I reckon weekend football should kick off at 3pm on a Saturday, but the demands of television have seen a variety of kick off times develop over both days of the weekend. Television dictated the earliest kick-off in Premier League history on Sunday October 2nd 2005 at the City of Manchester Stadium, when Manchester City were desperate for TV income. Their match against Everton was screened on PPV (pay per view) TV and kicked off at 11.15am on the Sunday morning, in front of a 42,681 crowd. No doubt the others were in church?
TV also dictated the kick-off time of the 2008 Champions' League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea. Armchair fans saw the match kick off at 7.45pm which was perfect for the British and western European TV audience. But the match was played in Moscow and 7.45 for us was 10.45pm local time in Russia. When extra time was over and the penalties were taken, it was 1.30 am, the following morning in Moscow!! and after the final whistle and other amusements, the cup still had to be presented!
TV couldn't be blamed for the earliest kick off in senior football in England - it happened in 1892! Football League side Burton Swifts were double-booked on Saturday 1st October 1892 - involving a Second Division match at Crewe Alexandra and a home FA Cup Preliminary Round fixture against Singers of Coventry (a forerunner of Coventry City). They solved the problem by bringing forward the cup tie to the previous Wednesday - with an 8am kick off, yes that's 8 o'clock in the morning! Swifts won 3-0 although there is no record of the attendance!
1st April 2025: April Fools' Day jokes dominated the air waves, with some fans taking the opportunity to poke fun at Manchester UnitedIIIt has been a dire season for the Red Devils, who currently found themselves down in 13th place in the Premier League table. They look set to miss out on European football altogether, and have not come close to winning the Champions League since losing in the final to Barcelona, back in 2011.
A fake report suggested the sides that come up could be given a helping hand before a ball is even kicked, which drew a furious reaction from Cundy. 'I'm sorry, there's no way they'll get this over the line,' he said. 'There's no way the Premier League teams will vote for this. Absolutely no way. 'There'll be court cases everywhere. You're not going to hear the end of that one.' He was speaking to The Guardian's football journalist Jamie Jackson, who just about managed to keep a straight face during Cundy's rant.
Popular ex-footballer and TV personality Chris Kamara also got in on the act as he took to X with some 'incredible news'. Alongside a photo that looked suspiciously like himself with girl's hair, Kamara wrote to his followers: 'Wow, some incredible news. Just found out after all these years that I have sister!!! She is called April, first I’ve heard of it. Who do you think you are, coming to our screens very soon on ITV.' Kamara's joke comes just months after he made his return to TV amid his battle with speech apraxia.
Kamara had been out of the spotlight due to the neurological disorder that affects the brain pathways involved in producing speech. But he made his comeback to cover Nottingham Forest's 1-0 win over Tottenham on Boxing Day, as he reunited with old friend Jeff Stelling on Amazon Prime Video. Over three months on, he appears to still be in good spirits, although it seems unlikely that his joke will have caught out many fans this time around.
1st April 2006 Leicester City opened their new stadium in July 2002 and on this day in 2006 the record attendance figure was set at the stadium – by the local rugby club! A crowd of 32,488 were present at the ground – then called the Walkers Stadium – for a Heineken Cup quarter-final between Leicester Tigers and Bath. The best Leicester City have managed for one of their games was 32,242 in the Premier League against Sunderland on August 8th 2015 - their first match in their amazing title winning season - with less seats being available at football matches because of the need for crowd segregation.
1st April 2011 There was shock when The Sun newspaper reported that Alex Ferguson had agreed to become Life President of the Referees' Association. Fergie never had an easy relationship with match officials but the Manchester United manager was reported to have accepted the role in an effort to end his long-running feud with the officials. Under the terms of his appointment, he promised to serve as an ambassador for all referees and their assistants and would try not to criticise their performances after matches. Then the date was noticed!
