Governing Bodies
ENGLISH FOOTBALL FAILS ITS BIGGEST TEST – WILL THE PUBLIC EVER FORGIVE?
Among the multitude of viral videos flying around social media during Britain’s coronavirus lockdown, is one, which ridicules Premier League footballers in a brutal, unsubtle fashion.
Comedian Simon Brodkin parodies a player who, as well as insulting a young kid playing football in the garden, justifies his £200,000 (S$354,000) a week salary on the basis that he needs a new car every week before going on to mock the low salaries of NHS nurses and demands they take a pay cut.
Brodkin has used football as a target before, once infiltrating a press conference where he threw dollar bills all over then FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and it speaks volumes that he now sees Premier League players as a similar target for his humour as the man eventually banned from the game after corruption allegations.
After a week of public arguments about Premier League players, who earn an average salary of £240,000 a month, refusing to take a pay cut while top clubs use public money to pay their furloughed non-playing staff, there is little doubt that the game – and its players – have suffered a serious blow to their image.
“Our players are seen as the anti-Christ because they happen to be well-paid young men.
“They’re being portrayed as having no social conscience whatsoever and that’s grossly unfair,” says Bobby Barnes, an official with the Professional Footballers Association.
“It’s as if our players are off buying gold Rolls-Royces every day. They’re not,” he added in an interview with The Times.
There is no question that many footballers do help out good causes generously, just as most clubs are engaged with effective community programmes all-year round.
It is telling that one of the game’s most highly-rated stars of the future, Jude Bellingham, a Birmingham City midfielder who is strongly linked with a transfer to Manchester United, is prominently involved in charity work to help a school in Kenya despite being only 16.
The trouble is that all that work has been overshadowed by a public spat over money between the PFA and the Premier League and its clubs, at a time when so many workers and businesses are feeling the impact of the lockdown.
On Wednesday (April 8), a group of Premier League players announced a “Players Together” charity initiative to help raise funds for NHS related causes, but the reputational damage may be hard to recover from.
“I think the Premier League lost control of the narrative and their own story,” says Darren Ennis, Advocacy and Crisis Communications adviser with Fourtold.
“They should have been more proactive. They should have done more scenario planning including the impact on their reputation if they took various decisions.”
It is by no means just the players who have felt a backlash from public opinion.
Premier League leaders Liverpool had to make an abrupt U-turn after outcry over their decision to use public funds to pay their non-playing staff while still paying their first team players their massive wages.
Tottenham Hotspur, who opened a new £1 billion stadium last season, have stuck firm with their decision to use government aid to pay their non-playing staff, a position also taken by Newcastle United.
Southampton are the first club to buck the trend, announcing on Thursday that their players and coaching staff will defer part of their salaries while saying they would not be using the government’s job retention scheme.
One of the consequences of taking taxpayers money is that it has opened the door for politicians to enter the debate and sensing the drift of public opinion, they have not held back.
“It is time for the Premier League to stop defending the indefensible,” said Julian Knight, the Conservative MP who heads the parliamentary committee covering sport.
“They should be working out a way to carry on paying the wages of club staff without resorting to taking money from the government scheme.”
It is perhaps surprising for an industry which derives so much of its revenue from broadcasting deals, and which receives more media coverage than any other sport or indeed business, that there has been such a mixed message.
“What’s happened is about football’s failure to operate with one voice and without overall leadership. The impression it has given is that it is a collection of self-interested organisations, all with different agendas,” says Chris Buckley, chairman of the Sport Acuity consultancy.
But he doesn’t believe the reputational damage will impact on attendance at games.
“Fans put up with a heck of a lot and I am sure we will be flooding back once there is a live game to see,” he said.
But, with the wider public, it may take a lot of work for the Premier League and its players to recover from the hit to their image, says Ennis.
“They have lost touch with their core audience. Something they may be punished for in the longer term”.
-Reuters
Governing Bodies
Sanusi set for record-extending tenure as Nigeria’s football politicians assemble in Asaba
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Speculations gathered ahead of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Football Federation holding in Asaba on Friday have it that tenure elongation for the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, is a major item on the agenda.
