The Kintyre Forum

What are your thoughts on the World Cup qualifying fixtures?

FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifier Dates

Scotland's FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying dates were confirmed this afternoon:

2012

Saturday 8th September 2012 - Scotland v Serbia

Tuesday 11th September 2012 - Scotland v Macedonia

Friday 12th October 2012 - Wales v Scotland

Tuesday 16th October 2012 - Belgium v Scotland


2013

Friday 22nd March 2013 (subject to police approval)- Scotland v Wales

Tuesday 26th March 2013 - Serbia v Scotland

Friday 7th June 2013 (9pm kickoff tbc) - Croatia v Scotland

Friday 6th September 2013 - Scotland v Belgium

Tuesday 10th September 2013 - Macedonia v Scotland

Tuesday 15th October 2013 - Scotland v Croatia

So 10 matches and only one on a Saturday. The others are all on Tuesdays and Fridays, and will be evening kick-offs, we can assume. It used to be that in qualifiers around half the matches were a Saturday afternoon, the other half a Wednesday night. It has been heading this way for a while, I suppose, and I for one really don't like this development.

It makes it much harder for families to get to games - Saturday afternoons are far and away the best time for folk who want to take their kids along.

And for a Friday evening match it means taking time off work that you normally wouldn't have needed to, had the match been on a Saturday. For the away games (and home games when you live more than a couple of hours from Glasgow) it means even more annual leave used up to follow Scotland.

I hope the police don't approve the Wales game on the Friday evening. There is no good reason for it not to be on the Saturday at 3pm.

I know what you mean Mary about a Friday night matches. No doubt some will be looking for a wee stay in Glasgow too when we go up the road for the games.

Mary G wrote:I hope the police don't approve the Wales game on the Friday evening. There is no good reason for it not to be on the Saturday at 3pm.

Friday will allow for better preparation for an away game to Serbia but the campaign for the 2008 championships were fantastic and mainly thanks to the Saturday games.

All in all I think they are pretty good. Need to get off to a good start however!

Some good points Mary but unfortunately the concerns of the fans are not top priority. Having said that I think we were spoiled by the campaign Ship mentioned - its not all that long ago ALL internationals were midweek remember.

Hume wrote:its not all that long ago ALL internationals were midweek

That's the point -- we moved away from that pattern, and now seem to be regressing. Midweek matches favour those who live in the central belt, at the expense of those faithful fans who happen not to live in striking distance of Glasgow. And evening games also tend to exclude families and children. Of course you can get enthused watching it on the TV, but anyone who has taken their kids to a game knows that it is a fantastic experience for them - one they cherish for a long time.

All of football badly needs to be more inclusive. Inclusive of all sections of society and all parts of the country. And Scottish football has just taken a backwards step.

We could have had more Saturday matches: the Friday evening games are happening on designated weekends, and the option was there for the SFA and the other team's FA to go for the Saturday, in daytime. But in all but one case they went for the Friday evening.

I think they'll come to regret this. But I'm not going to paint that (negative) scenario ... tempting fate, and all that ...

FIrst two paragraphs Mary I agree with entirely.

I don't think it is fair to say we could have had more Saturday games when FIFA has said international fixtures are played on Fridays and Tuesdays. As I type that though I recall you've highlighted the phrase 'designated weekends' in bold and the Serbia game does demonstrate there is flexibility but it relies on the agreement of the other FA involved and with another fixture on the Tuesday and no doubt a fair amount of travel, it not a surprise all other 'weekend' games (in all groups) are going ahead on the Friday night.

I've no idea if the Scotland delegation pressed for additional Saturday games, say the Wales one, but these meetings are no doubt a give and take scenario where you can't get everything you want.

I do feel for those who don't get home until the early hours after an evening game, many on this forum of course, those in the Highlands and the North East but as I hinted at earlier, I don't think FIFA are particularly bothered about that.