Winter Break- what is it for?

[Spike Mandela]

As we are currently experiencing the warmest temperatures on record for a December going into January can anyone explain why we have this enforced 3 week winter hreak from league football?

[Callum_62]

Don't get it either - intense schedule when we come back

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[Keith_M]

There's absolutely no justifiable football/weather related reasons.

All it does is force clubs to play 8 or 9 games inside a month, then are usually not so well prepared for the Scottish Cup game on their return.

[Sir David Gray]

Mental but then most things usually are when it comes to decisions taken by Scottish football authorities.

We could quite easily have awful weather in February, meanwhile the next few weeks are predicted to be relatively mild.

[The Modfather]

Whether there is merit in a winter break or not I’d like to see it over Xmas and New Year. With now having a young daughter we take turns about spending it here with my family and my wife’s family down south, so was away for the derby. I think it would make sense to have the break during Xmas and new year when things are most hectic and people are generally travelling all over. It would also ease the financial pressure to attend games at the most expensive fortnight of the year for most.

[Hibbyradge]

As far as I know, the clubs welcome the winter break. In fact, was it not originally the clubs who asked for it?

It gives the players time to recover and freshen up, and work on any niggles they've been carrying.

It also means that clubs making early signings can work with them before exposing them to games.

[Keith_M]

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Whether there is merit in a winter break or not I’d like to see it over Xmas and New Year. With now having a young daughter we take turns about spending it here with my family and my wife’s family down south, so was away for the derby. I think it would make sense to have the break during Xmas and new year when things are most hectic and people are generally travelling all over. It would also ease the financial pressure to attend games at the most expensive fortnight of the year for most.

Totally agree, that makes perfect sense.

[Spike Mandela]

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As far as I know, the clubs welcome the winter break. In fact, was it not originally the clubs who asked for it?

It gives the players time to recover and freshen up, and work on any niggles they've been carrying.

It also means that clubs making early signings can work with them before exposing them to games.

What if you are a player just back from injury itching for games? Majority of player moves will likely be as window closes at end of month.


January is depressing enough without the football.😀

[Billy Whizz]

Best to have it from a fans perspective, would be pre Xmas.
Money is tight and fans have Christmas to shop and buy for, plus it’s the darkest month in the year
Unfortunately with Champions and Europa League ties, running in December, clubs in europe wouldn’t vote for it

This week for instance loads of people have time on their hands, could have had great crowds

[chrisski33]

So the teams can swan off to spain, Dubai etc. Personally the weather tends to get worse in feb beginning of march so be better having it then if its for weather justifications

[Keith_M]

We should switch to Summer Football, because the weather's always better in June/July......

[greenlex]

We play twice a week for weeks before it and the same after it. Seems pretty pointless from a physical break standpoint.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Whether there is merit in a winter break or not I’d like to see it over Xmas and New Year. With now having a young daughter we take turns about spending it here with my family and my wife’s family down south, so was away for the derby. I think it would make sense to have the break during Xmas and new year when things are most hectic and people are generally travelling all over. It would also ease the financial pressure to attend games at the most expensive fortnight of the year for most.

Absolutely agree. It seems mental that we get bombarded with more games in December than most other months of the season when folk are having their most expensive time of the year and as you say lots of folk have travel commitments to visit far flung relatives. The other point as many have stated is that the weather can be ok in January and absolutely arctic in February which makes the break totally hit or miss from that POV. So piling on the fixtures in February to make up for the winter break is fine so long as there's no postponements which could lead to a hell of a log jam later in the season.

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As far as I know, the clubs welcome the winter break. In fact, was it not originally the clubs who asked for it?

It gives the players time to recover and freshen up, and work on any niggles they've been carrying.

It also means that clubs making early signings can work with them before exposing them to games.

While that is true I lost a wee bit of sympathy for players in this country when watching the world club cup final and the commentator said it was Flamengo's 80th game of the year .... it might even have been 'season' but that's surely impossible.

[monktonharp]

possibly the best break would be a week or 2 before Christmas? nearer xmas/new year lots of families meet up or travel to join friends and family. this should be the ideal period for increased attendances surely? the Dundee derby for example, looked like a full ground, on tv although I have not seen the attendance numbers.

