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
World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
Founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris, France, FIFA began with just seven member associations — France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
From that modest beginning, the organisation has grown into the most influential sports governing body in the world, with 211 member associations spread across all continents.
Over the decades, FIFA has transformed football into a truly global phenomenon through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Club World Cup, youth tournaments, and developmental programmes aimed at growing the game worldwide.
The organisation has also witnessed remarkable milestones, including the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 13 teams in 1930 to 48 teams beginning from the 2026 edition to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
FIFA’s journey has equally reflected football’s growing influence beyond sport, with the game becoming a major tool for diplomacy, social inclusion, youth empowerment, and economic development across the world.
As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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