Product Code Database
Survival Sunday is the colloquial name for the 38th and final matchday of the Premier League season in English football; since the 1995–96 season, it has consisted of 10 fixtures with simultaneous kickoff times.
The phrase "Survival Sunday" has often been used by the press and broadcasters to refer to the final matchday. In 2012, the phrase was popularized in the United States through its use by local Premier League television rightsholder Fox Sports, when the division announced plans to use its various cable television networks and digital platforms (including several that are not normally devoted to mainstream sports, let alone sports at all, such as FX, Fuel TV and Speed) to televise nine of the matches under the Survival Sunday branding. The Manchester City v. Queens Park Rangers match was not aired by a Fox property, and was instead selected to air on co-rightsholder ESPN2. That match affected both the title race involving City and their Manchester derby, and also the relegation battle involving QPR and Bolton (Manchester City won the title in stoppage time in that match; QPR survived after Bolton drew against Stoke City).
Current U.S. rightsholder NBC Sports has continued the practice under the branding Championship Sunday, typically using NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and the Peacock streaming service among others to carry all 10 matches. Like Fox, it has often used NBCUniversal networks not typically devoted to mainstream sports, such as Bravo, E!, MSNBC, Oxygen, Syfy, and in one case, Golf Channel.
On the final day of the 2004–05 FA Premier League, none of the three sides to be relegated had been decided. Norwich City, Southampton, Crystal Palace, and West Bromwich Albion were all separated by just two points going into the final match. It was the first time since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992 that no team was assured of relegation going into the final matchday and the closest dogfight in the top flight since 1927–28, when 4 teams were separated by only two points going into the final matchday, in an era when a win was worth two points instead of today's three. Even worse, only one team survived the drop. West Brom (who started the day bottom) needed to beat Portsmouth at The Hawthorns, and they won 2–0 thanks to goals from Geoff Horsfield and Kieran Richardson meaning Baggies fans were having to nervously wait for other results. Norwich, who started in pole position, needed a first away victory of the season at Craven Cottage against Fulham with little to play for would secure their top-flight status and relegate the other three sides irrespective of their results. Instead, they were thumped 6–0 at Fulham and were relegated after a dreadful display. Southampton meanwhile hosted Manchester United and looked like staying up after a John O'Shea own goal, but the Irishman set up Darren Fletcher to equalize before Ruud van Nistelrooy headed home to send them down. In the other game, Crystal Palace traveled to local rivals Charlton Athletic and after Bryan Hughes gave them a half time lead, Dougie Freedman equalized within two minutes of coming on as a substitute before winning a penalty which top scorer Andy Johnson scored, heading them closer to staying up, but Jerome Thomas's free kick was headed home by Jonathan Fortune, the game finished 2–2, relegating them. That meant West Brom became the first team to be bottom at Christmas and stay up, this resulted in the Baggies fans invading The Hawthorns pitch, Portsmouth fans joined in as their local rivals Southampton were relegated, Albion also stayed up with the lowest ever points tally in the Premier League for a surviving team with 34.
After 37 matches, Blackburn and Wolves were each on 40 points, with Blackburn having the edge on goal difference (–14 to –19). The other three sides were on 39, separated only by goal difference (Birmingham City –20, Blackpool –21, Wigan –22).
Wolves hosted Blackburn at Molineux Stadium. Both sides entered the match knowing that if they won, they were assured of staying up. The other teams facing relegation played away to teams whose motivation for a peak performance was arguably limited. Birmingham were at fifth-placed Tottenham. While Spurs could secure a Europa League place with a win, manager Harry Redknapp suggested prior to the match that he would rather avoid the fixture congestion that comes with that competition. On the other hand, Spurs entered the final matchday top of the Premier League Fair Play table, which would have given them a Europa League berth regardless of their result. However, if they had entered by that method, they had to start their European campaign in the first qualifying round on 30 June, giving them an incentive to win. Blackpool were at champions Manchester United, who faced FC Barcelona in the Champions League final next Saturday. In the remaining match, Wigan played at mid-table Stoke City. All games except Wolves v Blackburn were shown live on Sky Sports.
The day proved almost as dramatic as the 2004–05 dogfight.
At that moment, Wolves and Wigan were in the drop zone.
In the 73rd minute at Molineux, Jamie O'Hara pulled back one goal for Wolves, although at that moment they were still in the drop zone. Then, in the 74th minute, Blackpool suffered a shattering turn of fortune when Ian Evatt deflected a United cross into his own goal, putting Blackpool into the drop zone and taking Wolves out of it.
The next turn of fortune came in the 78th minute at the Britannia Stadium, where Hugo Rodallega scored for Wigan to give them a cushion of safety, and ultimately a 1–0 win. One minute later at White Hart Lane, Craig Gardner equalised for Birmingham, which took Birmingham out of the drop zone at Wolves' expense. In the meantime, Michael Owen sealed the Seasiders' fate with a goal for United in the 81st minute, giving them a 4–2 lead. Although the Old Trafford crowd sincerely applauded Blackpool post-match, it was scant consolation for their supporters.
Wolves would exit the drop zone in the 87th minute, when Stephen Hunt pulled back a second goal against Blackburn, narrowing the deficit to 2–3 (which proved to be the final score). At that moment, they would have stayed up on goals scored over Birmingham. Finally, in stoppage time, Pavlyuchenko scored his second goal to give Spurs a 2–1 victory and seal Birmingham's fate. When word came of Pavlyuchenko's second goal, both sets of fans at Molineux celebrated, first by singing songs in the stands and then pitch invasion at the final whistle.
In the end, Birmingham and Blackpool were relegated along with West Ham in the Championship next season.
The day started when Raphinha opened the scoring with a second-half penalty, before Sergi Canós equalized with ten minutes to go, only for him to then get two yellow cards in as many minutes (the first for over-celebration of his goal, the second for a foul on Raphinha) which, along with their having no substitutes left after Kristoffer Ajer went off injured, reduced the Bees to nine men. Finally, Jack Harrison's last minute goal against Brentford sealed 2–1 victory to Jesse Marsch's side. On the other hand, Newcastle, who spent most of the first half in a relegation dogfight, took the lead against Burnley after only 18 minutes when Nathan Collins committed a handball while defending from a corner kick; Callum Wilson scored from the resulting penalty, before getting another goal early in the second half. A consolation goal from Maxwel Cornet was not enough, so the Clarets went down to the Championship after six consecutive seasons in the Premier League. Consequently, Leeds United became the first side since Wigan Athletic in 2011 to survive after starting the final day in the bottom three.
In the end, Everton defeated Bournemouth 1–0, securing their safety and relegating everyone else regardless of results. The Leicester-West Ham match ended 2–1 while the Leeds-Tottenham game ended 1–4.
The same year, North American football league Major League Soccer similarly began branding its final matchday of the regular season as "Decision Day", which consists entirely of intra-conference fixtures. Presently, the Eastern and Western conferences play all matches simultaneously in two evening windows, with 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET kickoffs respectively.
|
|
