While the world of football remains busy with the remnant of the first FIFA date of the season; many fans are already looking forward to the weekend as the Premier League prepares for what could be Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United.
After almost a decade after his departure, Cristiano is back and is eligible to make his second debut wearing the United shirt, which is set to face Newcastle on Saturday at his Old track. Trafford.
Shortly after becoming the all-time leading scorer in men’s national football last Wednesday, Ronaldo left the concentration of the Portuguese combined to fly this Friday in the United Kingdom. After undergoing his mandatory quarantine period for five days, the Portuguese star caused a stir at the United training complex in Carrington where he will only have time to perform a couple of training sessions with his new / old club before playing their next match.
Look who’s come to Carrington! 😍 @Cristiano Le Ole #MUFC
– Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 7, 2021
However, several sources have told ESPN journalist Rob Dawson that United remains hopeful the 36-year-old gunner will be in top form and ready to play at least part of the showdown, despite having completed his transfer from Juventus just eight days ago.
The bad news for football fans in the UK is that the match against Newcastle will not be broadcast live on this country’s television, denying millions of fans the opportunity to see him play wearing the shirt number 7 of the United for the first time since 2009.
The matches that British television will broadcast live were chosen several weeks ago. Therefore, it is too late to reschedule the start time of the Manchester United-Newcastle match, scheduled for 3 pm This means that the match will not be able to be broadcast live in the UK due to a rule which has remained in place in this country for over 40 years, known as the “3 pm lock”
The rule states that no football match of any kind, whether in the Premier League, Championship or even the Bundesliga or Laliga, can be broadcast live on British television on Saturdays between 2:45 pm and 5:15 pm This rule initially ruled out the FA Cup final; however, the decisive and staged meeting in Wrigley begins at 5:15 pm since its 2012 edition.
The rule has been in place since the 1960s, when it was originally proposed by Burnley President Bob Lord, who alleged that the television broadcast of traditionally staged parties on Saturdays at 3 pm would negatively affect the box office. to the whole pyramid of English football, from the first professional division to the amateur confrontations played outside the league. Football matches have been broadcast on British television since 1938, although the broadcast of live matches did not become a fixed element of programming until the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Lord stood firm in his position, indicating that the broadcast of football matches on television at 3pm would “damage and harm” stadium attendance, motivating fans to stay home and watch matches there. The President of Burnley even went so far as to ban the entry of BBC cameras for the broadcast of live matches on Turf Moor for five years to prevent this from happening. Lord, a staunch opponent of televised football in general, gradually convinced his fellow president of the then-so-called Football League that broadcasting matches at 3pm would lower his precious box office revenue and, of course, the measure was adopted shortly afterwards across the country. The rule has remained in place ever since and is the reason why the last day of the Premier League season is always scheduled on Sunday, allowing all 10 matches to be staged simultaneously at 3 p.m.
The ban on broadcasting football matches on Saturday afternoons was suspended last year as part of the Premier League’s “Project Restart” to allow fans, who were banned from entering stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could witness the meetings held behind closed doors. Since then, the rule was reset for the 2021-22 season after allowing fans to return to matches.
While the rule allows for all radio coverage, it extends to all foreign league matches broadcast live on television in the UK. This implies that many channels are forced to start coverage of some matches staged in Spain and Italy (for example) after the end of the first half.
What started out as an agreement between Football League presidents in the 1960s is now an effective part of UEFA rules. Article 48 of the statutes of the governing body of European football indicates that any member association may establish a space of two and a half hours on Saturdays or Sundays in which the transmission of football confrontations by television is prohibited.
The rule remains in force in England, not with the intention of protecting the box office in the Premier League, but to preserve it in the rest of the levels of the English football pyramid, which is the league system in Europe with higher numbers of attendance at meetings.
Also, this rule is not necessary to deter a subscriber from a team of lower categories to attend the club meeting of their loves, instead of staying to watch a lavish Premier League match on television. The intention is to encourage casual fans to maintain attendance figures at smaller club stadiums, thus providing a much-needed influx of audience and box office revenue.
Many of these lower category clubs rely heavily on this revenue generated on Saturdays at 3pm to continue to exist.
Of course there is no precise way to know if the repeal of the rule would substantially impair stadium attendance and revenue collection, causing the entire football pyramid to collapse without doing so. Fans are likely to prefer to keep up with the strong winds and torrential downpours as they watch in person at their local clubs at 3pm on Saturdays, despite the broadcast of a Premier League match on television. However, the risk of the pyramid collapsing from its foundations remains very high.
One might wonder why other major leagues in Europe and around the world do not have similar rules on foot. This is due, in a nutshell, to the fact that none of these circuits feel the same level of reverence at a specific start time of matches as English and British football has on Saturdays at 3 pm In fact, at due to the large dispersion of schedules on other major circuits such as Laliga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany) and Serie a (Italy), these leagues do not even qualify to impose a ban on television broadcasts at a particular time.
According to UEFA statutes, 50% of matches in the two highest divisions must be started simultaneously if a ban on television broadcasts is to be imposed for 2.5 hours. This is the case in England and Scotland (73% and 90%, respectively); while in Germany the figure does not exceed 28%. In Italy it is just 15% and in Spain there are no Laliga matches with simultaneous starts to avoid congestion.
This start time of Sabatinos matches at 3 pm has been part of the idiosyncrasy of English football since the 19th century, when the traditional working class of the country would leave the factories after fulfilling their morning shift to go directly to the football fields. The reality of the situation is that no other league does it the same way.
Well here they have it: the reason why local Manchester United fans will not be able to see Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to the Premier League is due to a rule that has its roots in the very beginnings of league football in England , and which remains in force with the intention of protecting its future.
With the collaboration of ESPN reporter Dale Johnson