Club versus country

This weekend, Bradford City will take to the field against Shrewsbury Town as usual at 3pm on Saturday, but in doing so will be the only fixture in The Football League to stick to the traditional kick-off time. The reason being is England's European Championships qualifying game in Wales at the same time. The "club versus country" row might be one normally reserved for players, but this weekend it will be one that stretches to the fans.

City had looked to move the game to either the Sunday or an earlier kick-off time, but neither were possibly for this weekend's opponents. But even that should never have been asked of the club heirachy.

The Saturday 3pm kick-off time is no longer sacrosanct. Sky Television saw to that. But is it a kick-off time that is at least protected from the lure of the television cameras, with a blackout from the screens for two hours every weekend. Alas, this weekend it has changed.

It was the English and Welsh FA who chose the kick-off time, and this is two countries who to some part share a league. It would be very easy to say that the Football Association - guardians of the Premier League and not the Football League - don't care about lower league football, so I will.

City fear a drop in revenue. But did they have any option? Combined with extra costs of moving the game, it's not obvious whether fans will have switched too. Friday night sees six league matches, Sunday another four. On Saturday, there are a plethora of 1pm starts and even a 6pm. Only the non-leagues seem to have maintained their embrace on the 3pm kick-off - with nine clubs sticking to their guns in the Conference.

So, loyal Bradford and Shrewsbury fans face a direct choice between their beloved sides or the prima donna, underachievers at international level. But others face worse - Carlisle a nice five-hour trip to Brentford on a Friday and then a five-hour journey back deep into the early hours of the morning; Torquay fans can knock an hour off to get to Northampton on a working day; Exeter fans have a nice four-and-a-half hours trip across the country to get to Colchester by 1pm on Saturday; at least Gillingham fans can save their three-hour journey to Cheltenham for Sunday morning.

Yes, just another ordinary weekend for lower league fans and their clubs backed into a corner by a national association who have forgotten who the game really belongs to, and a golden generation whose moniker is only matched by their bank accounts and not their record.