Heineken & Amlin Fixtures - when are they announced ?

Does anyone have any info on when the actual match dates will be announced ? Just trying to sort out travel ...etc.

It's a pain isn't it Penfro? I'm trying to sort out an Exeter trip and either a Perpignan or Florence trip (nice!). The added problem with the Amlin is the possibility of a Thursday game which is a pain for work, etc.

I posted something about this the other day. Even when they announce which matches will be on which weekend, then still often don't say which day of the weekend it will be until close to the time. Why is this? Why can't they generate a specific fixture date when they announce the fixture 'weekends'. Is it a TV thing? If so, surely they can guess the big games they'd like to televise, and it is easier in the Amlin as they don't show as many games so clashes in the schedule are not such a big deal!
Are they afraid of committing to televise a dead rubber?

If they want to expand the game then they need to encourage travelling fans, not discourage them by forcing the fans to leave travel arrangements 'til the last minute.

According to this article on the BBC, the fixtures are to be played at this time


Full details of fixtures will appear here when confirmed

ROUND 1 11/12/13 November 2011

ROUND 2 18/19/20 November 2011

ROUND 3 9/10/11 December 2011

ROUND 4 16/17/18 December 2011

ROUND 5 13/14/15 January 2012

ROUND 6 20/21/22 January 2012

QUARTER-FINALS 6/7/8 April 2012

SEMI-FINALS 27/28/29 April 2012

FINAL 19/20 May 2012 (Twickenham Stadium, London)

*Fixtures, dates and times are subject to late change

gcBlues,

Yes we know the fixture weekends as they were announced when the pools were drawn, but it's hard to book a flight to Perpignan when the away fixture could be any weekend in the first six rounds!!! This is the problem.

Spot on Griff, it's all down to TV.
I'm in a 'mixed relationship' (she's a Turk fan !!) so we have a choice of where to go.

In the Scarlets pool, we don't really fancy a trip to the exotic delights of the East Midlands. So it's down to Castres or over to Munster and we've already been invited over to Limerick

As for the Ospreys pool, we went to Treviso last season (very nice) and I don't think I'll be heading up to watch Saffaracens. Biarittz on the other hand does appeal

However, we want those games in the New Year as I'm using up all my holidays to go to the RWC this year

Bookmarking this page in case anyone knows when the fixtures are annoucned. Bath here i come!

Mid July - can't remember the exact date though

Geoff - just can't seem to find anything definitive on the ERC site, guess they are waiting the call from thier Lords and Masters (aka - SKY TV )

Geoff knows these things, he's David Humphries don't ya know. Cheers mate

Griff wrote:gcBlues,

Yes we know the fixture weekends as they were announced when the pools were drawn, but it's hard to book a flight to Perpignan when the away fixture could be any weekend in the first six rounds!!! This is the problem.

not really that difficult, it's the same every year.

Penfro, classic - I'm in a mixed relationship!! Ha, ha

PS what did you decide about the gold? Sat afternoon or Sun morn?

gcBlues, what are you on about???! The Dragons are playing Perpignan, Exeter and Cavalieri Prato. We do not know 1) which round out of the first 6 we are playing each team and 2) which day of the weekend we will play them. Therefore, we can't book flights to these places if we don't know if the away fixture will be in November, December or January. What are you not understanding here?!

gcBlues wrote:not really that difficult, it's the same every year.

- what ??? Can you tell me then, when exactly are the O's playing Biarritz away, or the Blues take on Edinburgh at Murrayfield ??

It's the same every year is it not?

In fact, you have the luxary of getting an extra months notice because of the WC. It's not difficult to organise, unless you were silly and used up all your leave in work!

Did you run around all flustered last year too? You think you would have learned!

I guess i am more flexible with my work and taking time off, good old public sector.

gcBlues wrote:It's the same every year is it not?

In fact, you have the luxary of getting an extra months notice because of the WC. It's not difficult to organise, unless you were silly and used up all your leave in work!

Did you run around all flustered last year too? You think you would have learned!

I guess i am more flexible with my work and taking time off, good old public sector.

Are you all there in the head mate? I went to Leinster v Saracens in round 2 last year, it was away from home. Please explain how that tells me what game will be round 2 for Leinster this coming season? Or will we just go back to playing Sarries again?

It's the same situation every year, not the games. Kermit.

You won't know when to book your away trips until the draw is announced but that is the same every year so don't get the big hoohaa about it. This year you will even get an extra months notice because the WC means games are in November and not October like usual, allowing you more chance of getting a cheaper flight/train/whatever than you would have last year because of the later start.

How hard is that to grasp?

gcBlues, no it is not the same every year. The issue is not the time off work but booking flights. Currently I don't know if the Perpignan game will be in November, December or January. The closer it gets the more expensive the flights and the less accomodation available. Even when they do announce which round Perpignan away will be (round 1 to 6) they don't say whether it will be on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday until closer to the date. That makes it even harder to book a flight and accomodation.

The whole point is that we are trying to expand the game (hence italian, spanish and romanian teams in the cups) yet we make it difficult for the fans. My only point/question is why can't they just announce the actual fixtures and date they will play right at the start like they do with the English Premiership football? Some people say it's for TV reasons, but my argument is that in the Amlin cup they know which fixtures will be big e.g. Wasps v Bayonne, and they only televise like 1 game a week, so they should be able to decide now what game to show and let the fans have the fixtures early.

Griff wrote:The issue is not the time off work but booking flights. Currently I don't know if the Perpignan game will be in November, December or January. The closer it gets the more expensive the flights and the less accomodation available.

The flights won't be 'more expensive', they will be cheaper than they would usually be because the fixtures will be released around the same time as last years but the competition starts LATER. So you don't need to worry about that.

Griff wrote:Even when they do announce which round Perpignan away will be (round 1 to 6) they don't say whether it will be on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday until closer to the date. That makes it even harder to book a flight and accomodation.

Why not make a weekend of it, not many times you get to go to a place like Perp.

Anyway, in regards to perpignan. You can fly there with Ryan Air & Flybe and you can't book flights there between November and next year so that's redundant. I think it's out of 'range' for bookings

Cheers gcBlues. I still wonder why the fixtures can't be released when the pools are announced???

gcBlues wrote:It's the same situation every year, not the games

Thanks for clarifying what you meant. The point Griff & I are trying to make is why is it like that ? Why can' they just come out with the fixtures ? Those are rhetorical questions, as we can probably guess it's all down to TV (SKY).
By the way I'm normally able to be very flexible with time-off but I'm on holiday from Saturday 3rd Sept to Wed 26th Oct for the RWC Which will probably only leave me 3 days to fit in an away trip before the New Year

Mickado wrote:Geoff knows these things, he's David Humphries don't ya know. Cheers mate

The reason I know is it always happen when I take my holiday which is roughly the same of year.

5th to 19th July inclusive if you want to put it in your diaries

Griff wrote:Cheers gcBlues. I still wonder why the fixtures can't be released when the pools are announced???

Because SKY need to work around Stuart Barnes' Wine Guzzling & Non Sensical Anicdotal European Tour. They happen at the same time every year so they combine the two