Scheduling

[Just Browny]

So all of a sudden, with less than a week's notice, Thursday nights are a thing again.

I really feel for Salford and Wigan fans here, to change the date of a game at this notice is shocking and as the comments show creates massive bad will among supporters.

More broadly I just think scheduling has been particularly awful this year. No rhyme or rhythm to when games are played, the odd Thursday game but often not, and a failure to take opportunities when there is the odd weekend without major football or other major sporting competition.

[48C North Stand]

This is what happens when you have to sell your soul to survive. Soccer is dictated to in the same way. 

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

So all of a sudden, with less than a week's notice, Thursday nights are a thing again.

I really feel for Salford and Wigan fans here, to change the date of a game at this notice is shocking and as the comments show creates massive bad will among supporters.

More broadly I just think scheduling has been particularly awful this year. No rhyme or rhythm to when games are played, the odd Thursday game but often not, and a failure to take opportunities when there is the odd weekend without major football or other major sporting competition.

It's not good enough. Also, didn't we align fixtures last year? 

Surely Wigan and Hull KR should be playing at the same time?

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

So all of a sudden, with less than a week's notice, Thursday nights are a thing again.

I really feel for Salford and Wigan fans here, to change the date of a game at this notice is shocking and as the comments show creates massive bad will among supporters.

More broadly I just think scheduling has been particularly awful this year. No rhyme or rhythm to when games are played, the odd Thursday game but often not, and a failure to take opportunities when there is the odd weekend without major football or other major sporting competition.

Absolutely ridiculous.

[Just Browny]

36 minutes ago, Dave T said:

It's not good enough. Also, didn't we align fixtures last year? 

Surely Wigan and Hull KR should be playing at the same time?

Yes and yes. It's perfectly possible, and it actually worsens Sky's product on the Friday night compared to if there was a genuine head-to-head battle for the hubcap ongoing.

[JohnM]

So, no reason given, no apology for the short notice? 

[Hopie]

2 games Thursday, 3 games Friday and 1 game Saturday, although not all the media have caught up yet.

When something is on the line, the games should be played at the same time. Knowing exactly what you need to do before the game should not be an option in these circumstances. 

[Chris22]

Dreadful.

Firstly, for Wigan and Salford fans who get their match shifted with 6 days notice. If Wigan lose, their fans leave the ground not knowing if they win the League Leaders' Shield or not. If both Wigan and Hull KR lose, Wigan then do not get a trophy presentation.

In the likely event that Wigan win, it removes most of the jeopardy and excitement from the Hull KR v Leeds game on the Friday. If Salford have not guaranteed a play off spot, it also means Leeds and Leigh know exactly what is needed to get a play off spot, giving an unfair advantage.

We have also moved Hull FC v Catalans. That means if Catalans have a shot of a play off spot by then, again, they know exactly what they have to achieve, giving an unfair advantage.

And it kills most of the drama of the final round. I can't see how that is in Sky's interest? Last year's three way race for the League Leaders' Shield was great, so was the last day relegation battle in 2019.

Why would we not want that again?

[Dave T]

It's stuff like this that the sport deserves criticism for. This should be built into tv deals. Friday night with the games at the same time would have been must see tv.

[Agbrigg]

3 hours ago, Hopie said:

 

When something is on the line, the games should be played at the same time. Knowing exactly what you need to do before the game should not be an option in these circumstances. 

It is extremely difficult to do this due to clubs having to play in soccer stadiums. The is the second time Huddersfield have had the problem, more than likely there will be at least one soccer tenant who cant play at the same time as all the other games.

[Bull Mania]

What can you say? It's not even shooting ourselves in the foot, it's shooting ourselves in the heads. 

It's almost like no one from the sport has been in discussion with SKY about this and how to make the final round as big as possible. Don't want to bring IMG up, but I would have thought they would have been all over this? Surely building a good relationship with SKY and creating events with them is one of the reasons they've been brought in. 

[Dave T]

7 minutes ago, Bull Mania said:

What can you say? It's not even shooting ourselves in the foot, it's shooting ourselves in the heads. 

It's almost like no one from the sport has been in discussion with SKY about this and how to make the final round as big as possible. Don't want to bring IMG up, but I would have thought they would have been all over this? Surely building a good relationship with SKY and creating events with them is one of the reasons they've been brought in. 

What's weird is they have played games atbthr same time before. Remember the stuff with the helicopter? 

Last year they had every team at the same time.

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

It is extremely difficult to do this due to clubs having to play in soccer stadiums. The is the second time Huddersfield have had the problem, more than likely there will be at least one soccer tenant who cant play at the same time as all the other games.

However it is possible with the right planning and negotiation. But this isn't a planning thing, this is a choice.

In any case, you could just make a case for the LLS games to at least kick off at the same time.

[Tommygilf]

On the one hand, this is a really weird choice to remove the interest and tension from playing all last round games at the same time.

On the other hand, this is an outrageous decision to reschedule a game to a different day at such short notice.

[sam4731]

12 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

On the one hand, this is a really weird choice to remove the interest and tension from playing all last round games at the same time.

On the other hand, this is an outrageous decision to reschedule a game to a different day at such short notice.

