Saturday 3pm kick-offs may not be as sacrosanct as they used to be as clubs prepare for energy crisis - Stuart Rayner

Tradition is something Britain does well.

But sometimes it is important to reflect on traditions and ask if we are doing them for the right reasons, if we are achieving what we set out to, or if there is a better way. It was only the other week, discussing the BBC's controversial scrapping of the classified football results that I wrote: "Sometimes traditions do have to end, or at least shift slightly."

Despite an appeal so firmly rooted in history, English football has not been afraid to scrap traditions, particularly in the 21st Century – sometimes for the better, often not.

FA Cup replays will be next, with another concerted attack inevitable now football's reaction to the death of Queen Elizabeth II has put such pressure on a domestic fixture list already messed up by abandoning the tradition of playing World Cups outside the European season.

We only have third- and fourth-round replays left, and it would be no surprise if they went this season.

My views on them are mixed in that I see them as important as a fairer way of deciding matches than penalty shoot-outs and a vital source of revenue for lower-league clubs. At the same time, though, I recognise a replay between two sides who blatantly do not want it as a waste of everyone's time. I would be happy to see replays scrapped when both sides agree they would prefer the match to be decided on the day rather than go through the charade of a badly watered-down re-run, but only then. If that means a big club having to stroppily schlep to Stevenage on a cold Tuesday night, so much the better.

One of English football’s big traditions is – or was – Saturday three o'clock kick-offs. For Premier League supporters wondering what they are, it is the time our games were supposed to kick off before Rupert Murdoch decided it did not suit him. For fans lower down the pyramid, it is still the slot in their diary they know to keep free.

Nobody quite knows when Leeds United will next play at 3pm on a Saturday because their next one is not due until November, and the broadcasters are yet to get their grubby mitts on those matches.

Moving the FA Cup final from 3pm on Saturday was a disgrace, less because it was an affront to the competition which perhaps more than any other lives off its history – and increasingly has to – more for the very practical reason that seemingly almost every final now brings stories of one or both set of fans unable to catch the last train home if they stay until full-time (or penalties, or the trophy presentation).

But Saturday 3pm kick-offs might have to be rethought this winter in Leagues One, Two and non-league as Bradford City chief executive Ryan Sparks suggested in an interview this week.

The reason is the energy crisis hitting this country, and the effect it could have as the nights draw in.

Exactly how much floodlighting a football match costs is hard to say because not everyone is with the same supplier, but costs are apparently deep into four figures per match. Goodness knows how much it will have risen by the time the clocks are about to go forward.

Whilst top-end Championship clubs can perhaps afford to suck that up – although given the finances of that division, even that cannot be taken as read – it is a big ask for those operating on more frayed shoestrings lower down.

And if all the talk of money makes you feel squeamish, the environmental cost is big too.

It goes beyond just floodlighting, but also lights around the stadium and in car parks. Heating costs also go up when the sun goes down.

All of which explains why Sparks and others are arguing for 1pm kick-offs. It is certainly worth discussing.

Many a time I have been at a 3pm kick-off long before this crisis – the energy bills one, not the environmental one – and wondered why on earth the lights were on, a decision taken by referees.

Not that starting earlier is without its costs – kicking off two hours earlier will increase the number of expensive overnight stays.

It would also drag in another (fairly recent) tradition I am in favour of but some clubs are gunning for, the 3pm blackout, which stops games being televised at that time because of fear of what it will do for lower- and non-league attendances. It was dropped when games went behind closed doors and some wished it had not come back because of the money they can raise by streaming afternoon matches on the internet.

Playing at 1pm would unavoidably bring on those clashes – the Merseyside derby on telly or local League Two match?– and deter people from watching in person, which does so much to enhance the game.

A winter of trying out 1pm kick-offs in the bottom two divisions would give us a clearer idea of what the blackout means. Questioning the way you have always done things has to be good, so long as you are open-minded about the answers.