Who knew?
Turns out that when growing up I was a misguided, deluded, ill-advised and
foolish victim of a rigged system that managed to do the same to my father’s
generation as well as my grandfather’s. If you're American and at all interested in sports - you were likewise a victim. We were the tools of greedy monied interests that robbed us of the true
value of athletic competition. The joy
we took out of watching baseball, American football, basketball and ice hockey
was all false and the collective delusion we felt whenever one of our teams
would succeed, or the despair at their failure, was illusory – an illusion
shared by millions.
I have been awakened to this sad fact by the ministrations
of a collective of benevolent organisations set up only to enlighten and enrich
the lives of their followers, who are likewise a fine group of intelligent (indeed,
near all-knowing) individuals whose only regret was that they could not have
saved myself and my brethren from the horrible fate that we suffered (and continue to suffer)
at the hands of our brutal masters.
Those organisations are known by a number of cute and endearing acronyms
such as the Federation Internationale Football Associations (FIFA), the Union
of European Football Associations (UEFA) and (in their various most assuredly graft-free
and positively altruistic fiefdoms) national institutions such as the Football
Association of Ireland (FAI) or the wholly different and not-to-be-confused
Irish Football Association (IFA).
See, here I was thinking that the leagues I watched as a
kid, Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), National
Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) were actually
quite successful, because they represented the top levels of competition in
their sports, made money, gave teams in various cities the opportunity to
compete, excited enormous fan interest, were able to expand and accommodate new
franchises and remained stable for decades at a time. Silly me.
I should have been looking to the wonderland of European football (which
I will now refer to as “soccer” in order to avoid attempting to hide my
American ignorance) in order to understand how a well-run sports operation was
conducted.
Yes, I should have been looking at the place where a league
dominated by two individual powerhouse teams (Rangers and Celtic in Scotland) was
so incredibly successful that one of those two teams (Rangers) waltzed itself
straight into bankruptcy in 2012. Well,
at least that opened things up a bit – certainly in the intervening period
other teams filled the void and won championships in Scotland. What is that you say – that up until this
year Celtic won every league title? Well,
at least this year things finally began to open up. Come again? Rangers have returned to the
Premier level and won this year’s trophy?
Oh. – Maybe not such a great example of how the European
system fosters competitiveness.
What is that “European” system? Well, while there is, in truth no unified
system of competition across the continent there are certain nearly
uniform practices that are in place:
1.
Relegation
and promotion – Almost all European national authorities operate leagues
that are tiered in structure, so that the bottom two or three teams at one
level are “relegated” to the level below and the top two or three teams at the
lower level are “promoted” to the top tier.
2.
Nationalism – Leagues operate within
political and geographical boundaries that, other than in the most extreme situations,
are considered inviolable. (Those exceptions
arise in instances like that of Derry City, a Northern Irish based club that
plays in the Republic of Ireland league due to the fact that sectarian violence
led to fears of fatalities in the event Derry continued to compete in Northern
Ireland). Spanish teams compete against
Spanish teams in La Liga, English teams (other than a couple of other nearby
British teams, like Cardiff in Wales) play English teams in the Premiership,
German teams play German teams in the Bundesliga, and so on.
3.
Cross Border UEFA Competitions – If a
team has achieved a certain level of success in their national league they have
the opportunity to participate in cross border tournaments (misleadingly called
“leagues”) such as the “UEFA Champions League” or, at a secondary level the “UEFA
Europa League”. Again, these aren’t “leagues”
per se but are tournaments that use a format similar to the World Cup (group
stage and then knockout stage) but these are spread over months of competition.
In theory the money from the Cross-Border competitions (TV
revenue, sponsorship, gate fees, etc.) goes both to the competing clubs and the
various national leagues, thereby assuring monetary support at all levels.
In theory.
What really happens is that the money is funneled through
the international organisations (UEFA primarily, though FIFA gets a cut via
dues), the top clubs make enough to stay on top but not what they see as a fair
share, the national organisations get enough to feed to smaller clubs to keep
them afloat but not strong enough to really “rock the boat”, the national groups also keep
enough to insure their top echelon gets to live like kings, the people who
actually invest money in teams get very little say in major negotiations like
where tournament finals will be held, who gets and handles TV rights, what
sponsorship deals are granted, etc. and the
status quo remains the status quo. This has led to a few rather predictable
results.
These national organisations are incredibly corrupt (witness
the recent shenanigans with the Irish FAI), true competition is nearly
non-existent (witness Scotland’s above referenced farce of a “Premiership”),
national boundaries lead to “nationalistic” prejudice in the worst sense
(witness the fact that metropolitan areas like Dublin are not allowed by UEFA
to seek to place a team in a league where the size of the city could support
such a franchise – but instead must make do with five or six perpetually
underfunded clubs that compete against “Longford Town” or “Galway United”),
match fixing is always a threat (Italy), game officials are corrupt (FIFA, 2018,
2014, 2011…), player transfer regulations lead to the exploitation of minors
(ongoing), bidding for international competitions are rigged by corruption
(look where the next World Cup is being held) and the only real response to
this nonsense is to whistle while all this goes on (again – you should
understand that the World Cup will be held in stadiums built with slave labor).