I'd argue that's the same hand just different fingers.

[StandOffHalf]

Whatever about pulling much of the tension from the 'Ultimate' round (WTH is that Carney?), the rescheduling of the game on 5/6 days' notice is just shoddy in the extreme.

[daz39]

Strange considering Huddersfield v Cas is already scheduled for next Thursday anyway, why not show that and have the others on at the same time to create the excitement it SHOULD do?.

[Agbrigg]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

However it is possible with the right planning and negotiation. 

Agree, you would think it would be a simple exercise by the rfl fixture planners to just give all the 'soccer tenants' an away fixture on the last game of the season. So that is  the planning part done. Then have a word with SKY and try and persuade them of the absolute importance to allow all the games to play at the same time.

[Archie Gordon]

The only way to stop ourselves being pushed around like this is to negotiate deals better.

[bobbruce]

Although this isn’t ideal I don’t think this year has a massive effect the way the teams are sitting. There is only really Leigh that it has an effect on. As if Wigan win they finish top nothing KR can do about it if they don’t win KR have to win which they new anyway. Leigh and Leeds play at the same time but Catalan play on the next day but Leigh must know Catalans are going to beat Hull so they already know they have to win. 

Edited September 15 by bobbruce

[Wellsy4HullFC]

19 hours ago, Chris22 said:

Firstly, for Wigan and Salford fans who get their match shifted with 6 days notice. If Wigan lose, their fans leave the ground not knowing if they win the League Leaders' Shield or not. If both Wigan and Hull KR lose, Wigan then do not get a trophy presentation.

Agree, dreadful. There's a chance there will be no trophy presentation because of this and that's ridiculous planning that shouldn't have been allowed. 

19 hours ago, Chris22 said:

In the likely event that Wigan win, it removes most of the jeopardy and excitement from the Hull KR v Leeds game on the Friday.

Not exactly. Rovers still need to win to guarantee second. Warrington have similar points difference and are only 2 points behind. A Rovers loss will likely see them lose a bye and a home tie in the semis (potentially a bigger prize than the LLS itself).

19 hours ago, Chris22 said:

If Salford have not guaranteed a play off spot, it also means Leeds and Leigh know exactly what is needed to get a play off spot, giving an unfair advantage.

They were playing Hull, so unfortunately there was no worry about that! Salford are only playing for a home tie.

19 hours ago, Chris22 said:

We have also moved Hull FC v Catalans. That means if Catalans have a shot of a play off spot by then, again, they know exactly what they have to achieve, giving an unfair advantage.

Catalans would just need to win. The points difference is irrelevant to them. They can only overtake Leigh.

The unfair part is in the "Spoon Bowl". London play Warrington the day before. If London lose, Hull know they only need to lose by 2 points less. If they win, Hull need to win by 2 points more. It's unfair in that regard. 

19 hours ago, Chris22 said:

And it kills most of the drama of the final round. I can't see how that is in Sky's interest? Last year's three way race for the League Leaders' Shield was great, so was the last day relegation battle in 2019.

Why would we not want that again?

Agreed ridiculous.

I don't understand why we established this the other year only to allow it to revert back to this. It's a bit selfish and short-sighted of Sky to sacrifice sporting integrity and drama to fill a couple of extra TV slots.

[Black Country Wire]

On 14/09/2024 at 11:08, Hopie said:

2 games Thursday, 3 games Friday and 1 game Saturday, although not all the media have caught up yet.

When something is on the line, the games should be played at the same time. Knowing exactly what you need to do before the game should not be an option in these circumstances. 

Surely they know what they need to do whether they are played at the same time or not.

Wigan know that if they win their last game they finish top regardless.

[Futtocks]

With all games televised, fixtures have coincided and overlapped all season, reducing the potential viewership for all games.

Now, when the situation actually calls for two games in particular to be played simultaneously, Sky insist on separating them by 24 hours.

What an omnishambles.

Edited September 15 by Futtocks

[overtheborder]

This has confused me to be honest - I think a lot of people (at least on here) seem to agree that the best thing to do would be to play all games at the same time, both for excitement and fairness. I'm imagining a scenario (notwithstanding any timescales for submitting squads etc.) where Wigan win, and then Hull KR rest a few players for the play-offs knowing they can't finish top, thus theoretically giving Leeds an advantage over other play-off chasing teams. I've no horse in that particular race as a Wigan fan, but it feels very strange to me, and I'm not sure how happy the teams around Leeds are about that possibility.

[bobbruce]

2 hours ago, overtheborder said:

This has confused me to be honest - I think a lot of people (at least on here) seem to agree that the best thing to do would be to play all games at the same time, both for excitement and fairness. I'm imagining a scenario (notwithstanding any timescales for submitting squads etc.) where Wigan win, and then Hull KR rest a few players for the play-offs knowing they can't finish top, thus theoretically giving Leeds an advantage over other play-off chasing teams. I've no horse in that particular race as a Wigan fan, but it feels very strange to me, and I'm not sure how happy the teams around Leeds are about that possibility.

The best thing is to play all games at once but I don’t think it’s a massive issue at least this year anyway. If KR rested players and lost there’s a good chance Wire would take 3rd place off them.