Was 2025 the tipping point for anyone who still believed that those who run football give a flying fig about those who watch it?
Long before Fifa’s World Cup ticket farce we had the news, slipped out in autumn, that this would be the first Boxing Day since 1982 to feature just a single Premier League fixture.
Scheduling, commitments to player welfare and the unstoppable expansion of the Champions League were the reason. The result? Another cherished tradition chipped away at. Another kick in the teeth for paying supporters.
It seems almost quaint to suggest it these days but if you polled regulars at the 20 clubs – those parting with their hard-earned cash to actually go to games – there would be a firm consensus in favour of this festive tradition.
Boxing Day football has a rich tradition, of course. There have only been five years without top-flight matches on 26 December since the Second World War, and most of the time it is nearly a full programme. It is the perfect day for it: reunited families trudging off to games together, local pubs full and bumper gates.
These are occasions in their own right and there’s a reason why most supporters scan the fixture lists when they come out for four things: first and last games, derby games and then Boxing Day. This year that’s all gone. Sunderland, Leeds, Crystal Palace and Spurs don’t even play until 28 December – by then the turkey will be a distant memory.
The Premier League – who are not the villains of this piece, despite ultimately deciding on the fixtures – says the tradition will be back next year. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday and that will mean an almost full programme, broadcaster picks permitting.
But that is not how these things work, is it? When it’s been proved that you can tinker with festive football, the risk is it will happen again.
That’s what happened to FA Cup third round weekend, which is now a shadow of what it once was as games are spread over five days and an increasing number of Premier League bosses struggle to hide their indifference. Replays have been banished, sacrificed at the altar of supposed progress.
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And the Premier League know themselves there is little they can do, with Uefa and Fifa seemingly hellbent on squeezing ever more of their competitions. The reason we’ve lost Boxing Day this year is the expansion of the Champions League, which leaves the domestic game with less time to fulfill their fixtures.
Given there is now a commitment to give players 60 hours of rest between games, the Premier League couldn’t sacrifice a full round of fixtures on 27-28 December.
So what it boils down to is English football losing one of the best football days of the year so we can get more Club World Cup or another round of largely meaningless first round Champions League games. That, like the last of the Christmas sprouts, is very difficult to stomach.
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