Occupy Football?

[Stuttgart88]

Just reading about 95,000 Aussies singing YNWA watching Liverpool and virtually every other EPL team on an extensive commercial-driven Asian pre-season tour just makes me wish the EPL would just eff off to Asia! They say football replaced war in the 20th century but this is just full on football colonialism. There's a lot of ire directed towards so called barstoolers on these forums, but its hard to avoid thinking that there's an inexorable shift towards more and more inequality in world football and in an age of instant and widespread media combined with an era of consumerism and need for instant gratification I think this is inevitable.

I've been thinking of setting up a blog called "Occupy Football - Reclaim Our Game From the 1%". At many levels, most notably FIFA and the EPL in my opinion, the game is being run in the interest of a narrow band of vested interests and opportunists. The 99% have little or no voice. In due course I'd like to explore themes such as neoliberalism and globalisation in the football context.

Being a tech gimp I'll need technical assistance and would also welcome editorial assistance. I'd like to aim for a "high brow" standard.

Anyone interested in helping please let me know below.

[Cuyahoga]

Yes. It's pathetic, watching Sky Sports News seeing Chinese people wearing Man City jerseys, I 'm wondering did they even hear of Man City before they had their big financial investment which led to them winning the premier league the season before last.

[OwlsFan]

To the detriment of their own game I assume you mean. It won't last just as the hegemony of Europe/USA in global/financial/political power is coming to an end, the Far East with the huge populations and rapidly developing infra structures and modernisation will soon lead the world in most things. China is already getting there - see the Olympics. The EPL is also struggling to attract and even keep the top players. Many of the top signings so far have not gone to EPL clubs. The world is all about as you correctly state instant gratification and that is where the money is but the balance of power will shift, not in my lifetime but sooner rather than later but it will still follow the money be that in China or wherever. However, your words reminded me of the Dylan Thomas poem:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[DannyInvincible]

Yes. It's pathetic, watching Sky Sports News seeing Chinese people wearing Man City jerseys, I 'm wondering did they even hear of Man City before they had their big financial investment which led to them winning the premier league the season before last.

If I buy my Guangzhou Evergrande jersey now, can I avoid being dubbed a bandwagoner in future? :p

Sounds interesting, Stutts. Might be something I'd be willing to help out with.

[NeverFeltBetter]

It's an interesting idea for a blog, but I think your suggested title is a bit lame.

[Eminence Grise]

Ditto on the name. Well, the subtitle mainly, which makes it too long even if it does contextualise your use of occupy. On its own, Occupy Football works for me (it's punchy!) but think about how the name will age if the Occupy movement is seen as a trend that has peaked. (See? I have faith that your blog will go on for years!)

I think the idea - and themes - are really good, and there are many contributors to this forum who could keep you supplied with the kind of material you want, so you won't be stuck writing everything. I'd be happy to contribute the odd piece now and again, do some editing to get content shipshape, or even just spread the word.

When's the first post? C'mon, chop-chop!

[Stuttgart88]

I'm going on holidays next week so it could be a little while yet!

I'll start by putting together a few snippets just to lay the foundations. I'm also reading "Occupy" by Noam Chomsky at the moment, a collection of short essays on the main themes. I'm trying to see what bits can be related to what I have in mind.

I think the Occupy movement probably has passed its peak already. I'm going to justify the use of the name by claiming that although the Occupy movement was largely a coming together of a lot of disparate groups rangimng from normal people to looney anarchists, it can be deconstructed into a simple narrative: something's wrong, let's talk about how to fix it.

[hoops1]

English football running the game over there properly for the most part. Bringing the league to the rest of the world making it even more popular.
I fail to see what the gripe is. Irish football is a shambles from top to bottom. If its Irish football you are worried about stutts its internal matters that you should be highlighting.

[Stuttgart88]

I've highlighted internal matters wrt Ireland in the Governance of the FAI thread and I'll expand on this in due course. I'll probably lift a lot of what I wrote there and put it into the blog. It's a good metaphor for global issues such as how vested interests become entrenched.

I totally disagree wrt England being well run for the most part, and it's here that the "Occupy" tag is very appropriate. English football is being run by and for the benefit of the elite. It's the football equivalent of the 1% versus the 99% in many respects. In 2011, prompted by the Tory sports minister (so, naturally a free market advocate), the Dept. of Culture Media and Sport commissioned in enquiry into English football, the "worst governed sport in the country".

If you have time this is worth reading:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmcumeds/509/50904.htm#a2

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/football-governance/

and the follow-up

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmcumeds/509/50902.htm

Although the Committee is cross-party, when a Tory minister and the Tory DCMS Committee members argue that a world-leading export stinks and is in urgent need of reform then it's clear something is wrong!

[ArdeeBhoy]

Aye, good points all. There's plenty in the English lower leagues whose existence are just as chaotic and unsupported as any LOI clubs and continually undermined by the greed of the EPL.
And the ever-increasing polarisation of resources of the elite clubs.


Clearly it's a problem in many European leagues, with 2 or 3 clubs typically dominating and making most of the rest far too predictable. And recognise the irony of being a Celtic fan;29 seasons since Aberdeen last broke the Celtic/other lot hegemony...

That said, were it not for the CL Group stages, Celtic and the rest would be poorer than most Championship clubs down south.

[Charlie Darwin]

Nothing would make me happier than if all the world's elite players ****ed off to Asia. Well, obviously, lots of things would make me happier but I'd at least break a wry smile. All the people who talk about how "football is a global game now" and "it's entertainment" will presumably be delighted to hand over their £500 to watch Shanghai Shenhua reserves roll into town for a meaningless friendly with whatever bunch of game local lads Manchester United are putting out.