How to fix the EFL international window

Postponements in League One are inconvenient for fans and can be all too convenient for clubs – Huw Davies looks for a solution

I love international football. Here’s why most EFL fans don’t.

What are you doing on Saturday, League One fans? Spot of DIY? One last mow of the lawn before winter? Or gazing longingly at the 30 EFL clubs who do have a game on?

In truth, only seven League One fixtures being postponed during international week is pretty good going; last month, it was 10. A number of players who had been playing for their countries’ youth teams are now too old for this age cycle, resulting in fewer call-ups. So, a few more League One games are still on, which is good news for neutrals, good news for fans and good news for clubs… right?

Image taken from exetercity.co.uk

Exeter would have liked their match against Lincoln called off, with three players away on international duty, but the lateness of Kamari Doyle’s selection for England’s Elite League Squad (England Under-20s to you and me) meant they couldn’t meet the EFL’s deadline for a postponement request to be granted. Doyle, a bright spark on loan from Brighton, was initially on the U20 standby list but then added to the squad when others were promoted to England’s U21s, who had lost a swathe of players to the senior team following eight high-profile withdrawals. Welcome to the Three Lions’ butterfly effect: a wobbly tendon flaps its wings in Arsenal’s treatment room and a hurricane hits the lower-league schedule.

Having three players called up gives a club the right to a postponement if requested in time, but having a player on the international standby list doesn’t count. This put Exeter on standby, too, because all they could do was prepare for a match they knew might not happen. Pascal’s Wager advises you should put in the graft anyway, but Pascal was a right suck-up.

Pascal's wager is a philosophical argument advanced by Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). This argument posits that individuals essentially engage in a life-defining gamble regarding the belief in the existence of God.

Pascal contends that a rational person should adopt a lifestyle consistent with the existence of God and actively strive to believe in God. The reasoning behind this stance lies in the potential outcomes: if God does not exist, the individual incurs only finite losses, potentially sacrificing certain pleasures and luxuries. However, if God does indeed exist, they stand to gain immeasurably, as represented for example by an eternity in Heaven, while simultaneously avoiding boundless losses associated with an eternity in Hell.

No wonder Caldwell – while playing to the gallery with his talk of the Grecians being “the leading supporter-owned club in England” with “phenomenal academy success” and “amazing fans” – went on to call the EFL’s rules around call-ups outdated and unequal.