Football Fans Census (sometimes known as FFC), is the trading name of Football Fans Central Ltd, a small market research company which specialises in research into the views and opinions of English football supporters. When the free-to-air digital sports channel

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...

collapsed in 2002; it reportedly owed £178.5m to

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

clubs. Two football fans began a campaign for

's parent entities, the regional

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

companies

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

to repay this money to the clubs. The campaign, under the name Football Fans Union, took the form of a protest against the companies resulting in the 'Can the Commercials' petition and direct action. The group asked football fans to boycott ITV's

World Cup 2002 The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

coverage, and in particular to switch channels during advertisements; so that advertisers would bring pressure on ITV and impact on the companies' advertising revenues. The fans' campaign ran alongside legal action by the Football League; but it proved to be unsuccessful when the Court of Appeal threw out the Football League's action in 2006. The impetus created by this campaign led to the Football Fans Union developing into the Football Fans Census; and a desire to be a voice for football supporters through online surveys and opinion polls. Past surveys include: * the return of terraces * the quality of food at games * the cost of following a football team * the state of English footballFootball Fans Central Limited Research Reports
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References

Association football websites Football mass media in the United Kingdom Association football supporters