Arsenal Away Date Change – Union FS Statement
Below is the statement issued by UNION FS today following the announcement of the date change for the Arsenal game, with the lateness of the announcement clearly braking the agreed notice period that fans should be given
Union FS have posted on Facebook asking for LCFC fans to post information on any losses that they will incur, so we urge any LCFC fans on Facebook to post to that thread. If you are not on facebook, please e-mail the Foxes Trust (email address at the bottom of this article) with any details and we will pass them onto Union FS
UNION FS STATEMENT ON LATE ARSENAL FIXTURE CHANGE
Once again, Sky Sports have gone above and beyond in their efforts to put out matchgoing fans. No doubt they will point to the millions of fortunate souls now able to sit at home and watch this unlikely top of the table clash.
Of course, the Arsenal game was not the only Leicester City fixture announced for the upcoming games. March's fixtures release includes changes to the game at Watford and at home to Newcastle too. Annoying, particularly for the Geordies who now have to travel to the East Midlands on a Monday night, but at least there are 53 days before that trip and tickets are not yet on sale for 'Pies fans.
A clue above: the March TV fixtures release. Not the first-fortnight-of-February release. Following the initial February release in December, 3,000 Leicester fans had thought it safe to make non-refundable travel and accommodation plans, schedule time off work, stay up to midnight to fight for tickets that were sold out in minutes, book holidays starting on the Sunday, plan Leicester Sunday League fixtures etc (the list of quite frankly ridiculously unnecessary inconveniences goes on and on and on) before Sky decided to shoe-horn a third 'Super Sunday' fixture of the day in just TWENTY-THREE days before the game.
Such is life that there are winners and losers from this move, but all of those losing out have been unfairly done over by Sky Sports and, by proxy, the lack of protection afforded to fans by the Premier League and its constituent clubs.
It is absolutely imperative that football fans show solidarity in these cases, and as such, Union FS are calling for a show of strength against the aforementioned parties.
We are proposing the following action to be taken by all Leicester City fans on the day:
– 5 minute boycott at the start of the game where City fans remain in the concourse, watching the game on the TV monitors installed. Why? To make a point that without fans, there is no saleable product. Just 22 blokes kicking a ball around on some nicely cut grass. We would encourage Arsenal fans to join us with this, as they graciously did with Bayern Munich fans recently. We appreciate that fans want to watch the game they have paid for, and rightly so, but this is an extraordinary issue and we would ask you to join us and make a one-off stand for all football fans.
– Banners of protest. We encourage all City fans to make their own feelings known in banner form ahead of the fixture, and smuggle these into the stadium. Clearly visuals are a good way of getting your point across but we recognise that these are not easy to get into stadiums. All efforts are appreciated, however.
We close by saying all football fans are inconvenienced at times and it has sadly become part of our game. But in our opinion the actions of Sky Sports on this occasion have gone too far for us not to take action.
Some may argue that a boycott will achieve nothing. You might be right, maybe it won't. But it will certainly notch another visual display of dissent in a country which is starting to turn on the Premier League's ever growing greed.
Help us make a difference.
Union FS
End of Union FS statement
If you have been affected by the date change and do not use Facebook, then please e-mail any details to ian.bason@foxestrust.com