Winter - Early kick-offs?

[Scary Bear]

It’s a lovely sunny day today, but it’ll be dark by 4pm.

I see Dumbarton’s game with Airdrie tomorrow has a 1pm kick-off time.

Should more clubs be opting for early kick-off times to take advantage of natural daylight and save on floodlighting costs?

[tamthebam]

When I first started watching Edinburgh City in the East of Scotland League in1995 the games kicked off at 2.30 in the autumn. Most clubs didn't have lights so kick off times moved to 2, then 1.45, then 1.15 as the sunsets got earlier during the winter months. The Juniors followed a similar pattern.

Early kick offs would have been a feature of Scottish League football as there were no lights. I wonder when 3pm kick offs became the norm- maybe by the mid 70s when most clubs had lights (Alloa and Stranraer were the last two clubs in the then League to get them) 

1.15 kick offs meant you were usually in the pub in time to hear Jeff Stelling read out the half time scores and you were well on the way by teatime 

In these days of 4G pitches it would certainly be warmer watching the football. In the old days of grass you could be guaranteed games would go off with frozen pitches in cold weather but now you face the prospect of watching Airdrie in the dark in December in the freezing cold (I pick on Airdrie because I really was freezing cold there once). 

The other thing is it might be a struggle to get to Elgin from Edinburgh for a 1pm kick off (I think it's just about doable by train) let alone from Stranraer or Annan although depending on clubs in the League fairly local games could be scheduled in December e g. City v Cowden, Stirling, Albion Rovers, Stenny.

On the other hand there is something magical about watching the sunset at half time in a game in winter 

[Gus Setsniffer]

3 hours ago, tamthebam said:

When I first started watching Edinburgh City in the East of Scotland League in1995 the games kicked off at 2.30 in the autumn. Most clubs didn't have lights so kick off times moved to 2, then 1.45, then 1.15 as the sunsets got earlier during the winter months. The Juniors followed a similar pattern.

Early kick offs would have been a feature of Scottish League football as there were no lights. I wonder when 3pm kick offs became the norm- maybe by the mid 70s when most clubs had lights (Alloa and Stranraer were the last two clubs in the then League to get them) 

1.15 kick offs meant you were usually in the pub in time to hear Jeff Stelling read out the half time scores and you were well on the way by teatime 

In these days of 4G pitches it would certainly be warmer watching the football. In the old days of grass you could be guaranteed games would go off with frozen pitches in cold weather but now you face the prospect of watching Airdrie in the dark in December in the freezing cold (I pick on Airdrie because I really was freezing cold there once). 

The other thing is it might be a struggle to get to Elgin from Edinburgh for a 1pm kick off (I think it's just about doable by train) let alone from Stranraer or Annan although depending on clubs in the League fairly local games could be scheduled in December e g. City v Cowden, Stirling, Albion Rovers, Stenny.

On the other hand there is something magical about watching the sunset at half time in a game in winter 

the factory act of 1850, which stated employers couldn't keep workers past 2pm on a Saturday is why we have 3pm kick offs as the Gold Standard.

Edited January 1, 2021 by Gus Setsniffer

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, Scary Bear said:

It’s a lovely sunny day today, but it’ll be dark by 4pm.

I see Dumbarton’s game with Airdrie tomorrow has a 1pm kick-off time.

Should more clubs be opting for early kick-off times to take advantage of natural daylight and save on floodlighting costs?

Floodlighting costs are pretty insignificant at spfl level.  Barely the cost of 5 or 6 streams.