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Festive Football - We Love It.


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Old 19-12-2016, 16:46
Cornish_Piskie
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In England, there is something rather special about football at Christmas time. OK, so for a number of years there has been talk of a winter break, perhaps even over the holiday, but I believe this would be a disaster for the English game, which is wedded to the deeper rhythms of our winter rituals, that shared folk memory of holiday football as a sort of beano.... a spree, a communal release from the holiday routine – not to mention being a part of a more generalised fightback against Christmas itself. In many ways, football should not belong at Christmas, but it does because it is a valuable trimming to the season.

There are various reasons for this enduring chemistry. Strange things happen at this time. The players suddenly seem more familial and pack-like. Goal celebrations will be even more elaborate and well rehearsed than usual; manifestations of the holiday mood in the manner of a child who has found an unexpectedly wonderful new toy in his Xmas stocking. There will be scoreline oddities, not to mention season-saving moments of personal redemption for those whose performances have been less than glorious so far.

We loved a player like Mario Ballotelli who, strangely child-like, had a certain Christmas air about him at all times. Somehow, you couldn’t help feeling that he was the man most likely to play a match while wearing a Santa hat, or come off the bench late in the game carrying a sack of presents over his shoulder. During his behaviourally erratic, yet crowd-fixingly way when at Manchester City he did the next best thing, scoring a walking pace hat-trick just after Christmas with the almost embarrassed air of an awkward child playing Jingle Bells on the electronic keyboard his grandmother gave him for a present.

There seems to be a certain infrastructure to Christmas football. Although Christmas Day matches are history, the Boxing Day derby is a rarity, and next day return fixtures are long gone, festive football still draws huge crowds, largely made up of fans willing to endure long journeys of three - lane gridlock on the motorways or grudgingly staffed rail networks, to attend away games.

Perhaps it is the basic notion of escape that underpins festive football, as it is an intrinsic part of Christmas that mostly, we want to somehow get the whole business over and done with as quickly as possible. Football gives us an escape…. An opportunity to get out of the house and breathe in the fresh, cold December air and forget about being trapped in the madhouse with over excited children and relatives that you don’t see at any other time of the year.

Football offers not just a means of exit from the bonds of ritual festivity but it is also a way of losing yourself in something larger. This is the deep soul of English football.

Over the holiday season it will be our love of watching 22 pampered, multi-millionaire prima donnas kicking a ball around that provides the escape hatch and renews again our affection for these itinerant, unruly entertainers to usher in a new year with an affirmation of football’s unique place in each fan’s individual alternative world.

Come on, fess up.... we love it.
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Old 19-12-2016, 17:04
Mark F
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Just waiting for the excuses from all these managers to come in!

"We need a winter break" etc..

I like a bit of festive football although our (Watford) have had our kick-off changed in all 3 games but that is Sky and the Premier league for you.
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Old 19-12-2016, 18:39
Jason C
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I couldn't help noticing while looking through the Christmas fixture list that the Scottish leagues will be playing matches on Christmas Eve, albeit with lunchtime kick offs.

Although Christmas Eve is a Saturday, I'm still intrigued as to what attendances those matches will get.
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Old 19-12-2016, 18:48
Jamesp84
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I'd happily escape the house for a few hours on Christmas Eve to go to the match.
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Old 19-12-2016, 20:39
CELT1987
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I couldn't help noticing while looking through the Christmas fixture list that the Scottish leagues will be playing matches on Christmas Eve, albeit with lunchtime kick offs.

Although Christmas Eve is a Saturday, I'm still intrigued as to what attendances those matches will get.
All the men will be happy to get out of doing Xmas shopping.
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Old 19-12-2016, 21:59
celesti
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Feels like I'm being advertised to for some reason.
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Old 20-12-2016, 07:03
DUNDEEBOY
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I couldn't help noticing while looking through the Christmas fixture list that the Scottish leagues will be playing matches on Christmas Eve, albeit with lunchtime kick offs.

Although Christmas Eve is a Saturday, I'm still intrigued as to what attendances those matches will get.
Quite a few have been moved to Friday night
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Old 20-12-2016, 09:25
codeblue
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less pointless internationals, and we have time for a 2 week break after xmas
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Old 20-12-2016, 10:20
NorthernNinny
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I'd happily escape the house for a few hours on Christmas Eve to go to the match.
You make it sound like you're being held captive.
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Old 20-12-2016, 15:56
Fizzee Rascal
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What a load of shit. I have to drive from London to Hull (Hull!) and Leicester during this festive period for matches. Oh the glamour of it all.
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Old 20-12-2016, 16:50
pete137
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Hate that my club dont have a boxing day game. Its part of my christmas every year. Gutted.
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Old 20-12-2016, 19:45
mattlamb
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I couldn't help noticing while looking through the Christmas fixture list that the Scottish leagues will be playing matches on Christmas Eve, albeit with lunchtime kick offs.

Although Christmas Eve is a Saturday, I'm still intrigued as to what attendances those matches will get.
They used to in England too if Christmas Day was on a Saturday.

There are actually fewer festive games this season than most others.
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Old 20-12-2016, 21:17
snukr
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They used to play on Christmas Day whatever day it was on, except Sunday, followed by a game on Boxing Day. They also used to play 3 games in 4 days at Easter. That was in the days before squads, players don't know how easy they've got it these days.
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Old 20-12-2016, 21:59
Armagideon Time
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Hate that my club dont have a boxing day game. Its part of my christmas every year. Gutted.
I hate the fact that my club has only had one - yes ONE - scheduled home game on Boxing Day in the past 10 seasons

Oh, and trains don't run on Boxing Day. For that reason I'd say scrap the Boxing Day fixtures!
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Old 20-12-2016, 22:03
celesti
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No home games until next year, which is an absolute blessing at the moment.

Away Fixtures I Haven't Already Paid For - We Love Them ©
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Old 20-12-2016, 22:29
sodavlac
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I couldn't help noticing while looking through the Christmas fixture list that the Scottish leagues will be playing matches on Christmas Eve, albeit with lunchtime kick offs.

Although Christmas Eve is a Saturday, I'm still intrigued as to what attendances those matches will get.
I was a bit disappointed to find out there wasn't any English football on Christmas Eve when it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago it was on a Saturday. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day would've been great, and better than the New Year's Eve/January 2nd thing they've done for most clubs imo.
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Old 21-12-2016, 05:25
glasgow67
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They used to in England too if Christmas Day was on a Saturday.

There are actually fewer festive games this season than most others.

Not for Celtic, we've already played 6 games in December and we have 3 more to come which will end on the 31st, our 9th game in 28 days.
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Old 21-12-2016, 12:45
Turbulence
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I was a bit disappointed to find out there wasn't any English football on Christmas Eve when it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago it was on a Saturday. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day would've been great, and better than the New Year's Eve/January 2nd thing they've done for most clubs imo.
I personally would also find that great, but couldn't really blame the players for not sharing the same enthusiasm.
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