Armchair Fans Fund Football

Being called an armchair fan is an insult. This derogatory term, if given to you, means that you do not support your team enough and is a means of questioning not only whether you support the club but whether you should support them. It almost feels like being told that the club do not need someone like you supporting the them.
 Fulham fan complains as BT Vision camera ruins his view of the match

However, armchair fans are a crucial part of football nowadays. There are two reasons why they have become more fervent:

The cost and demand for a match day ticket has become astronomical for some people.

The game has become so global that fans can come from all corners of the globe meaning that Television coverage is more readily available.    

As seen in the image, though, there are the negative connotations of television coverage. Less fans come to the games causing a lack of atmosphere and the cameras need to be placed somewhere which means that views can be impaired.
                                         
Television rights and coverage is, in spite of the above, far too crucial to be stopped because of complaints such as this. This is because of the rise of the armchair fan as the cost of football becomes unbearable.

At the start of the 2013/4 season in the Premier League, contradictory to common belief. the average for the most expensive adult season ticket fell 1.6% (from £546.30 in 2012 to £537.60 in 2013). The average for the cheapest adult match-day ticket is down 1.9% (from £21.24 to £20.85). The average for the most expensive adult match-day ticket dropped around 1% (from £34.11 to £33.81).

These prices are still tough to afford for people. It is also not just the price themselves but also the price of travel to get there. Fuel plays a key part in travel costs and as the table below demonstrates this is becoming ever more expensive.

Month	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
January	87.3p	104.0p	87.0p	111.4p	127.9p	133.3p	132.7p
February	86.7p	104.3p	90.2p	112.1p	128.7p	135.1p	137.1p
March	89.4p	106.4p	90.8p	115.6p	132.2p	138.9p	138.8p
April	92.6p	108.1p	94.8p	120.5p	134.7p	141.9p	136.7p
May	95.6p	112.5p	97.7p	121.0p	136.7p	137.9p	133.9p
June	96.9p	117.6p	102.2p	118.2p	135.7p	133.1p	134.6p
July	96.7p	118.7p	103.0p	117.3p	134.9p	132.1p	135.7p
August	96.0p	113.4p	103.9p	116.2p	135.5p	135.9p	137.5p
September	95.3p	112.0p	106.2p	115.3p	135.4p	139.6p	137.7p
October	97.7p	104.7p	105.7p	117.4p	134.6p	138.5p	132.4p
November	101.1p	94.9p	108.4p	118.9p	133.8p	135.3p	130.6p
December	102.8p	89.5p	108.2p	122.0p	132.5p	132.7p	131.0p

Source petrolprices.com

With growing concerns in the Crimea region prices in Oil could well increase. This also comes with a 2.8% increase in train prices meaning that those able to get to games has become harder.

It is not just the financial loss in going to games, there is also the emotional loss that comes with prioritising a live football match rather than spending time with loved ones.

Time spent at home watching a game last 2 hours, the time spent watching a game live a the ground lasts over 5 hours at least with whole weekends sometimes being taken up.

The money that clubs now get from television rights means that viewership is incredibly crucial. The amount that television companies make in revenue is dependent on selling ad space with the cost of this space heavily dependent on viewership.

With the changes in sport broadcasting it is key for clubs that BT and BSkyB continue to have strong viewership.

BT bought a large proportion of televised football rights, boosting this Premier League season's TV deal to a record £3 billion over three years, a 71% increase.

This has a major impact for every club in the Premier League as it equates to at least £14 million more per year for each football club.

Without these armchair fans there would not be this amount of money available. Many of these fans either cannot afford the games or cannot afford the time to watch the games but still watch the games on television. Do not discredit the armchair fan but make sure that they watch as much football on the television as possible. 

Back to square one for England cricketers

With under a year to go before the ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia and less than a month until the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh England are still none the wiser as to who will play.

Memories of 2011 when England had a settled side before sudden change of selection and tactics saw the most erratic England performances that I have seen in years.

When they were good they were world beaters, defending 171 against South Africa, when they were bad they were terrible, letting significant leads against Ireland and Bangladesh slip.

Tomorrow brings the first competitive fixture of England's limited overs tour of the West Indies. The squad has many unrecognizable names for those who do not follow County cricket.

West Indies vs England fixtures

1st ODI: 28 February

2nd ODI: 2 March

3rd ODI: 5 March

All ODIs played in Antigua

1st T20: 9 March

2nd T20: 11 March

3rd T20: 13 March

All T20s played in Barbados

Moen Ali, Harry Gurney and Stephen Parry spring to mind. Ali has been an ever consistent opening batsman and part time spinner for Worcestershire. He has found international recognition on the back of improved performances, but more realistically the decline of other opening options.

