The presents are open, the turkey’s devoured and the family bickering has momentarily paused. For hundreds of thousands of football fans that can mean only one thing: it’s time for the match.
But not this Boxing Day. With just one Premier League game being played instead of the usual festive footballing feast, fans are looking elsewhere for blessed respite, with teams lower down the football pyramid hoping to entice those who are desperate to get out of the house.
Non-league clubs are expecting a bonanza day similar to the boost they get when International games impose a break on the top clubs, said Jon Couch, the executive editor of the Non-League Paper.
“Boxing Day is already probably the biggest day of the non-league calendar,” he said. “It’s the day that the non league clubs look to first when the fixtures come out, because a home Boxing Day game is huge, both commercially and in terms of bringing the community together.”
With only Manchester United and Newcastle United playing in the Premier League, much smaller – often cash-strapped – clubs will be hoping to capitalise, he added. “This year it’s a real opportunity, if clubs do get a home game it’s like Christmas come late.”
The Premier League confirmed in October that only one game would be played this Boxing Day, citing the expansion of European competition for the gap in the schedule. The last time Boxing Day was a Friday, in 2014, there was a full top-flight programme, this year there will be the lowest number of fixtures in the top flight and Football League on Boxing Day since the second world war. The news was met with consternation and cited as further proof that the game has, indeed, gone.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, the station’s chief football correspondent, Alex Crook, echoed the sentiment of disgruntled fans when asked to give his opinion on the decision. “I’m a dinosaur, call me what you like, but Boxing Day is for sport and Boxing Day is for football,” he grumbled. “We have our traditions, and football on Boxing Day is one of those traditions.”
Kat Law, former co-chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, said Boxing Day was always “really important” to her because she would go off to the match with her dad while her mum and nan made lunch at home. But it was her friends who like watching a game on the TV who were the most upset, she said. “It’s a couple of hours out of the Christmas chaos,” she said. “Obviously, that’s not possible on Boxing Day now.”
It has proved a headache for Greg Mitchell, a founder of the Nottingham Forest fan group Forza Garibaldi. With a friend – a big Borussia Dortmund fan – staying over Christmas, his search to find them a decent match to go to has been frustrating. “It’s so sad how all the traditions are getting slowly but surely picked apart,” he said.
Executives at the League One club Bolton Wanderers, who will play Rotherham United at home on 26 December, are hoping they can lure Manchester City fans up the M61 and are expecting a larger-than-usual crowd. “The fact that people want their Boxing Day football fix will encourage them to have a look at us,” said the club’s chief executive, David Ray. “Then it’s about giving them a good experience, and hopefully they’ll want to come back.”
Bradford City also expect their Boxing Day game against Wigan to be a sellout, the chief executive, Ryan Sparks, said. “Because there are less options for people, it’s definitely an opportunity for us,” he said. “We just have to put a good show on.”
Despite the dissatisfaction of some fans about the cancellation of Premier League Boxing Day matches, there are plenty of match-going fans who are quietly relieved that they don’t have to face the ordeal of getting to a game without any public transport. This is particularly the case since broadcast rights mean kickoffs are staggered and often – demonstrated by the 8pm start for the Manchester United-Newcastle game – deeply inconvenient for fans, said Billy “the bee” Grant, co-presenter of Brentford FC’s Beesotted podcast.
He added: “There may be some fans going, ‘thank God there’s no football on Boxing Day,’ because I’m actually not going to get in trouble this year, I can actually dedicate that time to my family for the first time in about 40 years.”