Dashing Bob S
07-12-2009, 01:09 PM
The way this traditionally big fixture has been systematically abused over the years by the authorities is nothing short of tragic, and to my mind says more than just about anything as to how ill-equipped for the job that the people who run our sport are.
Cast your mind back to when the New Year derby was one of the biggest games of the season, and huge box office. Occasional Hibs and Hearts fans and even neutrals would try and get tickets, and for many of us it was the most important day on the calendar, as big as a cup final.
So what do they do? They undermine the match by making it arbitrary as to when it falls. We get one around New Year every few years, like this season. Big deal! This is blamed on the computer that generates the fixture list. I've yet to hear of a computer that can't be programmed to ensure that Hibs-Hearts, Rantic, the Dundee teams or St Johnstone, Dunfermline-Raith etc can meet around New Year. They managed to achieve this a few decades ago without the aid of computers. But the authorities seem to be determined to crush any footballing spectacle in this country that falls outside of the OF sectarian circus.
Personally, I think Hibs and Hearts should advocate tying in the Derby fixture with Edinburgh's Hogmany celebrations, and play this game every year at Murrayfield, each club forfeiting home advantage every other year. I think it would be a great occasion, 15-20k on each side initially going along every 2nd January, and once it was established again, the crowds would steadily rise. It would bring in much-needed revenue, get people used to going to see the Edinburgh clubs in a big game, and give our city a genuinely glamourous annual football fixture.
Cast your mind back to when the New Year derby was one of the biggest games of the season, and huge box office. Occasional Hibs and Hearts fans and even neutrals would try and get tickets, and for many of us it was the most important day on the calendar, as big as a cup final.
So what do they do? They undermine the match by making it arbitrary as to when it falls. We get one around New Year every few years, like this season. Big deal! This is blamed on the computer that generates the fixture list. I've yet to hear of a computer that can't be programmed to ensure that Hibs-Hearts, Rantic, the Dundee teams or St Johnstone, Dunfermline-Raith etc can meet around New Year. They managed to achieve this a few decades ago without the aid of computers. But the authorities seem to be determined to crush any footballing spectacle in this country that falls outside of the OF sectarian circus.
Personally, I think Hibs and Hearts should advocate tying in the Derby fixture with Edinburgh's Hogmany celebrations, and play this game every year at Murrayfield, each club forfeiting home advantage every other year. I think it would be a great occasion, 15-20k on each side initially going along every 2nd January, and once it was established again, the crowds would steadily rise. It would bring in much-needed revenue, get people used to going to see the Edinburgh clubs in a big game, and give our city a genuinely glamourous annual football fixture.