Fans acknowledge the problems but can’t do anything about it, media
conglomerates depend on the rights controlled by the organizers – so they don’t
challenge it, many top clubs are happy to remain at the top (even if they
forego the power they should have) and mediocre clubs are run by
mediocre people who are happy to remain mediocre because, well because they are
mediocre.
In short, the system is designed to work in a way that constantly
pisses everybody off, but only to the level that makes incessant complaining
tolerable but actual change impossible.
That is not opinion. That is fact
– proven again this past month when a number of the top clubs made a bid to
actually control their own destiny, only to be rebuffed by a coalition of the
threatened (the alphabet soup of controlling organisations) and the ignorant
(the European football fans).
But, of course, you can’t take my word for it because I’m an
ignorant American who could never possibly understand the bond between European
fans and their teams. So what if the NBA
is the fastest growing internationally based league? So what if the NFL has managed to take a
sport played virtually nowhere other than America and make it an international
product? So what if, in their European
bias fans here continue to laugh at how the World Series is a “misnomer”
because only U.S. teams compete? (Said while ignoring Canada entirely). Of
course, this also ignores the fact that baseball has one of the most diverse
rosters of international players in the world – with Dominicans, Mexicans, Venezuelans,
Japanese, Korean, Cuban and other nationalities represented on the playing
field at the highest level. Europeans
aren’t heavily represented (there are some) but the European world view loves
to pretend that they are the real arbiters of what constitutes a valid “sport” –
which is why the Olympics are heavily populated with competitions in such
evolved pursuits as Biathlon, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Luge and Fencing. Oh yes, there is also the National Hockey
League – which is really an international league and would be much bigger
except European interests keep blocking any attempt to add teams from its
national associations.
In point of fact the world of ice hockey provided a great
example of American “ignorance” just this past week. Seattle is a major metropolitan area that
wished to have a hockey team located in its environs. They could not hope to achieve this status by
having a team roll the dice and attempt to be “promoted” from the minor ranks
since America has no such roller coaster system. But, somehow, they do now have a representative
squad. The Seattle Kraken were named to
the NHL this past week. How could this
happen?
It was easy. They bought their way in.
How cynical. They simply paid
enough money to join up and now they can have fans watch the highest level of competition
in the world. As long as the fans
continue to be satisfied enough to come through the doors – they’ll stay in the
league – no relegation. How are they
going to afford players? They will be
given access to a certain number of existing players by means of a competitive “draft”
– and they will have draft rights every year over newly emerging talent based
upon the principle of “weakest team first”.
Can such a system really work? Can
a team that is just joining out of the blue ever expect to really
compete against the established clubs?
Well, let’s take a look at the latest example of such
expansion. In 2017 the Las Vegas Knights
joined the same NHL as a new expansion team, ready to compete in the 2017-18
season. It took them all of one season
to challenge for the Stanley Cup, the ultimate hockey prize.
One season. They
finished runners-up in that same 2017-18 season. They have been at or near the top of the
league every year since.
Now, before condemning the proposed move of the European
Super League clubs as consigning the fans of Europe to an “American” type system
consider, just for a moment, the point of view of someone who must own one of
those clubs – say, Liverpool. The Fenway
Sports Group – which last year brought Liverpool their first ever Premier
League title, must pay top dollar to players, surrender huge amounts of revenue
to the alphabet soup of organisations who could care less about that investment,
and then send that same player they have paid huge money for out to do battle
against…Fulham. Liverpool’s investment
in that player can go completely down the tubes in competition against a team
that is, let’s face it, nowhere near the same level and not going to be for
some time (read as – never). Chelsea is
another example – they must risk their players against the likes of
Brighton.
Brighton last beat Chelsea in 1933.
The “promotion-relegation” system is a fraud. Bottom feeding teams merely hope to survive
from year to year at the higher level, teams that are promoted tend to either
stick around for a year or two or get dropped straight back down, and the few true,
elite clubs remain at the top year after year – forced to choose who to play against
the minnows in order to keep their troops fresh for when a “real” game comes
along
Look – those elite teams should compete against teams that
are at their level – talent wise, financially, in terms of prestige – and spare
us the agony of watching a substandard Man City run out against Sheffield
United or the slow torture of Southampton battling to a nil all draw against Burnley
(while pretending that this is the epitome of competition).
But what do I know – I’m just a dumb American?
