Hartlepool United Fixtures released

By Albatross
June 19 2003

Yes, it's that time already: Hartlepool United's fixtures for 2003/4 have been announced. Everyone will be poring over the list, including yours truly. However, Pools Online is not allowed to bring them to you...

The fixtures are out for the new season, and all of us - especially the exiles - will no doubt be looking at them to work out which games we can get to.

However, you won't find a comprehensive list of the fixtures on this site - you're best off going to the Official Site for that. That's because I can't afford to fork out the £250 or so that's demanded from anyone who wants to publish the list. Sounds a bit steep? Well it certainly is for a site that's being run for the love of it, with a couple of hundred regular visitors. Not that such arguments cut much ice with the Football League and PA; you can be certain that if I put the full list of Hartlepool United fixtures up here, myself and Sport Network would be very quickly instructed to take them down or face legal action.

Extreme? I think so. So do many other people that run not-for-profit sites - particularly as the amount of money demanded is considerable. Maybe if I was able to pay a token amount - say £25 - to use the list, I might be prepared to fund it out of my own money; but at ten times that, only people with deep pockets can afford to do so. It's a possible revenue stream, and unfortunately it looks like the powers that be are determined to milk it; witness the decision a year or two back to decide that every site on Rivals would need it's own individual license for the fixtures, rather than being eligable for one overall.

Let me stress here that it's not the club that's doing this. The Press Association and the Football League are the ones wielding the big stick, and the chances of them changing their stance are minimal. I don't like it, but I have to abide by it. Fortunately, the League Table isn't subject to the same draconian approach, and will be making a reappearance at the start of the season.

Right, moan over, let's have a look at what we've got. First game up is a tricky away game at Peterborough, and the first home game will be against Tranmere the following Saturday. The home game against Sheffield Wednesday is in mid-October, Barnsley will visit Victoria Park on Boxing Day, and we finish with an away game at Swindon.

One thing that is of importance is that our run-in to the end of the season doesn't look too bad - though it is of course too early to tell who will be at the right end of the table. After playing Brighton at the beginning of April, our final six games see us play all three of the other promoted sides, Notts County, and Plymouth before finishing off at Swindon. If we are at the wrong end of the table, at least the chances are that we'll not be playing the sides battling for promotion as we scrap for points.

So, we have the fixtures, we have the odds, we have the kit, all we need now is a Manager and some more players and we're set for the season!