Blink and you’ll have missed it
The sports world was dominated this week by the Punch and Judy saga that was the European Super League; the breakaway Football competition formed of 12 ‘super clubs’.
Upon first impressions, many of us would have been little surprised by attempts from clubs to control more of their financial destiny. It’s not the first time this has been attempted, and it won’t be the last. In fact, it’s a tale of ‘will they/won’t they’ that we’ve seen from other global sports platforms, namely Formula One and Golf.
Beyond the obvious heavyweight jostling going on through the media, and some of the firmest words I’ve heard from a sporting President in my life, the key pieces to take from the saga (in my opinion) is thus:
Don’t feel sorry for these 12 clubs financial situations. Of all professional sporting teams globally, these are the least affected from the COVID-19 impacts. Their cries for more income is embarrassing.
Don’t let this take your eye off the real issue in Football. Racism. It would be a terrible outcome if this fiasco does anything to diminish the slow momentum in that regard.
Let sport be sport. Sport relies on unpredictability, underdog stories, dreams and hopes. Limiting any of the variables in sport and you’ll end up with an entertainment product. A case perfectly made by the 1,000’s of fans of the 12 clubs protesting AGAINST their inclusion.
Two eyes, two ears and one mouth. The key from all of this is to ensure we, as an industry, are prepared to look and listen to what was driving this and the lessons we can learn more so than just weighing in with misguided points of view. There are always two sides to this. We have to learn from them in order to define the correct paths forward. Same point for the ESL, same point for the Premier Golf League, same point for the Super Formula (F1 example).
Sport will always dish out heaped spoons of mayhem such as this. UEFA, the PFA and the Unions will all do well to sit down and come to better terms moving forward. For now, let’s just focus on the more pressing issues facing sport.
