Programmes and the future?
Thu 10th May 2018 | General | By Gary Langley
“Programmes! Match-Day Programmes!” is a familiar cry that we hear all around the Hallmark Security League and at most of the football matches that you go to every match-day. Recently though, this bastion of the football match-day has been suggestively under threat as The EFL look to stage a vote this summer over the necessity of producing them. League Development Officer, Gary Langley has had a look at the recent events surrounding the match-day mag and also writes with a vested interest as not only does he produce programmes, he is also the League Programme Co-Ordinator.
Late last week it emerged that an agenda item for the EFL’s Annual General Meeting had been lodged to remove the requirement of clubs to produce a Matchday Programme. Straight away a buzz was created as people like well-known Non-League commentator, Tony Incenzo of Talksport fame, was clearly incensed by the proposal and media agencies picked up on it. Even BBC Breakfast news picked up on the proposal and it has sparked debates across media and social media alike, trending on twitter regionally and nationally on consecutive days.
It is safe to say it has sparked national debate and it is not all one-way traffic either, there are clear divisions on what the future of programmes is. Over the years, I have produced programmes at a senior level as well as at every level of the non-league pyramid from Steps 3-6 and in recent years there has been a noticeable change of attitude and approach to programmes from some clubs. For a large number, programmes do generate revenue and that includes a small number of Hallmark Security League Clubs, but for many they are loss leaders and platforms for sponsors.
Programmes have been evolving, for five years or so now in the SPFL, certain clubs have not produced match programmes, this is following a couple of clubs citing the same arguments about the cost factor and reducing sales. Queens Park FC, they have written off their matchday programme and now just produce an online pdf, they place it online free of charge. Livingston, they cancelled their programme a couple of seasons back but beefed up their website and put out enhanced matchday tweets. There are others right up to Scottish Premier League levels who now do the same and it is largely accepted up there.
Arsenal and other Premier League Clubs still produce a Match programme, however if you are on your smartphone or iPad you can subscribe for a much cheaper rate for the same content but with more up to date items including live matchday interviews so you can see how that is evolving and it is only a matter of time before the EFL Clubs look to do the same, hence the proposal.
What takes place at the top, will undoubtedly filter down to the non-league level over time (apart from VAR, they can keep that!). There are a couple of clubs in the North East who do a Monthly Magazine with Match info included in place of matchday programmes, it dates very quickly though. The question has been asked around the Hallmark Security League over the last couple of years, indeed a couple of clubs were looking to table rule amendments last summer but did not go through with it.
The current league rule is that clubs provide a match day programme for each game to certain standards that promote the Club, League and Partner Sponsors. The programmes are sold as per the need of the club but Copies are produced for match officials and sent into the Programme co-ordinator. What happens then is we then check that the content is non derogatory to anyone within the game, all of the pre-requisite standards are in there i.e. Match Details on the front, price, Entity Status listed, League ads placed and Club Officials shown. We then keep hold of the programme for a while in case any discrepancy is reported later on, we also use previous editions when we judge the Programme of the year awards.
On the subject of which, this seasons award has been judged over the last few weeks and will be announced at the AGM in Blackpool in June. The criteria are fairly varied, we look for Individual content, quality of layout, stats, the promotion of the league ads and frequency of which the programmes reach us. More will be announced on the overall winner later on but we have seen some great programmes in both divisions this season and the efforts of programme editors are not lost on us, we know what efforts go into even the most basic of publications and therefore appreciate the efforts that all clubs make to put them out.
So what of the future of the programme at the Hallmark Security League? A lot of clubs struggled over the unprecedented winter that we just had but a number consolidated editions by doing double game versions as well as a number doing supplementary sheets. The quality of the programme for games increased and is reflected in the difficulty of judging for Programme of the Year. The EFL may well go down a certain road, but we, like many others go to games and one of the first things we look for is the programme seller. Half time with a coffee, a read of the programme and listening to the half time scores, it is part of football heritage.
