1 EAGLETON NOTES: Football Finance

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Monday 1 August 2022

Football Finance

In the past I've made it quite plain that my relationship with football has been a fairly disinterested one over the last half a century.

At school I couldn't play because I had a lung disease. Unfortunately Quarry Bank, alma mater of John Lennon and many Oxbridge scholars, wasn't the sort of school that allowed you to get out of sports just because one had a lung disease and I had no choice but to play. [As an aside they would happily kick me out of lessons because my constant coughing was 'disruptive'] 

After I had had part of my lung removed when I'd left school and was reasonably fit I decided that I would become an amateur game linesman. I did and was thinking of taking my refs ticket when I became disenchanted by the way the amateur game was going.

I also became disenchanted by the way the professional game was going and I have had absolutely nothing to do with football as a sport since it became nothing more than a business (whatever many supporters dream could be otherwise). However, on odd occasions I have watched the women's game. I have been impressed. It reminded me of the football ethos in the Sixties. The game mattered. There was respect. To me the superstar era has meant that the concept of 'sport' has been totally superseded by money pure and simple: ridiculous money for 'superstars' and profits (or tax sinks) for the billionaires who finance them.

Last night's result was wonderful. It will do great things for the women's' game. 

I hope that it doesn't spiral out of control but brings some sense to the finance of sport. 

20 comments:

  1. Not something that interests me, now beach volleyball is way up there as entertainment.

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  2. I confess to knowing absolutely nothing of any of this, Graham, so I will refrain from adding a comment. In general, I enjoyed playing sport when I was young, but I have not been a big fan of watching it, and never do.

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  3. The profiteers will take over if allowed to.

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    1. Of course they will. It's called capitalism or common sense. If you have a skill you sell it to the highest bidder. He has to sell it on to make his money. If you are middling and you struggle to accept this, then that's normal we all hate failure. If worse than middling then thank heaven the government pays for the middling.
      Sporty folk are good at sport. You have to be very good to make a living at it, for most sport is an expensive bit of fun.
      I like motorsports. Look at the competitors, some are lifelong friends, as I'm sure footballers are. Sport has become gladiatorial it was never like that for me. I did bike racing, fell running and county class B team rugby. That's third team so I wasn't very good and worse I only got picked four times. Bastards. After the game was over we all got on fine
      Life isn't an equal playing field. A Sub-Saharan can run and has spacial awareness that's why they are good at sports like football and basketball, running away from nasty carnivores is bred into their DNA. They are generally a bit thick so not the best to run the team. It's horses for courses. Or maybe a white team of women can play footy better than than Africans.

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    2. You are right, Tasker. And of course they will, Adrian. However, if people really thought about the sheer lack of sense when they accuse billionaires of immorality whilst cheering when they spend their money on ridiculously expensive 'sportsmen' perhaps they would balk at the cost of watching and supporting such sport. But then I suppose it's considered more important than the cost of living in general.

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  4. Women's sports deserves more attention outside of golf and tennis.

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    1. Maywyn, I don't think anyone will deny that.

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  5. Even from this far away, I think those of us who saw the pure joy that win brought to so many were gladdened by it. Is that a word? Heartened, perhaps? I've always loved sport, playing whatever was going when I was young and now watching it. I just love seeing people who have worked hard to achieve excellence being recognised.

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    1. Pauline, I absolutely loved all that the team has done and I actually enjoy their football. I cannae be ersed (to use a good Scots expression) with all the shenanigans that go on with the men's game these days. Loads of prima donnas showing very little true sportsmanship. It's all about money. Adrian has a point. Of course it's about money. For me, however, it has ruined it as a sport.

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  6. Same thing in hockey here. O think the womens' game is better...more hockey and less checking.

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  7. I've watched the occasional women's game. They play differently to men, and have terrific skill. I only played Rugby and Cricket; and rowed eights.

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    1. Cro, only the elite played rugby in our school. I was never elite at anything. They always wanted me in the cricket team 'cos I could bowl. I have a lazy eye so couldn't catch anything or hit a ball unless it was coming right at me.

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  8. I have not followed, but from glimpses caught during German TV main news I have been gathering over the years that the German women's team has largely been much better at competition level than the men's. They say they are very disappointed in not having won the championship this time, but in my opinion, making it to the finals and then losing to your hosts is nothing to be ashamed of.
    As for the money part - yes, as Adrian says, it is called capitalism, and in one way or another, we are all part of it. That doesn't mean we have to approve of or actually like it.

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    1. Meike, I agree with your last paragraph. I wish that people would stop approving or liking it.

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  9. I didnt follow the game here as it wasn't really that widely advertised or broadcasted but when I heard the results i was like Go Girls! I have grown up with football though, my father for many years played for the Takapuna Rugby Club in Auckland so I am pretty familiar with it.

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    1. Amy, I may be wrong but from my 10 years half life in New Zealand I got the impression that sport was far more sportsmanlike than in the UK.

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  10. I have absolutely zero interest in sports, aside from being outdoors and walking around. Does that count for anything?

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    1. Beatrice, it counts for you and that is what matters.

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  11. Oh yes, sport. That thing people take way too seriously.
    I guess it's morale boosting powers are helpful, as you so rightly point out

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