I do know one thing though – as ignorant as I might be I’m
not as big an idiot as those Manchester United fans who invaded their stadium
and pitch forcing cancellation of their latest match against Liverpool. Their argument? They are protesting against the ownership of
the hated Glazer family, who have, since taking over the club in 2006 destroyed
it by winning “only” five Premiership titles and 19 overall trophies in that
span. They have had the audacity – the sheer
gall – to hope to make money out of their investment in the club. Can you imagine? I have tried to find something, some bit of
popular culture, that could equate to the level of astonishment that Manchester
United fans must have shown when this fact was revealed to them. I think I might have succeeded:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME
While people like Gary Neville and Roy Keane shake their heads
in sympathy with the terrible suffering of the Manchester United fan base – let’s
just take a moment – just a moment mind you – to take a look at the type of
people who make up the crowd that feels so aggrieved.
This is not the first time the Old Firm fan base has
indicated concern with the Glazer family.
Just look at the “concern” shown when the family patriarch, Malcolm
Glazer, passed away:
“Stupid jew finally died….. Yes thank u Lord” (sic);
“Malcolm Glazer made his initial fortune as a slumlord
praying on trailer park tenants, wow that isn’t stereotypical of a Jew at all
(!)” (again, sic. I would also feel that
adding a “k” to the end of that would be accurate).
But that was 2014 – surely “that sort of thing” is not
behind what is going on now?
Well… here are some recent Twitter comments…
“Notably, most of the owners of these ‘big' football
clubs pushing for a Super League are Jews, including Roman Abramovic [sic] and
the Glazers…..Jews are ruining football, they don’t give a f*** about the
Gentile fans..”
“All this talk of the European Super League. It’s jew
rats behind it. All money grabbing c***s. It’s no wonder that people hate them
as much as the muslims.”
“Hey Zionists it’s not all about money you suckers“.
“Them 3 fat AMERICAN C***S YOU F***ING BASTARDS. And as
for that Jew levy your family should have been gassed”. (Dan Levy is the Chair
of Tottenham Hotspurs, who also sought to join the Super League).
I have adopted an ironic tone up to now. That’s over.
Now I’ll be blunt.
The European way of soccer is a hot mess. The American model they deride is infinitely
more successful. The derision of that model
is largely bigoted – to the extent that it is not possible to oppose the Super
League proposal and not be tainted by the grotesque posts laid out above or the
hooligan tactics on display at Old Trafford this week. Quietly backing that action by shaking
your head at the fact that “it has come to this” is an endorsement of that same mind-set, whether you wish to admit it or
not. There are reasons for opposing the Super-League proposal - but to pretend that the reaction against it was "reasoned" in any way, shape or form, is delusional. The response was simply reflexive and reactionary - there was (and is) no semblance of thought involved. The only valid response to the people who railed against this proposal is complete indifference. I don’t know what to do about the
current state of European soccer – but as will increasingly become the case,
even among its most rabid “fans”, – I also don’t care.
The best (and entirely justified) option for the Glazers, Henry’s and other owners of
the clubs impacted by their “fans’” knee-jerk (emphasis on “jerk”) rejection of
the Super-League proposal would be to simply steer their funds away from the clubs they own, form a separate league (with the backing of a major television
package), raid the best players available and take on the powers that be that way. Put real teams in places like Dublin,
Edinburgh, Brussels, Ankara, Oslo and Amsterdam (or take over Ajax, which would
be real justice), offer competition in London, Manchester, Madrid, Paris, etc.
by luring talent (while not bidding on anyone with their existing clubs), corral top players from other, non-joining, clubs, institute a draft for younger players
and crush the current regime.
That’s what I would love to see happen – even if the sheer ignorance of
the fan bases might make such a solution difficult.
The old-guard would certainly deserve it for, - make no mistake – the reaction of the soccer
establishment to the proposals made these past few weeks was that of the classic
bully to someone trying to enter their playground. The reaction of the club’s fans is that of
schoolmates who stand around and cheer on that same bully because they prefer the
tyranny they know to the possibility of change they don’t. The only way to beat bullies like that is to
be tougher, smarter, meaner and willing to take a knock or two. The clubs in question were not being
callously indifferent to their fan bases – they were supporting them and trying
to get to the next level. Were there
flaws in their proposal? Absolutely –
but, whether the average fan wishes to admit it or not, the truth is that the
proposed league was infinitely better than that represented by the current
bunch of thugs in charge at every level of European soccer. They should be taken on and defeated.
If that were to happen I might give a shit about
soccer. If it doesn’t – I have better
things to do than worry about a bunch of bigoted, anti-semitic, corrupt,
ignorant, anti-competitive fools. Do I expect there to be outrage at this sort of position?
No, of course not. This is soccer we are talking about. I expect those reading this who feel aggrieved to fall to the ground, roll over about fifteen times and grab their leg in mock agony. They will then look up expectantly hoping that someone will bail them out.
Let's hope that someone isn't there this time.
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