The Church of England in Aston & Nechells are having a much publicised whinge at Easter Sunday football. They write on their website:

On Easter Sunday this year, our celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus will have to compete with a Premier League football match at neighbouring Villa Park.

The match will begin at 2.00 pm (it was scheduled to kick-off at 1.30 pm, but it was announced on 30th March that it has now been delayed by 30 minutes), which will mean that:

• churchgoers will have to struggle home past thousands of fans rushing to the match
• many season ticket holders face a choice of missing out on the match or their celebration of Easter
• Villa’s match day staff, local police and many others will be forced to work on a day that the Sunday Trading Act of 1994 envisaged would be a national day of rest

The roads around Villa Park are closed 75 minutes before kick off – ie at 12.45 pm. The normal Easter Sunday services in Aston finish at …. 12.45 pm, after which most people stay for coffee and a chat.

Aston Churches Together, the umbrella group of 11 churches in Aston, are determined that their celebrations of Easter will go ahead regardless. Nevertheless, they want to make sure that this never happens again. Three years ago, in 2006, the same thing happened, and people were actually turned back on their way to church because roads were closed to ensure the fans’ safety. We are determined that this should be the last time that Easter is disrupted by Premier League football.

The next Archbishop of Westminster has attacked the heads of the Premier League and Setanta Sports for holding football fixtures on Easter Day.

The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, who will be enthroned at Westminster next month, has written a strong letter of complaint to Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, and Trevor East, the director of sport at Setanta, for showing disdain for the religious traditions of Britain. Two Premier League games – Aston Villa v Everton and Manchester City v Fulham – are scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Writing as Archbishop of Birmingham, along with the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, the Right Rev David Urqu-hart, he accused the league and the broadcaster of disregarding the importance of Easter Day and treading on the sensitivities of their employees and football supporters. Commercial considerations are not all that matters, he said.