Aug 22 2008
Time Zone Bingo
Over at Pitch Invasion, Richard Whittall takes a closer look at how where we live influences how we view the Premier League and other European leagues.
… in the late 19th and early 20th century … The three o’clock kickoff was meant to accommodate the Saturday half-day. Workers exhausted from a week of toil in the ’satanic mills’ of industry were more than happy to be “Lords of the Earth”, as J.B. Priestly once wrote, for a couple of hours at the football ground.
Today, with the advent of satellite television able to provide instant live coverage around the globe, viewers are able to watch live matches five or six timezones away. The ‘three o’clock’ kickoff is a moveable feast, and European football’s unique popularity means many have fans grown up watching Serie A, the Bundelsiga or the Premier league at odd times of the day. Afternoon games are enjoyed in the Middle East over supper, in North America at the crack of dawn, in Australasia in the late evening. These time differences can have a subtle but intriguing effect on how local audiences enjoy the game.
It’s funny how quickly I’ve come to accept soccer as a new Saturday morning ritual, just like cartoons were for me 30 years ago. Wayne Rooney and Michael Ballack are the new Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Imagine that.
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This is interesting and something I’ve thought about before. Where I am in Perth on the west coast of Australia I get a good end of weekend fix of Premier League football Sunday before hitting the hay not long after midnight. It can also make mid-late Saturday night at the pub a good experience. The same can’t be said for my mates in Sydney and Melbourne.
Ryano: I think it’s much the same for Aussie Rules fans in America, too. The early afternoon AFL matches usually start at midnight on the east coast, where I am, but that’s 9 PM on the west coast. I suspect you’ll find more people interested in Aussie Rules west of the Mississippi than east of it because of that.