From The Turnstiles To… Where?
Something is happening in me: a sport I used to love and obsess over has become an afterthought; a former season ticket holder to not even watching televised games. I suppose those who are reading this will be thinking I’ve too much going on in my life, more important things take over as you grow older, but that is not the case.
Rather than being a lack of time or the reorganising of priorities, my self-distancing from the world of football comes through disillusionment. Not for the beautiful game itself, but rather the professional game in modern times. I still play regularly (once a week in fact), but watching it has become something of absolutely no interest to me.
The reasons behind my disillusionment with the professional game of football can be used in a general social context, or indeed most mainstream sports around the world. However, it’s more prevalent nowhere than it is in football. What was once the working man’s game transformed into a business driven purely by making money. Gone are the times when the football ground was a congregation of anyone and everyone to support their local team and be ENTERTAINED! Now, the entertainment value for supporters seems to be determined by wins and losses. Sure we all like to see our team win, but the purity and idealism of football being a sport has been replaced by consumerism and bored billionaires looking for a hobby. Many people are unable to afford bi-weekly attendance and when they do they are confronted with (in general terms) young men with more money than sense who care about nothing other than their own prestige and bank balance.
In England the average income per year is £26k, while in Scotland it is £20k. Minimum wage is £6.19, meaning that many football goers are earning less a year than their “heroes” do in a week, certainly in the case of Celtic for Scotland. However, in England this is true for players in lower tiers with punters having to work 20+ years to close in on their star player’s annual wage (20 years earning £26k a year is the same as the annual wage of somebody on £10k a week). At the top of the Premiership it is impossible to earn their annual wage in a lifetime going by the national average wage.
Yet, despite these massively disparaging earnings, we punters are expected to pay ridiculous amounts of money to attend the games on a regular basis to keep these young players in the rich. Another figure: a season ticket to Dens Park (Dundee are bottom of the SPL) can set you back around £300), just want to go to a SPL game now and then? It will still cost you over £20 just for one adult ticket. Worst of all, people actually pay this in spite of all I have said because they feel some tribal loyalty to their club and to offend the club is to offend them personally (see the furore surrounding Rangers FC, despite them being the guilty ones – everyone else was made out to be the perpetrators of their downfall).
Do you think Lee McCulloch or any other high earner for any club around the country cares that their extortionate wages are being paid by folk who earn less in a year than he does in a month (It’s a point I feel is worth emphasising). Do they at least try to put on the best show possible? No they do not! We are met by divers, sissy boys who feign injury and have more interest in spending their vast amounts of money than they do entertaining. As long as they are winning and rolling in green they care nothing for us. Their job is to win? Yes but their job also involves making sure the punters get their value for money. Who can honestly say they do week in week out, when you consider that you can go see a film for the same length of time for under half the price? It doesn’t add up.
Behind the scenes on all fronts we are stuck with self-serving individuals ruled by greed for the green. Fans: the life blood of the game are forgotten and ignored, they just want our money. Success on the field is even being forgotten in place of ability to bring in more pounds for shareholders. See Arsenal for case and point. No trophies in 7 years and the team get worse, but as long as they make it into the cash laden Promised Land that is the Champions League, all is well. Football is a business, I get it, but it was never meant to be, it is a GAME, one that captured the love of millions around the world and brought them together. Now the few elite are slowly excluding the majority small clubs, a fact that echoes throughout society as the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. However, just as in everyday society, the poor continue to stay silent until they are in the stadiums across the country cheering on their beloved rich.
There are exceptions to all I’ve said, but as it is throughout life, these people are too few in number that their voices are largely outnumbered and struggle to make themselves heard in an influencing manner. Barcelona at least, through a mutual love of the game, is a club where some of the pure ideals are still held in esteem and they even give back in some instances such as giving their shirt sponsor to charitable organisations for free. Alas, the examples of true sportsmanship and entertainment are so few and far between that for the foreseeable future, you are more likely to find me in the dark of the cinema theatre, than with my former comrades in the stands of Tannadice.
Munro
Dundee United "supporter" who is tired and grows restless, wishes he had stormed the Bastille. Ranting is a sport I can get behind.
Preach fellow fitba disciple, PREACH!
£20 for a ticket…and I have to buy them weeks in advance!
Go see Django Unchained for £6 (or the relevant price at your particular cinema) much more entertainment, ha!
Not a bad analogy. I guess Entertainment is entertainment. I VERY rarely go to football games, but the prices are always steep – especially if you support the Gunners (I don’t)! Not sure there is a solution, they need the money, and in the most part – people will pay it. Not the best business model for keeping the respect of your fans, I agree!
I related it to society because that’s exactly how I see it; a problem that runs through everything we do. If everyone in football were to stop paying the ridiculous sums of money to the players and coaches etc then you could lower admission fees. Also you would then lose the players that are only interested in money and be left with those who have a genuine love for the game. Messi and Ronaldo are the best players around, what makes Messi better is his attitude and love for the game, Ronaldo cares more about his hair. He’s the perfect example of “as long as I’m winning and making lotsa money”. We want more with Messi’s outlook. Will it happen? Of course not because, just as with out govt, the game is ruled by people who only care about making more green. Can you tell this issue is close to my heart? haha
Your secret is safe with me! Wages have been out of control and crippling clubs for years. I seem to remember a manager (can’t rememeber who) saying that he was tempted to start the trend and slash the wages of his players. Although, I think you’ll need a few teams involved and even then, the better players will leave immediately. Wages could be capped, but would all the talent not then look overseas for their employers?
Exactly, that’s what’s happening at Arsenal, unless everyone decides to put integrity before money it won’t happen and it simply will not happen for the above reasons.
Jan Age Fjortoft tweeted a couple of days ago about ticket prices:
‘Cheapest season ticket prices at Arsenal are £985, cheapest at Bayern Munich are £95.’
‘The cheapest Arsenal season ticket is more expensive that the most expensive Borussia Dortmund season ticket.’
I’m sure that season ticket hiolders in Germany also recieve free public transport in certain areas when they present their season tickets to the drivers/conductors. They are also getting more fans in the stands due to using smart terrace systems.
I wonder why the Bundesliga is flourishing and folk like Pep Guardiola are heading that way. David Moyes admitted he wants to go there next.
Yeah bundesliga is flourishing at the moment, definitely a model to follow
http://www.facebook.com/l/YAQEy_HNFAQHq6EwUdaTpOoB48pZEHLZdUVhWDOWysBivCA/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19984968
Also, with a movie you have a reasonable idea going in how entertained you’re going to be. Football asks you to pay up front for a high likelihood of 22 asthmatic duffers running off their hangover. In Scotland anyway.