Programmes and the future?
Thu 10th May 2018 | General
By Gary Langley
“Programmes! Match-Day Programmes!” is a familiar cry that we hear all around the Hallmark Security League and at most of the football matches that you go to every match-day. Recently though, this bastion of the football match-day has been suggestively under threat as The EFL look to stage a vote this summer over the necessity of producing them. League Development Officer, Gary Langley has had a look at the recent events surrounding the match-day mag and also writes with a vested interest as not only does he produce programmes, he is also the League Programme Co-Ordinator.
Late last week it emerged that an agenda item for the EFL’s Annual General Meeting had been lodged to remove the requirement of clubs to produce a Matchday Programme. Straight away a buzz was created as people like well-known Non-League commentator, Tony Incenzo of Talksport fame, was clearly incensed by the proposal and media agencies picked up on it. Even BBC Breakfast news picked up on the proposal and it has sparked debates across media and social media alike, trending on twitter regionally and nationally on consecutive days.
It is safe to say it has sparked national debate and it is not all one-way traffic either, there are clear divisions on what the future of programmes is. Over the years, I have produced programmes at a senior level as well as at every level of the non-league pyramid from Steps 3-6 and in recent years there has been a noticeable change of attitude and approach to programmes from some clubs. For a large number, programmes do generate revenue and that includes a small number of Hallmark Security League Clubs, but for many they are loss leaders and platforms for sponsors.
Programmes have been evolving, for five years or so now in the SPFL, certain clubs have not produced match programmes, this is following a couple of clubs citing the same arguments about the cost factor and reducing sales. Queens Park FC, they have written off their matchday programme and now just produce an online pdf, they place it online free of charge. Livingston, they cancelled their programme a couple of seasons back but beefed up their website and put out enhanced matchday tweets. There are others right up to Scottish Premier League levels who now do the same and it is largely accepted up there.
Arsenal and other Premier League Clubs still produce a Match programme, however if you are on your smartphone or iPad you can subscribe for a much cheaper rate for the same content but with more up to date items including live matchday interviews so you can see how that is evolving and it is only a matter of time before the EFL Clubs look to do the same, hence the proposal.
What takes place at the top, will undoubtedly filter down to the non-league level over time (apart from VAR, they can keep that!). There are a couple of clubs in the North East who do a Monthly Magazine with Match info included in place of matchday programmes, it dates very quickly though. The question has been asked around the Hallmark Security League over the last couple of years, indeed a couple of clubs were looking to table rule amendments last summer but did not go through with it.
The current league rule is that clubs provide a match day programme for each game to certain standards that promote the Club, League and Partner Sponsors. The programmes are sold as per the need of the club but Copies are produced for match officials and sent into the Programme co-ordinator. What happens then is we then check that the content is non derogatory to anyone within the game, all of the pre-requisite standards are in there i.e. Match Details on the front, price, Entity Status listed, League ads placed and Club Officials shown. We then keep hold of the programme for a while in case any discrepancy is reported later on, we also use previous editions when we judge the Programme of the year awards.
On the subject of which, this seasons award has been judged over the last few weeks and will be announced at the AGM in Blackpool in June. The criteria are fairly varied, we look for Individual content, quality of layout, stats, the promotion of the league ads and frequency of which the programmes reach us. More will be announced on the overall winner later on but we have seen some great programmes in both divisions this season and the efforts of programme editors are not lost on us, we know what efforts go into even the most basic of publications and therefore appreciate the efforts that all clubs make to put them out.
So what of the future of the programme at the Hallmark Security League? A lot of clubs struggled over the unprecedented winter that we just had but a number consolidated editions by doing double game versions as well as a number doing supplementary sheets. The quality of the programme for games increased and is reflected in the difficulty of judging for Programme of the Year. The EFL may well go down a certain road, but we, like many others go to games and one of the first things we look for is the programme seller. Half time with a coffee, a read of the programme and listening to the half time scores, it is part of football heritage.
