CoE protests at Easter Sunday football

Churches in Birmingham have called on the Premier League to put an end to staging matches on Easter Sunday, as it stops people from properly marking Easter.

Leaders from the Church of England have written a letter to Premier League executives raising concerns over the match between Aston Villa and Everton on Easter Sunday. They are asking that this be the last time matches are staged on Easter Sunday.

The Premier League has responded by saying that they changed the kick-off time to 1400 in order to ease the problem.

The Church of England in Aston and Nechells said in a statement that the time of the match meant that churchgoers would have to struggle through football fans attending the match.

They also questioned whether holding the match was legal, as the 1994 Sunday Trading Act stipulates that Easter Sunday should be a day of rest.

The statement added that a similar clash occurred three years ago and resulted in churchgoers being turned away on their way to church because of road closures for football fans.

The Church said, "We are determined that this should be the last time that Easter is disrupted by Premier League football."

A Premier League spokesman responded, "We believe we have done what we can to ensure that those attending places of worship close to the ground are not inconvenienced in any way," reports the BBC.