Kettering Town FC Press release, 7th January 2009
Kettering Town reached the 4th round of the FA Cup last Saturday for only the second time in 136 years, one of only two teams from the 670 non-league entrants to make it this far. Even more improbably, the draw pitted Kettering against Premier League side Fulham owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, which made it the competition’s first ever clash between two Muslim owners.
Kettering Town and the football world looked forward to a great challenge while the club anticipated the traditional windfall that every non-league team expects when drawn at home to a Premier League side –a cheque for £160,000 for live TV coverage. Televising the game would have had a further benefit – a chance for Kettering’s shirt, which carries the slogan Palestine Aid, to raise awareness and charitable aid for the humanitarian crisis in Palestine.
But yesterday afternoon ITV and Setanta took the almost unprecedented step of not choosing as one of their live matches a non-league team drawn at home to a Premier League side. Not only is it a tradition that such a tie is screened live, the schedule chosen contradicts the Football Association’s stated objective “to use The FA Cup to redistribute funds throughout the game” as Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham were all screened live in the 3rd round, whilst Tottenham will be live on TV for six consecutive games.
The decision has not only shocked and angered the supporters of Kettering and Fulham, but supporters of other clubs, including Tottenham, have flooded club message boards complaining.
Not only will Kettering Town miss out on the much-needed windfall and millions of football supporters be deprived of watching a match that embodies the essence of the Cup, more importantly the opportunity has been lost to raise further awareness and humanitarian aid in Palestine and follow the FIFA edict that says: “Due to its values, popularity, universal nature and appeal, football (in all of its forms) can be a viable and practical instrument for achieving social and human development targets…from a 'charitable giving' approach to a meaningful 'socially responsible, involved, and committed' one.”
For this reason, Kettering Town have today decided to offer ITV another opportunity to broadcast our game against Fulham live and will waive our right to the £160,000 fee we would be entitled to. Furthermore, if ITV are unable to fit our game into any of their four channels, over the four day period set aside for 4th round games, we will allow Setanta Sports to screen our game, on any of their seven channels, again waiving the £160,000 fee.
If, for any reason, neither ITV or Setanta can fit the game into the eleven channels and four days of programming we would ask the FA to allow the game to be moved to another date, as happened in the first round of the FA Cup, to assist ITV and Setanta with their scheduling.
And finally, if for any reason, none of the three options above works, we have other non-subscription TV channels that would be willing to screen the game live or allow ITV or Setanta to use their platform on any date the FA choose.
Chairman Imraan Ladak said "we were all very disappointed when the news was announced, but we hope our offer will allow ITV or Setanta to help increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis, whilst giving Kettering, Fulham and the neutral supporter the chance to watch one of the ties of the round."
We look forward to working with the FA, ITV and Setanta Sports.
http://www.ketteringtownfc.co.uk/story.php?story_id=34