Latest cfcuk Fanzine Article from the CSG
SUPPORTERS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT AND MORE!
The fourth annual Chelsea Supporters Football Tournament will once again take place at the Cobham training ground with the club confirming that the date will be Sunday, July 10th 2011. The 11 a side tournament is open to any team of Chelsea supporters who can guarantee getting a squad of 15 or so players together for the day.
The cut off date for entrants will be Monday, April 18th 2011. If too many teams have entered for the day then a draw will be made at the final fans forum of the season to select the competing sides. If you wish to enter or require further information, please contact me at the email address given below. Kudos, once again, should go to the club for allowing us to stage this event.
Following the success of the Chelsea v Spartak Moscow supporters match, another game has been organised against a Copenhagen fans team. The match, with a 3.00pm kick off, will take place on the afternoon of the home Champions League match and will be played at the Royal Hospital Grounds in Chelsea. Whether or not all the Chelsea supporters from the game will make their way to Stamford Bridge afterwards having paid the sky high ticket prices remains to be seen. Several have already intimated they will go to one of the many pubs in the area showing the game and save themselves a lot of money!
This article has been written a few days before the third of our long haul away games in eight days, this one against Sunderland. The Monday night game against Bolton proved to be a good turnout by Chelsea supporters, with the 2825 allocation only a few hundred short of being sold out. Anti Sky songs were sung loudly by the Chelsea contingent, something that needs to done in future TV games! To completely sell out the 3000 allocation for the Everton FA Cup game over a week before the match was an excellent effort by the supporters and the atmosphere from those fans was one of the best from any at away games this season.
The paltry crowd of just over 28000, with Everton charging normal premier league prices, proves once again that Chelsea have got their FA Cup ticket prices exactly right and yet another sell out crowd will be at Stamford Bridge for the replay. Well done Chelsea FC! It’s perhaps hardly surprising that, at the time of writing, only just over 1300 tickets have been sold for the Sunderland game. (Any potential new player signings may boost these numbers!) This is the second season running that this fixture has been designated as a mid week game and with Newcastle playing at Fulham the following evening it beggars belief that whoever sorts out the fixture list could not have worked things out better for the travelling fans.
Chelsea supporters have joined forces with the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) to condemn SKY TV for selecting Chelsea for yet another Monday night game, this time away at Blackpool. It’s absolutely ridiculous that Chelsea will not have played an away match on a weekend for over three months, between Tottenham in December and Stoke in April (and the Stoke game could still yet be moved!) Let’s hope that more anti Sky protests are present at both the Fulham and Blackpool games. Blackpool being a game that has really upset a lot of Chelsea fans who had already booked hotel rooms wanting to make a weekend of it at the holiday resort. There is an excellent article on the FSF website http://www.fsf.org.uk/news/TV-plays-havoc-with-Chelsea-fans-travel-plans.php
On the subject of the FSF they are keen to help any football supporter who feels they have been harshly treated by police, stewards or football clubs and can offer advice and, if required, legal help. With a member of the Executive Committee now assigned full time to policing and civil rights matters now, more than ever, is a good time to contact them if you have any grievances. The FSF can be contacted via their website or we can put you in touch if you contact the CSG at the email address here.
Cliff Auger CSG Juvenile Rep
Article from the latest edition (119) of the cfcuk fanzine