BBC Sport and the English football association have announced that the Show piece fixture of the 6th round of the FA Cup between Manchester United and Arsenal is to take place at 19:45 on Monday the 9th of March.

As is the case with Cup games, a larger allocation is admitted to Travelling supporters in order to increase atmosphere in the ground as well as revenue for all parties concerned. Upwards of ten thousand Arsenal fans are currently making plans of travelling up to Manchester in order to support their team after shelling out hard earned pounds on overpriced match tickets. The fact that BBC Sport and the FA have made a decision, effectively forcing fans from both sets of supporters to take a day off work to travel up to the ground is, frankly, Laughable and incredibly short sited. The fact that the train times afterwards see fans returning to London arrive back at 07:05 the next day could also result in more missed time taking place at work, which again in times of horrific financial uncertainly is another slap in the face of the average football fan.

By agreeing the time and date of this fixture to take place, both parties are aware that the fixture will be unrivalled in viewing figures and therefore have a lucrative earning potential through advertising and already existing television deals. The deal that took place recently that saw BT Sport and Sky have a portion of the five billion pound television revenue for forthcoming seasons should see some of these funds travel down to the leagues to potentially help fans of all clubs attend fixtures without the fear of having to bow to the demands of already hugely powerful governing bodies and television providers. Just because you support a rich club, does not make you a rich person. This is why we are asking fans of all clubs around the world to sign this petition to tell the FA and BBC Sport that football fans are yet again an afterthought when it comes to the game we all love and when the Magic of the FA Cup is again called into question, they will be the ones to be looked at as the reason for this. If something is not done immediately then it will be lost forever.

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