Falkirk's bid to have final-day fixtures moved is dismissed

The SPFL has dismissed Falkirk's call for the league to reverse its decision to move the final day of the Ladbrokes Championship to Sunday 1 May.
Falkirk will ask the SPFL to reconsider the decision to move all games. Picture: Gary HutchisonFalkirk will ask the SPFL to reconsider the decision to move all games. Picture: Gary Hutchison
Falkirk will ask the SPFL to reconsider the decision to move all games. Picture: Gary Hutchison

The five fixtures have been pushed back 24 hours to allow BT Sport to broadcast St Mirren v Rangers live on TV.

The SPFL wants all kick-off times to be synchronised on the final day and announced on Monday that the five games would be moved to 12.30pm on the Sunday.

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Falkirk protested, asking that the four matches not being shown on TV revert to their original time of 3pm on Saturday 30 April, claiming no-one would be disadvantaged by this.

But the league body quickly rejected Falkirk’s demand – and told the Bairns they had the opportunity to raise objections last week.

An SPFL spokesman said: “All Ladbrokes Championship clubs were advised last Thursday that live broadcast selections for round 36 would be published on 4 April and that if a game was to be selected for live broadcast, all Ladbrokes Championship fixtures would be rescheduled to the live broadcast kick-off date and time.

“No comments were received from any club ahead of the announcement on 4 April of the rescheduling.

“With the potential for St Mirren’s result to have a bearing on final league places impacting on a large number of clubs, there is a clear need for a single kick-off time in the spirit of sporting fairness.

“We announced this decision at the earliest opportunity, rather than delay, to give supporters as much notice as possible.

“There will be no change to the schedule advised yesterday - all of the final day Ladbrokes Championship fixtures will take place on Sunday 1 May with a 12.30pm kick-off.”

Falkirk had earlier released a statement which made clear their dissatisfaction with the fixture change. It said: “We understand why the SPFL wanted to change the dates so that all the final day games took place at the same time. The reality is that none of the teams competing for the play-offs would be disadvantaged by allowing their games to take place on the Saturday.

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“This decision is inconsiderate of our fans, not only because of the switch to a less convenient day, but also because end-of season supporters’ events have been planned for the Saturday. Clubs will lose out considerably at the gates and through the loss of hospitality.

“We are going through the proper channels to ask the SPFL to change its position – there’s still time to reverse their decision and respect the wishes of our fans.”

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