Peter Corrigan: Disregard for fans is a kick-off in the teeth

Following rugby's Six Nations' Championship on foot, as it were, is becoming a difficult pilgrimage and it is going to become worse. For instance, England supporters calculating how to avoid being stranded in Cardiff on a Saturday night next month had better get used to making contingency plans for watching their country play. Kick-offs at 5.30pm are planned to become an increasing feature in future Six Nations' Championships and England are going to get an unhealthy ration of them.

I understand that under the BBC's new £75 million three-year contract, England are committed to two 5.30 starts next season and three the following year. Nothing compares to the lack of a train service from Cardiff but 75,000 fans making their way home from Twickenham at 7.30 on a Saturday night is not a transportation picnic, either.

Over the past few years, the traditional Saturday afternoon starts for the home internationals have been so disrupted by the juggling with fixtures over international weekends that it had already become difficult to keep pace with what day your team is playing, never mind at what time.

It wasn't so confusing when the Six Nations was spread over a 10-week period but now that the tournament is being crammed into seven weeks fans have found it harder to plan their away trips well in advance. Their problem is going to get considerably worse. Friday evening has already been discussed as an extra kick-off possibility; a prospect that hardly bears thinking about.

More immediate discomfort comes with the 5.30 start which arrives for the first time on 22 February when Wales play England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The BBC, who have now regained coverage of the entire championships, are convinced that they will get better viewing figures at the early evening time than for a 3pm kick-off.

What wasn't allowed to enter their calculations, nor those of the Six Nations' Committee who agreed the timing, was the trifling matter of the convenience of 72,500 spectators, at least a quarter of whom will be travelling from England and who will not have the benefit of a train service back that night.

Wales & Border Trains say the last scheduled train for England will have departed before the match is over and they don't intend to put on any extra – a statement of such breathtaking disregard for the principle of public service that the Welsh Secretary of State, Peter Hain, and a dozen or so MPs are bringing the matter up in Parliament.

But let's put that aspect of the affair to one side while we examine the roots of the problem created around what used to be the simple matter of organising the oldest international tournament in the world and which has worked like a well-oiled machine, with the accent on the well-oiled, for more than a century.

We have no right to expect anything to remain unaltered amid the burgeoning commercial pressures of the modern age but we are talking about hundreds of thousands of the most enthusiastic, the most loyal and the best behaved crowds in sporting history.

Their support and their willingness to travel have played a considerable part in the success of the Six Nations. Their reward is to be treated with utter disregard as the tournament is rapidly being made unrecognisable. Not only do we have the first Saturday evening kick-off this year, we also have five matches on a Sunday for the first time. One of those is between Ireland and England in Dublin at 4pm – that'll be another game from which English fans will face a very difficult journey home.

Being able to watch live games on television is one of the boons of modern life but it is becoming increasingly clear that no one pays a bigger price for live sport than the live supporter. I don't mean in cash terms particularly, although admission prices have risen fiercely enough, but in the inconvenience carelessly imposed upon them.

Football is just as big a culprit as rugby. The Football Association's plans for the new Wembley seem to include nothing to ease the plight of the travelling supporter apart from a park-and-ride facility at the end of the M1. And the decision already announced that both FA Cup semi-finals will be played at Wembley will condemn untold masses to a long journey. Of more immediate annoyance is the decision, by the BBC again, to stage the fourth-round FA Cup tie between Shrewsbury and Chelsea at 6.30pm two weeks tonight. That's another unprecedented kick-off time and, apparently, was demanded by the director-general, Greg Dyke, as part of their £400m contract.

Again, we have an agreement that shows no indication that anyone is giving the slightest thought to the fans. It is an appalling time to kick off a vital football match for both sets of fans and especially for Chelsea who have a long journey home with work the next day. For loyal football fans, it is what you might call a kick-off in the teeth.

When it comes to apportioning blame for this disfigurement of normal playing hours you have to start with the governing bodies. They have a duty to raise as much money as they can but they have a greater responsibility to their regular supporters. There are some parts of sport's fabric that shouldn't be up for sale.

The common denominator is the BBC, who also have duties and responsibilities, but I'm not sure that destroying the spectator base of our two main sports is among them. Sky have for some time been fiddling around with dates and times of Premiership matches, and I've no doubt that the fragmentation of fixtures that has resulted will eventually prove harmful (Christmas was all the more enjoyable because on Boxing Day we had a complete set of Premiership fixtures on one afternoon).

But I'm aware that Sky live by the commercial decision, as do ITV. The BBC live by licence fees and have no need to have their priorities governed by viewing figures – certainly not at the expense of licence payers or of the public's enjoyment of our major sports.

It wasn't all over. It is now

Farnborough's decision to transfer to Highbury their fourth-round FA Cup tie against Arsenal does not come under the same heading of fan abuse but if I were one of their regular supporters I would not be happy. Their chairman and owner, Graham Westley, gives valid reasons for the move, but I still regret it, even though I once took part in a similar arrangement.

In the Seventies I was the treasurer of our village club and we did very well one year to draw Cardiff City at home in the Welsh Cup. We agreed to switch the game (I think we suggested it) and we weren't afraid of upsetting our fans because we didn't have any. We played on a public park lapped by the Bristol Channel and had no way of charging anyone to watch apart from taking a collection. So the idea of a profitable afternoon in the comfortable surroundings of Ninian Park appealed to players and supporters alike.

So it may to Farnborough, but if I were one of the faithful who make up their average attendance of 800 I would be decidedly miffed at being dragged all the way to Highbury for a home game. I'd be far more excited by the thought of the mighty Arsenal having to visit our humble abode and all the inconvenience the visit would entail.

I'd want to see how Thierry Henry performed on our grass not theirs and with us breathing down his neck. I'm sure Arsenal would not have fancied the game and the entire town would have been electrified by the visit.

It does nothing for the image of the Cup and, in effect, it is not all that far removed from accepting a bribe. The odds on Farnborough winning weren't very high but they've almost disappeared now.