Should England have a Winter Break?

With so much snow about, do you think the FA should consider this?

Personally I would say yes, despite many grounds having thermal ground heating last weekend proved it was not enough to battle the elements.

Fair enough it would congest the fixtures list a little but these premadonnas are on good enough coin to handle playing every few days.

I'd say yes, games get called off because of the weather anyway which congests the fixture list, at least properly structured it would not be as detrimental to clubs and fans.

I'd say yes, games get called off because of the weather anyway which congests the fixture list, at least properly structured it would not be as detrimental to clubs and fans.

Ditto, my good man.

Should of come in a long time ago, i feel. Keep the boxing day games, but then postpone the season for two weeks and come back in the new year.

OK so we get 2 weeks off after Christmas so if we get snow and ice in that period, it doesn't call off any games.

So what if we don't get snow and ice in those 2 weeks but we do the 2 weeks after that when the season has supposed to start again?

We'd be in a worse off position than we were without the winter break!!!!

Stupid idea imo.

OK so we get 2 weeks off after Christmas so if we get snow and ice in that period, it doesn't call off any games.

So what if we don't get snow and ice in those 2 weeks but we do the 2 weeks after that when the season has supposed to start again?

We'd be in a worse off position than we were without the winter break!!!!

Stupid idea imo.

Works quite well in Germany and Spain mate.

But its not just for weather, its for a break for the players.

Works quite well in Germany and Spain mate.

Well that's fair enough but they have different climates. Last time I looked we play football in England which has an extremely unpredictable climate when we never know when we are going to get the bad weather. I mean this year our first wave of snow came in November!!! What use would 2 weeks off over Christmas be in that situation if games got called off? It would just make things worse!

When was the last time Spain had substantial snow and ice which called off games? Just out of interest why do they have a winter break (obviously it isn't because of the weather).

But its not just for weather, its for a break for the players.

I see... I thought the main thing being pointed out was that because of the weather calling off games we should have a break.

But still, my original point still stands, a mid winter break would not help as if bad weather comes at any period outside the winter break it will congest the fixture list even more in the latter half of the season.

The German and English climate is similar mate.

As Crouch said it would give the players a break also and in cases like Spain a predominantly Christian country gives players time off during the religious festivals.

The German and English climate is similar mate.

As Crouch said it would give the players a break also and in cases like Spain a predominantly Christian country gives players time off during the religious festivals.

OK so we give the players time off during the Christmas period to enjoy religious festivals (I might get slated for this but I would have thought these days most of them aren't religious) and then added to the games which are likely to get called off outside of the christmas period we also have to make up for 2 weeks of no games which would have happened during the break, either we'd have to have more PL games a week throughout the second half of the season OR we'd have to extend the season making the summer break shorter...

My opinion is that it's fine the way it is really... Makes our football calendar special as well, I reckon a lot of supporters would be gutted to lose the footy over the festive period.

Start a week earlier and finish a week later to help stretch it out.

I, personally, think it's essential.

I thought it was mainly to give a break to the players etc.  And there was some feeling at the world cup that some players who had a winter break, performed better at the world cup.  I don't think it has anything to do with the weather per se.

I think they could at least try it, maybe in 2012 before Euro's in the summer.

100 % agree with Monobrow - no.

Main problem is when it should be - Dec ? Jan ? Feb ?  Last year Jan saw the most matches cancelled this year it may be Dec, next year who knows ?  Hence, you could have a two winter break, followed by another fortnight of weather affected fixtures, resulting in a real fixture backlog.  Due to the unpredictable nature of the British climate, for me this is a non starter.

As a traditionalist, Boxing day has always been a football day for me and having lost so many footballing traditions through Sky (3.00 Saturday becoming a rarity) it would be nice to preserve the Christmas and New Years Day fixtures.

Absolutely not. Football is part of the Christmas period in this country. It makes Christmas so much better knowing there's so much football going around. It's not like this happens every winter. We've had two freak winters. That's all.

Keep it the same.

If they are going to have a break, it should be in January.  The Xmas & New Year fixtures are an important part of our football heritage.

There should definitely be a winter break. Mostly because of the players having a rest. English clubs are more tired in the second stage of the Champions League also the England national team seems to be much more tired on international competitions taking place in the summer. Furthermore during the winter months the pitches are much worse and often long term injuries are picked up.

I'm all for it, as long as it doesn't affect the international friendlies.

There should definitely be a winter break. Mostly because of the players having a rest. English clubs are more tired in the second stage of the Champions League also the England national team seems to be much more tired on international competitions taking place in the summer. Furthermore during the winter months the pitches are much worse and often long term injuries are picked up.

A rest? A F***ing REST?? professional footballers must have one of the easiest jobs in the world! They already get summer off and now you want them to have January off as well?!?! F**k.
There's a very simple solution - run the season from February to September/October.

But its not just for weather, its for a break for the players.

So they've just had 2 months off during the summer, go back to "work" 2 or 3 hours a day for 4 months and you think they deserve a couple of weeks BREAK!? I wish you were my boss!

I think so ya. A week extra in May won't harm everyone but I think it's really the English FA's job to cut out pointless friendlies really.

Bollocks to a winter break, footballers play for the supporters not the other way round. What next World cup in the winter !!!.

So they've just had 2 months off during the summer, go back to "work" 2 or 3 hours a day for 4 months and you think they deserve a couple of weeks BREAK!? I wish you were my boss!

Many internationals had about 2-3 weeks off, not 2 months.

Many internationals had about 2-3 weeks off, not 2 months.

2 or 3 weeks off is still a decent amount of holiday when you consider the amount of work that they do during an average week. Besides, the "majority" of professionals did have a few months off. We can't change the rules just to suit the minority of international players just becasue every other year they only get 3 weeks holiday! Craziness.

We F***ing need one, a month in Florida is well in order.

It seems it is crucial to have a winter break if we want less of our players getting injured at seasons end. I do enjoy the Christmas fixture period but ultimately it does seem that England does need a winter break. But that jug eared tw*t Scudamore probably won't recognise it.

If Hodgsons for it, I'm against it, working on the theory that doing the opposite of what he says is usually the right way to go.