Imlisanen Jamir
On April 18 at around 11:30 pm, an announcement was made which ensures that football does not remain the same ever again. This announcement also reaffirms a concerning worldview that beneath the veneer of ‘woke-ism’ PR stunts, power and wealth trumps everything else in this world.
The 12 richest clubs in the world, European all of them, announced the formation of a European Super League. There will be 20 teams of which 15 pretentiously calling themselves ‘founder clubs’ will regulate the league. Over 3 billion will reportedly be given to these ‘founder clubs’ for their initial commitment to the league. The 5 other teams will have to fight it out amongst themselves in their domestic leagues for the ‘founders’ to deem them worthy of participation in their ‘super league’ each year. And yes, the ‘founders’ cannot be relegated.
This has been coming, and its announcement has confirmed what fans have known for years now—that for all the pleadings of helping the little people, these super rich clubs are now nothing but instruments for the insatiable greed of their billionaire owners.
The super league, if it goes through, will mean the demise of all other clubs who have only started to stand toe to toe in footballing terms with their ‘super club’ rivals. It cuts away regulated funding to grassroots development and denies ‘small’ clubs from having the chance to compete with the best in the world on their merit.
It also means that those romantic football stories like Porto’s Champions League win in 2004-05; Ajax’s blistering European campaign in 2018-19; and Leicester City’s magical Premier League fairy tale of 2015-16 may no longer occur. When that happens, the soul of football would have died.
But why even talk about this here? The thing is; these leagues, these clubs and this game now transcend political and cultural boundaries. They have fan bases who’ve never been to their part of the world but are just as invested, and sports’ often clichéd ability to bind people has been epitomized by our love for this game.
It is more than just about winning now. People have formed bonds across thousands of kilometers through their shared love for what these grand old sporting institutions have stood for. Allow me to peronalise it a bit here.
In 1997, a 7 year old I watched my first football game on the television with my father. It was the Premier League and Arsenal were playing grand old Blackburn Rovers. Arsenal lost 1-3. The match was overshadowed by Ian Wright being booed off by supporters because of his performance, who responded by haranguing the crowd in his underwear.
It was a sight not easily forgotten. Ever since, I was enamored by this man, this club and this game. More important though was the fact that this was one of the first things which I bonded over with my dad. We watched many Arsenal games together from then on. And we’d read up on this red and white team from North London, their history. We found out how they were a bunch of factory workers in the 1800s who decided to form a football club and how it became an institution known for doing things the right way, the ‘Arsenal way.’
He loved football, and seeing a young me enamored by this team he never really cared for, made him an Arsenal fan as well. It did not matter that we were thousands of kilometers from North London. This was a love we shared and we cherished that. He’s gone now; it’s been almost 20 years, but those memories define me. There are countless stories like this all over the world.
The point is that once this ‘super league’ takes off and the super rich like Arsenal have their way, these stories will matter less and less. And it’s not just sport. When we allow blatant power grabs based solely on economics, the things which define us will matter less and less until they are buried under corporatized franchise based monstrosities with all the glitz and glamour, but no soul.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
