The festive period is one of the busiest times of the year when it comes to the English football calendar. Matches come thick and fast for teams in late December, and teams typically play on or around both Boxing Day and New Year's Day, often with a third game in between. To ease the stress, some sides elected to fly to certain festive fixtures this year.
Short, unlikely domestic hops
Tuesday, December 28th saw six matches scheduled to take place in English football's Premier League. Only four ultimately took place, with two canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests among the teams involved. Of the four games that did go ahead that day, there were two whereby the away team elected to fly there, or rather as close as possible.
One such squad was Norwich City, who played away at Crystal Palace, in South London. According to reports on social media, the team flew to London Gatwick from Norwich Airport. Data from RadarBox.com shows that, using a Loganair Embraer ERJ145 (G-SAJN), the Canaries jetted down on the afternoon of December 27th, returning the following evening.
Meanwhile, 2020 Premier League champions Liverpool also flew to their away fixture at 2016 winners Leicester City. The Reds made the short hop down from Liverpool Airport to East Midlands onboard a Jota Aviation Avro RJ85, registered as G-JOTR. Unlike Norwich City, Liverpool flew both to and from their destination on the same day.
Different factors to consider
While it is interesting to see such unlikely UK domestic flights take place, the journeys did attract criticism online from an environmental perspective. After all, traveling from Norwich to Crystal Palace and Liverpool to Leicester by road represents a journey of around 120 miles (193 km) in both cases. This would typically take around two and a half hours.
With this in mind, there is the question of whether flying would even have saved the teams that much time, given the formalities that have to be completed. Flying to away matches in the UK is often debated, and came to light once again in October after the BBC reported on Manchester United's decision to fly to East Midlands for their game at Leicester City.
Some social media users defended the teams' decisions to fly to their away matches on the 28th, citing factors such as enhanced player recovery due to lower travel times. However, curiously enough, both Liverpool and Norwich lost the games that they flew to.
Additionally, the need for players to take COVID-19 tests before matches may have played a part in the sides' decision to fly. After all, this requires teams to arrive earlier, with the quicker journey times offered by flying perhaps making a key difference. In any case, the BBC reports that this requirement has now been scrapped. As such, it will be interesting to see whether these flights continue, now that such early arrivals are no longer necessary.
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More commonly seen in the US
Over in the US, the country's size means that sportspeople flying to way fixtures is a more common phenomenon. Some teams have even gone as far as to acquire their own aircraft. Indeed, the NFL's Arizona Cardinals recently obtained an ex-Delta Boeing 777.
However, the team lost the first game that it flew to in this special jet by a score of 30-12 against the Detroit Lions. Having now clinched a playoff spot, the Arizona Cardinals flew to Texas on the jet yesterday for today's matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
What do you make of these unorthodox domestic jaunts? Have you come across members of a sports team on your travels? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.