New evening kickoff time announced

Press release from Sunderland AFC:

Sunderland AFC will revert back to a 7.45pm kick-off for midweek games after a poll of more than 10,000 fans voted in favour of the time.

The club offered supporters the chance to have their say in what time Sunderland's night games should kick off in the 2005-06 season.

Fans had until 4pm today to cast their vote in the safc.com poll and they have opted for the 7.45pm kick-off time as opposed to last year’s 8pm.

In previous years many supporters, particularly those who travel some distance to games, said they had difficulty arriving in time for a 7.45pm kick off, so the time was changed to 8pm. However, in recent months the club has received requests from fans that would like kick-off time brought forward to 7.45pm.

As a result, the club opened the debate up to a poll, and while the issue was debated by hundreds of supporters in our fans forum, more than 10,000 individuals actually cast their vote, with 54% voting in favour of the earlier time.

“We feel the club has received more than a representative number of votes in order to get a fair and balanced opinion,” said the club’s Marketing and Communications Director Lesley Callaghan. “We have given our supporters the chance to have their say and whilst the poll was very close it has shown that more fans would prefer the 7.45pm kick-off time.”