The Football Money-Making Business: will the integrity and honesty of the game ever return?

Money is the center of the world. As much as alternative, free-minded people such as myself hate to admit it, this is the sad reality that currently exists. Money is everything, and you won't get very far without it. However, as much as money is the basis for most things in the world, my DNA goes against the excessive amounts of money being spent on certain aspects of football. Do not think this contradicts my earlier statements about the importance of funding, otherwise I am afraid you are confused.

In the mainstream footballing world of today, players are being bought by clubs for extremely large sums of money i.e. Gareth Bale was bought by Real Madrid for £86.3 million ($132 million) and FOR WHAT REASON? Money is raping the football culture of honesty, passion and overall modesty. Egos are inflating and it seems as though players are only playing for their paycheck at the end of every month.

The topic of transfer fees is not new. It has been a frequently-argued and controversial topic dating all the way back to 1905 in England: the country that gave birth to football. Middlesbrough became to first club to splash out a four-figure sum in the transfer market, buying Alf Common for £1000. J.C Clegg, who was a member of the FA at the time, was highly against a move of this nature, believing that the "buying and selling of players is unsportsmanlike and most objectionable in itself, and ought not to be entertained by those who desire to see the game played under proper conditions." I could not agree more with Mr. Clegg: with money involved in the sport, players' behaviour on the football pitch is changing dramatically. I feel that, because players are so overly aware of their numerical value to their club, diving after soft tackles is becoming more frequent, and arguments with the referee are condoned. I have seen one player too many throwing tantrums like little kids when a decision made by the ref does not suit them. This is where I feel strongly that the rule existing in rugby, where no player can dispute a decision made by a match official if they don't want a yellow card, no matter how questionable it is, should be enforced in football. That way, players will lose this authority that they think they have, and start playing the game "under proper conditions" and with amore believable passion. Football is a global culture, a global language, and fanatics such as myself should be able to trust the performance of players on the field.

The transfer made in 1905 provoked quite a lot of reaction, and the "FA enforced a temporary ruling to start from January 1 1908 that prohibited any transfer from going through if the fee involved exceeded £350." Why can't this be applied to the football world of today? Obviously, I understand that a fee of £350 is highly unrealistic with the current state of the world economy, but you get the point. Clegg's thoughts do ring true today, even after 104 years. Former Italian head coach Arrigo Sacchi recently appealed to the UEFA President Michel Platini about football clubs spending more money than they actually need to. Sacchi is convinced that Real Madrid's signing of Welshman Gareth Bale was primarily for commercial reasons than it was for practical footballing reasons. The Italian feels clubs should "invest what you receive," as the football money-men are "drugging and polluting the market." Why can't this thought be introduced to big clubs such as Real Madrid, and indeed across the world? The transfer window frequently sees clubs paying more for players than society feels they are worth, and this needs to change.

In a slightly different area of the topic is the money-making schemes that exist behind closed doors: betting and match-fixing. Just yesterday, Singapore police and authorities took fourteen Singaporeans into custody for, what was believed to be, a global match-fixing conspiracy. The suspected leader, Tan Seet Eng, also known as Dan Tan, is believed to have lead a syndicate that rigged hundreds of games across Europe and Africa. It is possible that matches with extremely high profiles, such as World Cup Qualifiers and Champions League matches, were illegally interfered with by this match-fixing mastermind. Whilst I understand that the concept of betting is fairly innocent and acceptable, I will NEVER understand why match officials are being bribed approximately 30 000 euros to secure a certain result. And even bigger than that: why are they accepting the bribes? Who knows how much money elsewhere is floating around the football world but, in order for the integrity of the game to be protected, this corruption needs to end.

All for now,
Gabi

Links:
How money has 'ruined' football.
Singapore arrest 14 in crackdown on football match-fixing.