Football Fans Census

Football Fans Census is the trading name of Football Fans Central Ltd, a small ^[1] market research company which specialises in research into the views and opinions of English football supporters.

When the free-to-air digital sports channel ITV Digital collapsed in 2002; it reportedly owed £178.5m to Football League clubs. Two football fans began a campaign for ITV Digital's parent entities, the regional ITV companies Granada Television and Carlton Television to repay this money to the clubs. ^{[2] [3]} The campaign, under the name Football Fans Union, took the form of a protest against the companies resulting in the 'Can the Commercials' petition and direct action ^[4]. The group asked football fans to boycott ITV's World Cup 2002 coverage, and in particular to switch channels during advertisements; so that advertisers would bring pressure on ITV and impact on the companies' advertising revenues ^[5]. The fans' campaign ran alongside legal action by the Football League; but it proved to be unsuccessful when the Court of Appeal threw out the Football League's action in 2006 ^[6]. The impetus created by this campaign led to the Football Fans Union developing into the Football Fans Census; and a desire to be a voice for football supporters through online surveys and opinion polls. Past surveys include:

• the return of terraces ^[7]
• the quality of food at games ^[8]
• the cost of following a football team ^[9]
• the state of English football ^{[10] [11]}

References

1. ^ http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/ffa9a467719cfacb89053e49077bd052/compdetails
2. ^ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/archive/columns/2002/0512/20020512featcollins.html
3. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/03/20/sfntv21.xml
4. ^ http://www.footballfanscensus.com/itv/index.html
5. ^ http://www.footballfanscensus.com/itv/campaign/faq.html
6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5109254.stm
7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/solpda/ukfs_sport/hi/newsid_6444000/6444083.stm
8. ^ http://archive.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/2005/9/10/88290.html
9. ^ http://uk.virginmoney.com/newscentre/press-releases/2007/football-fans-go-into-extra-time.html
10. ^ http://www.givemefootball.com/display.cfm?article=7360&type=1|title=News
11. ^ http://www.marketresearch.com/vendors/viewvendor.asp?g=1&VendorID=2712