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
FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee has banned former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) General Secretary Ian Alves from all football-related activities for five years after finding he sexually harassed female staff members.
FIFA also fined Alves 20,000 Swiss francs ($22,000) after determining that he had breached provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics relating to the protection of physical and mental integrity, abuse of position and general duties.
“FIFA has a strict stance against all forms of abuse in football,” the organisation said on Monday.
The decision followed a review of written statements from the victims, documents provided by the GFF, submissions from Alves, and other evidence gathered during the investigation.
Alves stepped down from his position in 2024.
The ban came into force on Monday, when the terms of the decision were notified to Alves, and the full grounds for the ruling will be communicated within 60 days in accordance with the Code of Ethics, FIFA added.
The GFF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Alves could not immediately be reached for comment.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday that he planned to seek re-election for a fourth term in a bid to continue to lead the governing body of world soccer.
Infantino confirmed he would run for the 2027–2031 term in the closing moments of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, which comes less than two months before the start of the World Cup.
The election will be held on March 18 in Morocco, which is set to co-host the 2030 World Cup.
Infantino said he was “honoured and humbled” to have the chance to run for a fourth term.
The Italian-Swiss took office in 2016, replacing Sepp Blatter, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023.
Infantino has pushed for the expansion of FIFA competitions during his tenure, with this year’s World Cup in North America the first to feature 48 teams, while the women’s tournament in 2023 has been expanded to 32 teams.
Infantino’s tenure has also drawn some criticism over issues such as high World Cup ticket prices and the decision to award the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump at the World Cup draw in December.
Earlier this month, the council of South American football’s governing body (CONMEBOL) said in a statement it would unanimously support the 56-year-old if he decided to seek another term.
-Reuters
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The supporters of Vancouver Whitecaps, a professional football (soccer) club in Canada, have staged a protest outside the FIFA Congress on Thursday, voicing fears that the Major League Soccer club could be relocated as uncertainty deepens over its ownership and long-term future.
The club is one of Canada’s most historic football institutions and has long been a central part of Vancouver’s sporting identity.
Around 100 fans gathered as delegates arrived for the annual FIFA meeting in Vancouver, chanting, singing and waving club flags in a show of solidarity. The demonstration comes just days after Vancouver Whitecaps FC revealed difficulties in securing a buyer willing to keep the club in the city.
The Whitecaps disclosed earlier this week that “stadium economics, venue access and revenue limitations” have complicated efforts to sell the club, despite a 16-month search for new ownership.
Season ticket holder Derek Hawksworth said supporters felt compelled to act amid growing fears of relocation.
“I wanted to come down given the threat of the team possibly moving,” he said. “It’s a rich history with the Whitecaps in North America… we want Vancouver to stay and not relocate. The history is here, and we want to continue with that history moving forward.”
The Vancouver Whitecaps are a professional football (soccer) club based in Vancouver, Canada. They currently compete in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-tier league in the United States and Canada.
Concerns were heightened by reports that cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix are leading contenders should the club relocate.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has urged intervention, calling on the provincial government — which owns BC Place — to negotiate a “bridge deal” that would allow the team to remain while plans for a new stadium are explored. The club’s current lease at BC Place expires at the end of the year.
Despite the off-field uncertainty, the Whitecaps have been one of the standout teams this MLS season. They currently sit second in the Western Conference with 24 points from nine matches, just three points behind the San Jose Earthquakes.
For supporters, however, performances on the pitch offer little comfort as the future of their club hangs in the balance — a situation they hope global football leaders gathering in Vancouver will not ignore.
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