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Thank U`s: Away Request One Of 120

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Remember how Vital grumbled and threaded, sorry promised, to contact the Football League over the U`s seventh-in-a row away fixture? Well, we did…

Glen Thompson dealt with the requests for fixtures that meant Colchester United had to play away at Norwich City for Saturday`s first game of 2009/10 – a process where other clashing events force a football team to play either at home or away. So now at least you know who to thank for the weekend`s 7-1 victory!

In all, according to a new article in this month`s Four Four Two magazine, there were 120 such requests interrupting the natural paring of twin clubs, one automatically playing away while the other, true to sequence, is at home. The U`s away game against Norwich, though, was their seventh successive away-day trip to the start of a new season.

Earlier this summer we pledged to contact the Football League about the various ins-and-outs regarding the releasing and publishing football fixtures, after the BBC produced a report exploding the myth that calculations were done either totally at random or by a cursed computer.

It was revealed then that the U`s are paired with Southend Unitd but also that we shared stewards with Ipswich Town. The U`s have begun away so often in August because of the ‘V` Music Festival , they later added.

At least the findings proved twisted fate had not been disadvantaging the U`s unfairly by always placing the club at an away game for starters.

Further to this, however, Vital U`s took matters into our own hands. We wanted to know if a local paper, the East Anglian Daily Times, had
broken a strict embargo designed to prevent premature publication of fixtures, as it cost hundreds of pounds for independent fanzines like this one to purchase the rights.

Any response was intended for publication as a piece of investigative journalism, on behalf of you, the audience.

The FL simply told this site in July: “The matter has been referred to the relevant personnel.”

Nothing since.

So, it seems, there is little to worry about: the EADT were presumably within their rights to publish a fixture a few hours before the official release time.

And after Saturday`s sensational score at City, starting away from home each year now doesn`t seem so bad after all.


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3 comments

  • PooliePoolie says:

    Really interesting article. I’m not happy that we’re away for the first game, last game and Boxing Day game this season.

  • Matt_Us says:

    Thanks, yes, it does seem to have helped us this time though, Maybe next time it won’t matter! At least there’s been some explaining done as to why the fixtures turn out as they do.

  • StevieG Col U says:

    Would like to open the season at home but dont care after the 7-1!

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