Neither formal confirmation nor denial has been issued since one of the leading newspapers in Nigeria, ThisDay dropped the hint.
The agenda of the meeting is also not made public. Dr, Sanusi is the longest-serving General Secretary in history having been in office from 30 March 2015 making 3,476 days or nine years six months and four days.
It easily drowned that of his closest rival in tenure – Sani Toro whose tenure from 21 December 1993 to 3 May 1999 is merely 2020 days or five years, six months and 12 days.
Thus, no one had enjoyed a longer period in office than the incumbent, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. It is speculated that the tenure will be extended as NFF has reported that all delegates have arrived in the Delta State capital by Thursday evening.
The NFF Annual General Assembly, the first of which took place 90 years ago in Lagos on 19 February 1934, is the biggest assemblage of football administrators and stakeholders in the country.
In one such meeting on 24 July 2008 in Makurdi, the football body changed its name from NFA to NFF.
This year, according to a press release by the NFF, the plenary will have in attendance, the chairmen and secretaries of football associations in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, chairmen and secretaries of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nationwide League One, as well as chairmen and secretaries of the referees’ association, players’ union and coaches’ association. This group of 88 makes up the Congress.
They are joined by the members of the NFF Executive Committee and the management team as well as former NFF Presidents and General Secretaries.
The Minister of Sports Development, John Owan Enoh, is announced as the special guest. Nigeria’s Member of the FIFA Council, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is also expected as well as a representative of the West African Football Union (WAFU B).
The Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori will declare the General Assembly open.
Venue is the Unity Hall of the Delta State Government House.
Governing Bodies
Like in Egypt, former Nigerian Olympian, Sadiq Abdulahi wants Tinubu to declare ‘State of Emergency’ in Sports
Former Nigerian tennis player and Olympian, Prof. Sadiq Abdulahi has called for drastic action to arrest the decline of Nigeria in global sporting events.
The former tennis player who is now a professor in the United States declared that the “failure to win a medal at the regular 2024 Paris Olympics, the few medals at the Paris Paralympic and the fallout at the National Youth Sports Festival has exposed the deep problems facing the sport’s sector.”
He wants Nigeria to have the same approach that the Egyptian president has taken while reacting to the country’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olypics.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participated at the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.
According to Prof. Abdulahi, the National Sports Federations charged with the preparation of elite athletes have failed to do their job despite the cry for funding from the government.
“Federal Government cannot adequately fund all the Olympics sports. It is impossible.
“By declaring a state of emergency, new people, new approaches and new funding models will be identified. More importantly, the Federal Government will redefine grassroots sports development.
“We will lay sustainable foundation for sports development.”
Continuing, he called for the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) which enabling decree was abolished through Decree No. 7 of 1991, but came back through presidential proclamation under Sani Abacha before it was abolished again.
The original NSC was established in 1964 as National Sports Council before the promulgation of Decree 34 of 1971 which legalised it as the apex Federal Government agency to control, regulate and organize sports.
“The FG may now bring back the National Sports Commission or the National Sports Authority. Our emerging national economy with the full participation of the private sector can support this new beginning. I hope this helps.”
RELATED STORY: President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul
Governing Bodies
CAF gives Yoruba and Arabic interpretations of ‘OLA’ the Super Cup 2024 Official Match Ball
The Confédération African of Football, CAF, has given the linguistics interpretation of OLA, the confederation’s official match balls produced by Puma which has also unveiled a special edition for the Super Cup duel holding on Friday in Saudi Arabia.
According to CAF, OLA, symbolizing the dynamic and energetic nature of African football, means “wealth,” “honour,” and “respect” in Yoruba and “rise” and “success” in Arabic.
The OLA ball stands out with its vibrant design and cultural significance. “OLA”
The ball is a mix of black and gold, representing power and sophistication. The ball will be the centrepiece of the eagerly-awaited match between the two giants of African football.
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