we had the winter break in December instead of January that would be better. First games back could be boxing day and we could have the extra midweek games at the start/end of the season instead of right around the winter break.

[BoomtownHibees]

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Great post NN.

Pitch maintenance as well. Grass doesn’t grow in December, January and February.

So it would be a plus point for “ball on the ground” football.

I think that could also cause some bother with pitches as well though.

So if season finished in November, pitches will be a mess and not sure how they would recover in time for the season starting again in March.

Might explain why so many Scandinavian teams play on artificial pitches

[seanshow]

Should have done it 30 years ago.

Start the season mid March and have the cup final on new years day,
perfect pitches all season, summer football, and better prepared for club euro comps.

Just have to suck it up and adjust come international football.

Chick dung (bbc) has been advocating this for his whole career......but don't let that put us off the idea :)

[Diclonius]

Would be for it in principle, and from a personal perspective my family doesn't go on holidays an awful lot so will be able to make most of the games. Would miss the Winter football though.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

motherwell fans thought the same last summer… then they were humped both home and away by Sligo.

but on the question of summer football, it’s a no from me. I love my winter football. Love the festive fixtures.

as others have said many people struggle in the winter months. To trudge through three cold dark months without Hibs to look forward to at the weekend would be more punishment. I don’t even like the couple of weeks winter break in January. I equally love switching off from football completely during the warm months when there’s always plenty to do outside on a Saturday.

[.Sean.]

This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for me

[Steven79]

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This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for me

Give me summer football over that experience every day of the week.

Not everyone lives 5 minutes from Easter Road.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[CapitalGreen]

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This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for me

There would still be part of the season played during cold months, we’d just no longer be stopping when the weather got nice.

[Gatecrasher]

I don't really go in the winter anymore, much prefer football in warmer weather. It just feels better.

[jacomo]

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In terms of crowds getting bigger, I’m not sure what evidence could be provided when it’s never been tried?

Not a direct comparison but is there not potential comparables with rugby league moving to a summer league so they didn’t have to compete with union? I’m really no expert on that subject so I may be miles off with the comparison but my perception was it was a sport that wasn’t really thriving, once they moved to the summer the popularity of it took off, helped by the fact there’s very little other sport on at that time.

I think we face a similar challenge competing with an English football.

I’d be all for summer football, I hate being cold and would be quite happy to hibernate for the winter, only leaving the house when absolutely necessary. Much nicer experience for taking kids to a game too if the sun is shining and it’s warm.

It worked for a while but I wouldn’t describe English rugby league as thriving these days.

[Sauerkraut]

Quite enjoying the civilised debate. I'm an old fart and its getting increasingly difficult to drag myself up to ER on winter evenings. Weds occasion was so much more pleasant, (and the result a huge bonus). TV will stump up for SPFL during summer when there is no alternative. Only one digital channel will have access to Euros/WC in the even years, leaving the others scrambling. I am happy to settle for English/European TV football (lets say Dec to Feb) to ensure retention of the dangly bits. I hardly think we would often be endangering brave Scottish teams in the latter stages of European competition. And yes, there is an argument around eco-issue money savings.
I acknowledge there is some resistance which I respect.