#I don't actually know what seats she got but it's from a season ticket holder who splurged greatly so

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'3pm Saturday is rugby time, don't mess with it' - your responses to The Rugby Debate 

Champions Cup 2016 Getty Images

This week, Mick Cleary complained that Champions Cup kick-off times are ruining the experience for rugby fans.

European kick-off times, spread out across the entire weekend - morning, noon and night. It's a dog's dinner and a disservice to rugby followers, be they in the ground (some chance at certain times) or at home...

We invited you to have your say, too. Here's what you had to say:

  Derek McBride

Commercial management by the major teams and the Six Nations RFU's has been crass and very short term.

In pursuit of the money, the greedy Blazers have given away TV rights to  the best rugby in Europe to niche companies.  The enthusiasts are ignored and, slowly, they will give up paying large sums of money just to watch several big games crammed into weekend slots. At the same time the greedy Unions are fixing International Test games  all over the place.

Good players need a seasonal rest, but the money talks and the headaches continue to haunt overpaid players with no consequences for the game's management

I've lost all respect for the Blazers that control rugby union at all levels. Not that I had much to begin with.

  Mark Austen

The same is true of the 6 Nations when England v France is due to start at 16.50. How is this good for the game or the broadcasters?

  Alasdair Fergusson

Racing 92 play at 20:45 on Saturday, we're an hour ahead - we get messed about just the same for Top14 matches but that late for a 'dead' match will make for a dead atmosphere. As the ground is a bit remote from most of the fans this means back home at midnight. For those of us who buy season tickets and go to games this is just being taken for granted.

  Gaius King 

Just because you stagger games doesn't mean you/we are more likely to watch when played live.  I would be happily watch the replay on TV whenever at my own convenience (or when the kids are in bed or watching it too).  Thats what fans do!

3pm, Saturday... is Rugby time!  Don't mess with it.

  E TO

TV broadcasting rights, led by SKY are poisoning sport and killing the fan base - football has soulless crowds as they are the only ones who can afford it - rugby will go the same way if it's not careful.

  Douglas White

Agree the times are not good but for many of us 2 subscription services is a bigger issue. Same tore cause Rugby no longer looks after the fan. 

  Ed Stacey 

It's called life and it sucks. And frequently it [life] gets in the way of the truly important stuff like watching sport. My own predicament, for example, means missing Munster v Glasgow because of a long-planned family get together! Now should I complain to the tournament organisers for putting their corporate interests before my social calendar or simply accept my cruel fate, set sky+ to record and be a man about it?

There is way too much negativity in the English media right now about rugby when we should be celebrating a golden era for this great sport. There are undoubtedly issues to be dealt with; concussions, consistency of refereeing etc. certainly all need addressing, but the media is obsessed with trivializing the game in the way it has with football by focusing purely on negative off-field stuff. You can't please everyone all the time. Journalists should know this better than anyone! Give it a rest now please.

  Robert Reynolds 

Sky extra room is great service to help marital bliss.So long as clubs & Unions chase the TV £££s this will happen. Can't see bums on seats paying even the current high ticket prices compensating for loss of TV broadcasting rights.Now if northern hemisphere rugby season moved to more spring/summer fixtures who would complain about trips to France ,Italy,or even Belfast & Galway?

  Roger Cheesman

For us in Bordeaux, not a bad time this weekend.  However the point needs to be made that here, as in the UK, there is a core of fairly solid support who'd prefer to watch a match rather than catch it on TV and this will cost us more.  Please don't mess us around.

I suggest all matches k/o early afternoon Sat or Sun (depending on home side) and the TV boys chose which game to screen with highlights of others to follow so we can watch in the bar. Clubs can divvy up TV rights equally whatever is broadcast.

  P Saunders

They say that live performances are judged b Bums on seats. So the powers that are looking at progressing the game have got to take that into consideration. At present it is just going for the money like some other game.  You will kill what Rugby is all about.

  Paul Brannigan

How bad is 5-30 pm on a Sunday for Ulster travelling fans who have to get back to Belfast on Sunday night for work on Monday morning?

In addition the actual times for all of the games this weekend was only settled after the tickets were bought.  So, Ulster fans travelling to Exeter had to plan ahead not knowing which day or time they needed to get to Sandy Park and then home again.  Flights just got more expensive as they were booked last minute.

Fair play to Flybe for removing the additional cost of transferring to different flights for those who had tickets and guessed the wrong match time.

The fans, especially those hard core travellers are the losers!

  Peter Martin

It would seem to me that as previous correspondents have said,it is all about money.I think that the biggest issue is that the game has sold itself to sport subscription TV channels thereby taking it out of reach of a vast number of fans.Moving the start times all over the place has just compounded things.

The professional game is a niche sport. Look what has happened to cricket when the game was sold to Sky?

  Roger Hale

As an armchair viewer I have little to complain about - all the aforementioned progs can be recorded but not live sport. All I have to juggle is watching televised horse racing as well and of course my home clubs fixtures (Hornets RFC).

  Simon Grant

If you're watching it on screen, Mick, either tell the wife she can't watch strictly, or watch it on another screen and another feed... For travelling fans, it's really not great.

  Peter Godfrey

Perhaps the only benefit of the late start times is that a lot of top rugby is now shown live on tv in the USA.   I have watched several games here in Minnesota and they are popular with a very limited audience .  Someone is getting paid for this .... who and how much?

  Haydalis Whitehead

Nail on head. Money talks. And you have smelt the same global sized rat correctly. You hear people complain about the evil Imperialist Britain; well the world has a bigger digital version of the monster an nobody says anything. The USA runs the show the world over. I live in Latin America now and it's the world over - what American corporations want, they get. Money talks. Reminds me of the airheaded bully who although not smart, could knock out any smaller kid out with one punch, as that was the only weapon of respect he had. Uncle Sam he's called now he's grown up.

Sport media has been ruined. I wish for the pre-sport-on-television days some days, when I could head down the The Wreck of a Saturday afternoon, to see 'amateur' rugby Union at its best.

You know, the greatest problems we humans have is believe everything we are told by politicians and the media - if they say something is as it is, we simply believe them. The truth is, our lives haven't really been improved. Something is missing  - including our sport!

  Paul Strong

I was a season ticket holder for 17 years at Northampton Saints and gave it up this season because of the crazy match times. Completely agree that TV rules and the game is going corporate.

  Ian Frizzell

I'm off to Exeter this weekend to support Ulster against Chiefs.

This is the second game in a row that Ulster have played on a Sunday afternoon meaning travelling home on Monday and losing a day at work. 

  Alastair Brown 

Last year I took a punt and went to Paris in Jan for the stade game. Friday and Saturday night. Announced ko time late December, Sunday afternoon. I was coming home then. Still got the tickets.

This year wrote to EPCRugby, who said. We wait for the last round to be played so we can maximise TV exposure. Sod the fans in a nutshell

I cannot afford to wait, price for trains in advance half the price. Same for hotels. You can get away with one night if you know when the match is, gamble on two (as above), or guarantee by booking three nights.

EPCRugby should be ashamed for the disservice they show to away fans.

  Hurricane Jack

Just another step along the way of professionalism becoming corporate takeover. It has ruined the football experience for football fans; matches on a Friday evening getting in the way of a game of darts in the pub.

  Christopher Toole

Yes, 5.30pm ko on a Sunday for the Exeter Chiefs vs Ulster Rugby is shocking for the away fans.