Is Boxing Day football losing its appeal?
An interesting statistic has cropped up from our last 2 away games that needs a bit of examination. Boxing Day is seen as a traditional day for football when clubs used to get one of their biggest crowds of the season.
At Stevenage on Boxing Day we took 875 supporters, yet at Charlton (even with an early kick-off) we took just under 1,500. I realise 2 consecutive away games isn't cheap but Stevenage is probably the easier ground to get to, with masses of free parking opposite the ground. And yet we took 600 more fans to Charlton!
One thing springs to mind in particular - there is virtually no public transport on Boxing Day these days. Would that have an impact? Slough v Chesham drew a crowd of 1,185 & Maidenhead v Wealdstone had a crowd of 1,725. Probably no more than you'd expect for a regular Saturday game.
It therefore begs the question as to whether the traditional Christmas games should now be put back 24 hours to Dec 27th? If a lack of public transport is the main factor then it also gives a pointer to the crowds at Adams Park - where there is little public transport at any time. Something to ponder.....
Comments
A day out in London is a lot more attractive than an afternoon in Stevenage. I know a lot of people who did stuff in central London post match.
I think there have been some incredible crowds at both Boxing Day and Sunday fixtures this season.
Ive always questioned New Year’s Day football as these games are typically lethargic affairs.
I only go on Boxing Day if we're at home, and even then it's not a certainty for me. People have other priorities at this time of year.
Probably worth posing the question, with fans now tending to travel longer distances to games, rather than the short walk to watch the local side.
I don't think Stevenage and Charlton is a fair comparison though. We'll always take a larger travelling support to London games. To be honest, I thought we might take a few more than 1500 yesterday. Mind you it felt a lot more than that, with even the upper section being opened and well populated. Was quite surprised at the number given. Queues for the tickets were predictably ridiculous. Took me 30mins to get to the front. I'm sure a fair few must have missed the kick off.
Maybe 20 years of losing on boxing day has had an effect.
I remember getting a free pass from trips to the (then future) in-laws 10 years ago but since marriage and children the Boxing Day fixture has been a no-go. I think the last one I went to was the draw against Luton in 2014/15. I’m generalising and projecting my own experience but I can imagine for many similar aged fans (late thirties) it will be a familiar tale.
I’ve always loved Boxing Day football (as a kid going to the game v Brighton, followed by the game at Oxford on 27th are up there with my best memories of Christmas) , but think it’s over 10 years since I’ve been able to attend a game on it with various family commitments, which I guess highlights issues associated with it.
With back to back away games within a few days of each other, think there will be element of some people picking preferences and between Stevenage and Charlton, I would pick Charlton every time - we always travel well to London and generate a good atmosphere etc.
I wonder if sky having every league game available on Boxing Day might also have had an impact on attendances, particularly lower down the pyramid?
I like the games being on, but prefer us to be away on Boxing day and watch online. Quite like that we had the two games away over this period to be fair.
We'll see how 4 homes over 9 days feels though!
From the comments so far it seems Dec 27th would be preferable to Boxing Day. An interesting response - I had no pre-conception about the outcome.
If Boxing Day falls on a Thursday or Friday, they might as well shift the games to the weekend, but otherwise they can't really change it - an extra midweek evening game for everyone at that time of year is less than ideal.
But unless you change other dates, you'd have 2 games in 3 days which would either guarantee big rotations and / or lower the quality. Not sure that's any better solution.
Must admit, I'm always a little relieved when we are away boxing day, makes any decisions a lot easier on the home front
I may contact Brighton & Hove Albion to ask what their policy is about Boxing Day fixtures. The whole planning for the Amex was to minimise car travel to matches & prioritise train travel (to & from Falmer station). If there are no trains on Boxing Day the whole travel plan strategy falls apart.
Interesting to fast forward to Christmas/New Year 2025 and try to guess when we might play.
Assuming that most sides will want to play on NYD (Thursday 1st) and then Saturday 4th Jan 2026, one guesses that the EFL will want to also fix in two games around Christmas itself which really only leaves Boxing Day (Thursday) and then Sunday 28th or Monday 29th, to leave a reasonable gap for player recovery etc. But that then leaves a 'bare Saturday' 27th unless you played then and again on Monday 29th.
I am sure the powers that be will already be on the case!
Didn't we play 26th and 27th December in the 94/95 season?
The first Saturday in Jan 26 will be the 3rd not 4th Alan.
Last time Boxing Day fell on a Friday will be 11 years prior in 2014/5.
Teams played Boxing Day, then missed the Saturday, played between 28th and 30th, missed NYD and played FA Cup on Sat 3rd.
With FA Cup being ever more diminished, wouldn’t be a surprise to see them play Boxing Day, Sun28th - Tues 30, NYD and then FA Cup on 3rd and 4th Jan next year.
Think FA Cup will be in second weekend of January moving forward
In my experience, Boxing Day drew out the crowds for non-league games of the ones I went to.
250 for the 'Seaside Derby' between Infinity and Selsey in the tenth level of football, their previous Saturday game got a crowd of 24. Helped by the 11 am kickoff allowing two games in one day.
680 for Hartley Wintney v Fareham Town at the 8th level. Their previous Saturday game brought in 232.
Talking of scheduling, a bad move putting Huddersfield (H) on 7th. Coming out of a busy Christmas period, players will be getting little rest, people having just paid for Christmas and it'll be cold and miserable.
Even poorer when it's four home games in ten days.
Do you think that nowadays Boxing Day is a day to stay as local as possible? That would account for the lower level Non-League games getting such good attendances. In that case maybe some more staggered kick-off times would help to maximise that potential?
EFL rules state that fixtures should be re-arranged for next available date.
Unless of course you’re Birmingham City. They have a rearranged game against Cambridge on Feb 11th, the original game was October 12th, four months later and scheduled in the quietest month.
We love the Boxing Day Game, ideally at Adams Park. With the family all together it’s something that several members of the family go to together…a tradition.