With Ian Bell and Alistair Cook rested, and little other options, Ali has the chance to cement an opening spot if he can get some scores with his more dynamic approach to batting (his limited overs strike rate is over 100)

Other opening options such as Joe Denly, Craig Kieswetter and Jason Roy have not shown enough quality recently for international selection. The other options are being groomed in Sri Lanka with the Lions e.g. James Vince and Varun Chopra or have been harrowed by the Ashes tour e.g. Michael Carberry.

Stephen Parry rise has come similarly to that of Ali. Danny Briggs has failed to impose himself as an England international, neither has Scott Borthwick or Simon Kerrigan. Parry has a good T20 record but his selection may come as a left field option due to his lack of First Class and Lions experience.

Stephen Parry Bowling averages 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
First-class	6	11	916	453	14	5/23	5/46	32.35	2.96	65.4	0	1	0
List A	54	52	2266	1881	65	5/17	5/17	28.93	4.98	34.8	2	1	0
Twenty20	56	56	1236	1414	63	4/23	4/23	22.44	6.86	19.6	2	0	0

Harry Gurney has been brought in to provide a left arm option to England's pace attack. With Tymal Mills with the Lions and with Reece Topley injured Gurney is the stand out lefty in English cricket.

The major title contenders go into tournaments with a settled side with the odd change based on current form. England go into this series with key men out of form. The top three failed to have any impact in the T20s against Australia. Ravi Bopara is always playing for his England career. Jade Dernbach has become the laughing stock of World cricket due to some shambolic recent performances. Tim Bresnan is a good honest cricketer, does not posses the X factor like rivals from other nations.

The only players certain of selection are Eoin Morgan, Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler. Joe Root and Ben Stokes will be given opportunities but the England management still do not know how best to use them. 

It is hard to gain form without consistency and now England must select players who they feel will be in Australia next year. If the T20 is seen as giving players tournament experience then those who go to Bangladesh must be selected for the 2015 World Cup.

The Impact of rising costs on Univeristy Sport

Protests, turning into riots, ensued at the news of an increase in University tuition fees. This had absolutely no impact on Westminster's decision to push forward with increasing the tuition fee cap to £9,000 a year.

For those who have been burdened with this price hike have also seen the cost of accommodation rise to the extent that in some cases their maintenance loan from the government no longer is enough.

If I was to get a maintenance loan starting in September 2013, according to the student finance calculator http://www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/calculator/studentfinancecalculator , I would be given - £3575

Below are a couple accommodation fees from two different universities:

Loughborough

Cost	Catered hall	Self-catered hall	Rented house (shared)
Hall fees/rent	£5,200 (32 weeks)	£4,300 (38 weeks)	£3,900 (52 weeks)
Utilities	£0	£0	£300
Food	£375	£1,450	£1,450
Laundry/household	£160	£190	£190
Travel	£250	£250	£250
Course costs/books etc	£350	£350	£350
Insurance	£100	£100	£100
Telephone	£285	£300	£300
Clothing	£225	£225	£225
Leisure	£865	£865	£865
Other	£100	£100	£100
Total	£7,910	£8,130	£8,030

Sheffield Hallam - Devonshire Court

Number of rooms	Number of weeks	Annual rent 2013–14	Weekly rent 2013–14
295 Single en suite	44	£4,048	£92
21 Large single en suite (3/4 bed)	44	£4,268	£97

The impact this has on sport is that students now struggle to find the time or money to afford to play sport.

With the rise in tuition fees students feel that more hours should be available for seminars and lectures, what this does is limit the times that students can designate to training. What is more disturbing for sport minded students is Universities using time that would have been previously dedicated to BUCS fixtures (British Universities & Colleges Sport) being taken up by classroom hours.

Yes students should focus on their studies, but not to the extent that they can no longer play sport. Take away time from the bar for contact hours by all means, but Wednesday is sacred for University sports and should not be touched.

Each year the cost to join sports clubs has risen, for example the University of East Anglia Sports Association Membership, which is method of becoming insured by the University, has risen from £30 in 2010 to £45 in 2014. This is only a small difference compared to other Universities.

I personally cannot understand why students see this figure and get put off joining a sports club, however this is the case with some.

With the maintenance loans not always covering accommodation some students cannot afford this extra cost. Sometimes, in order to make ends meet, they have to sacrifice training sessions for work shifts or even sacrifice joining a club all together.

This lowers the standard of University sport across the board as athletes are not either training enough to improve or cannot play in the first place.

Some may argue that if they wanted to be an elite sportsman they would have joined an academy instead of joining university. In some sports this can be true but in many, such as Cricket and Netball, University matches play a key part in producing future professional talent.

If Great Britain want to continue to be a presence on the world sporting stage then the growing trend needs to be halted otherwise we will face the prospect of an ever declining sporting nation.