Boxing day fixture fate explained

The Newham council-led Safety Advisory Group (SAG) for the London Stadium have confirmed that a home boxing day fixture was not scheduled this season due to transport issues.

In official minutes published this week London Stadium Safety Advisory Group Chair Shelia Roberts informed the safety group in July that ‘there will not be a home game on Boxing Day due to challenging transport issues.’

West Ham have yet to stage a home boxing day game at the London Stadium since moving to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016 with the club insisting they have not requested to play away on any boxing day.

Other stakeholders such as Westfield Shopping centre, TFL and Metropolitan police are able to lobby the stadium safety group to request that certain fixtures aren’t played at home and for this season it appears TFL successfully persuaded the powers that be that the transport system in Stratford wouldn’t cope on 26th December 2019 with a West Ham home crowd.