WILL CLARK: Scottish Cup time switch rendered pointless if clash with English FA Cup still possible
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles is my favourite movie of all time. The farce of how Inverness Caledonian Thistle supporters are going to get back from Hampden reminded me of the arduous journey John Candy and Steve Martin faced trying to get home for Thanksgiving dinner.
The catastrophic decision – in my opinion, others can and have spoken on the matter themselves – to move the game to a 5.30pm kick-off, has caused no end of grief and unhappiness.
At first, rail was not an option for Inverness fans to get home on the same night.
However, a deal has been reached with ScotRail to put on the Inverness Express at the “bargain price” of £70.60 a ticket.
In addition, Megabus and Citylink have also put on special services from Inverness Bus Station to Hampden Park on the day.
I do commend everyone’s efforts for putting on additional transport, regardless of the cost, to try and get as many people down there as possible.
However, I can’t get out of my head the reason why the Scottish Cup final has been shifted to an evening kick-off in the first place.
The decision to move the Scottish Cup final was so it didn’t clash with the English FA Cup final which kicks-off at 3pm.
However, if the English FA Cup final goes to extra time, the Scottish Cup final will switch channels, after the match has started.
The plan is for the match to start on BBC Scotland and then move to BBC One once the English FA Cup final has been completed.
The point of shifting the Scottish Cup final was to avoid clashing with the English FA Cup final – so what is the point of a 5.30pm kick-off if there is a chance the matches could still clash?
Before 2011, it was a regular occurrence that the English FA Cup final and Scottish Cup final kicked off on the same day, at the same time at 3pm.
But in the last decade, it was the English FA Cup final which switched to later time in the hope of getting a larger TV audience, for a competition which English clubs consider way behind finishing as high up the Premiership table as possible due to the money involved.
If it was a Celtic v Rangers final, I doubt it would have been a 5.30pm kick-off for safety reasons, as it would have been deemed a high risk match. It might possibly have been a 12:15pm kick-off, or, perish the thought, even remained at 3pm.
But the fact it is Inverness Caledonian Thistle does not have much appeal for the television stations, despite the massive fan base Celtic have.
The Scottish Cup final is the only sporting event in Scotland which is protected by law and has to be screened free of charge.
I guess we should be grateful it is still free to view, unlike the Scottish League Cup final, which is now only available to view on subscription TV.
There were calls from politicians to switch the game back to 3pm, but in the end they were only gestures. Those calling for the kick-off time to return to 3pm know fine well the Government can’t get involved in telling the SFA what to do.
The SFA have let the fans, especially Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans, down in selling our cup final out to the television companies.
I fear that SFA will take no notice of fans’ reaction to this debacle of a kick-off time, and, unless it is an Old Firm final, the Scottish Cup will always be a substitute to another cup final, in another country.
