Here’s something slightly bonkers about modern football. You can sit in a bar in Singapore and watch Nottingham Forest live at 3pm on a Saturday – but back in the East Midlands, you’re out of luck.
Now a Notts councillor reckons it’s time that all changed.
Rushcliffe councillor and Forest supporter Mike Gaunt is calling on Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to review football’s long-standing 3pm Saturday blackout, arguing that a rule devised in a very different broadcasting age no longer makes much sense.
The restriction prevents domestic broadcasters from showing live football between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays. Its roots go back around 60 years, when there were fears that putting Saturday afternoon matches on television would persuade supporters to stay at home and hit attendances, particularly at lower-league clubs.
But Gaunt believes the football-watching world has moved on.
“We now have matches screened most nights, including Friday, Saturday lunchtimes and evening, and it’s not really affected attendances at the grounds,” he said.
“This is now a perfect opportunity to review the broadcast restriction.”
His argument is particularly relevant to Forest supporters. The City Ground has a capacity of around 30,000, meaning plenty of fans who would happily attend games simply can’t get their hands on a ticket.
Yet when Forest play a Saturday 3pm fixture, those same supporters still can’t legally sit at home and watch it live on UK television.
“Through streaming services, someone in Singapore can watch Forest ‘live’ on a Saturday afternoon but people in Nottingham can’t, and that needs addressing,” Gaunt said.
It also creates another, decidedly less wholesome, consequence. Fans who can’t attend can find themselves turning to illegal streams simply to watch their team.
Gaunt believes the Government should consider that impact too.
“At the moment, some fans are compelled to look at using some form of dodgy streaming system, where they’re breaking rules and the law, to watch football with their children.
“The government should also look at the impact of this illegal streaming criminalising people.”
He argues lifting the blackout would be unlikely to damage attendances at the City Ground, where demand for tickets already outstrips supply, while giving families who can’t get tickets another way to follow Forest together.
“It wouldn’t impact on the City Ground to lift the 3pm ban, but would mean young children can watch Forest with the family on a Saturday afternoon.”
Gaunt isn’t suggesting simply pulling the plug on the rule overnight.
Instead, he wants Nandy to bring together football authorities, supporters’ organisations and grassroots clubs to examine the economic and sporting consequences of relaxing or removing the blackout.
Lower-league football is likely to be one of the biggest sticking points. One of the original arguments for the blackout is that supporters might choose Manchester City on the telly over heading down to watch their local non-league or EFL side.
Gaunt acknowledges those concerns.
“I understand that the lower league teams may have some concern about this, but that’ll be addressed as part of this reform.”
His campaign for a full review has also secured the backing of Rushcliffe Labour Party, which plans to lobby the Culture Secretary over the issue.
Gaunt wants any review to consider more than just Premier League fans sitting on their sofas. He says pubs could potentially benefit from being able to screen Saturday afternoon matches, while elderly, disabled and housebound supporters who struggle to attend games could gain access to matches they currently cannot watch legally.
And he believes Nandy might be willing to listen.
“If we were attempting to do this 15 years ago with the previous government, I think we might have had problems, but I believe the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy would be open to this.
“She’s got her finger on the pulse, and is probably aware that the majority of the population would welcome this and will be open to discussions about it.”
Football’s 3pm blackout was created for an age when watching a match generally meant being inside a football ground or not watching it at all.
Sixty years later, when a Forest fan thousands of miles away can potentially see something that someone a few miles from the City Ground cannot, Gaunt’s argument is essentially pretty simple: maybe it’s time football had another look at the rules.