[cocteautwin]

It’s to allow £1m hybrid pitches the time to recover from the bashing they took from summer classical music concerts.

[CockneyRebel]

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We play twice a week for weeks before it and the same after it. Seems pretty pointless from a physical break standpoint.

That's it in a nutshell for me. After a period of 2 games a week the players may all need a "rest" but then straight after their "rest" they are back to 2 games a week again but don't get another rest. Also. the break always seems to upset any momentum that the team has built up and it takes a few games to get back up to speed plus any new signings/loans will have less time to bed in before the games begin again.
Not wholly against a winter break, but as many posters have said, the best time to take a break is impossible to determine.

[Onion]

I miss the New Year derby. If the rulers of our game had negotiated anything like a half decent TV deal, there would be zero chance of them bunking off for a holiday.

[Eyrie]

There should have been one more game before the break, partly to complete the second round of fixtures but mostly because this is the holiday period and people are off work so attendances will be higher.

Instead we have Hamilton in midweek after the break.

[lucky]

I thought it was brought in to give the players a mini mid-season break. I think it’s a good idea but if it was based on weather then we should be playing summer football

[Carheenlea]

A longer break in summer would be more preferable. The break post Christmas is nothing more than a nuisance which asks fans to travel midweek either side of it to ease fixture congestion in the darkest and coldest months of the year , but of course, those decisions are never made with the supporter in mind. We are way down the list of priorities (probably the last).

[pollution]

The answers are pretty simple, really.

It was originally mooted in the late 70's when there were severe winters eg 1978? when one particular game was postponed 23 times.

The rest of the league was in complete disarray. That was the start of the idea of a winter break. All the other reasons stem from that.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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A longer break in summer would be more preferable. The break post Christmas is nothing more than a nuisance which asks fans to travel midweek either side of it to ease fixture congestion in the darkest and coldest months of the year , but of course, those decisions are never made with the supporter in mind. We are way down the list of priorities (probably the last).

Indeed, as you say the match going fans are bottom of the list of priorities all the time every time. Of all the businesses that rely on paying customers none have customer loyalty like football has and none take them for granted like football does ... made all the more frustrating when you consider that far more than in the so called 'big leagues' fans in Scotland really are the life blood of their clubs.

[Alfred E Newman]

Surely there is a case for having a full card on 2nd Jan rather than the ridiculous midweek card in mid December.

[Billy Whizz]

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Surely there is a case for having a full card on 2nd Jan rather than the ridiculous midweek card in mid December.

Could easily have been playing Thursday/Sunday, while everyone is on holiday

[Eyrie]

The only sensible time to have any break would be immediately before the split.

That would allow time to catch up on any games lost between mid-January and mid-April, as well as providing more time to sort out the post-split fixtures.

[Joe6-2]

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Don't get it either - intense schedule when we come back

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And the weather isn’t any better!

[Max_Shah]

Its obvious...

To enable our “soft boy-band” players time to record another UK Top 10 hit single.

If only we had a manager/governing body who appreciated the value of puking up on Gullane Bents and avoiding Alsatian turds on Fettes Police Station frozen playing fields.

I do wonder how many folk on .net maintain appropriate BMI/Liver Enzyme levels [etc] and manage their delicate nutritional balance all while perceiving "softness" in our players. Not me, that is for certain, and it is the height of utter folly to compare what any fan does for a living to what a professional Hibernian player [of any gender] puts their body through on a daily basis.

This ain't 19-canteen. East Mains is a wonderful facility and the players are worked HARD every day, both psychologically and physically, every day, even during any alleged "break"

TL:DR - Professional sport is a legitimate science and although change may be scary at first it truly is the enemy of complacency - hence The Winter Break.

[davhibby]

Winter break-what is it good for-absolutely nothing

[CMurdoch]

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It’s to allow £1m hybrid pitches the time to recover from the bashing they took from summer classical music concerts.

and time for teams that have such a pitch to get their broken players repaired and get some new ones so they don't get relegated.
It's an establishment conspiracy I tells yah.

[Ozyhibby]

3 solid weeks where the yams are guaranteed to be bottom of the league? What’s not to like?


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