Ollie
23rd September 2001, 20:36
Hello, This mail is a little long, but I hope you can spend a few minutes reading it, as this will be of a great help to us all. I am the webmaster of an Unofficial Southamtpon FC webzine called Ultimate Saints. I am writing not concerning my club individually but concerning FA movements towards Unofficial websites. I don't know if you are aware of the following but a rather uninviting email from the FA prompted me to take the action I am about to describe to you. The FA have decided that the league fixture lists are owned by themsleves. Fair enough. They have also decided that anyone displaying these lists on Unofficial websites are breaching the copyright laws owned by them. I received, along with many other similar sites, an email stating that if I didn't remove the list from my site they would take legal action. They also contacted my host who were substequently threatened. Now, it is beyond me how they can impose these rules upon Unofficial websites run by fans but not upon other mediums. Newspapers, teletext, magaines, other websites, etc, are allowed to display these lists without being challenged. It is this inconsistency that angers me most. As you know, fans sites are run by real fans simply because it is of great interest and pride to them. It is fun and we like providing a service that we know fans really want. We invest a lot of our time and money into providing this. And then the FA come along and try to put us down for it. The fans are the ones that keeps the multi billion pound industry of football going. As a result of this pure ignorance and stupidity by the FA I have started a petition called The 'Save the Fixtures' Appeal that is designed to gain as much support as possible in an attempt to try and get this ruling overturned. Once I have a substantial number of signatures I will be meeting with a member of the PR deptartment of the FA to discuss the matter further. I have created a website that details the Appeal in full and allows you to add yourself to the petition. It can be found at http://www.ultimatesaint.co.uk/savethefixtures.I will be purchasing a proper domain once I can afford it. The main purpose of this email is to ask for your support in this matter. The best way you can help is to sign the petition yourself and pass on the word about it. If you are a webmaster I would greatly appreciate it if you could find a space on your site to tell your visitors about it or mention it in any newsletter/mailing list you run. On the site there is a page named 'webmasters' where you can get details about linking. I hope this message is coherant enough but not too long winded. If you have any comments or queries please do not hesistate to contact me. Many Thanks for reading this far. Scott Lyndon.
:eek: :mad: Sign the petition!!
btw hello, don't know most of the people here anymore :o :D
:eek: :mad: Sign the petition!!
btw hello, don't know most of the people here anymore :o :D