Well, I’m going to start off this blog post by saying that if you are not at all interested in sports in any way or could care less about football (soccer) than any other sport, please feel free to stop reading this post now. This post is going to be discussing my opinions on football as of late in the UK as well as my recent experience at an England UEFA EURO qualifying match at Wembley. I’m going to be airing some grievances so it’s up to you to continue on. If you are interested than I hope this post will be of some help in understanding what the hell’s going on over here in the sport.
If you know me…you know I LOVE SPORTS. I live and breathe sports and more than a handful of people will tell you my stupidly encyclopedic knowledge of my favourite sports. At around the 2006 World Cup I started to develop an interest mainly in soccer. Although I am a huge fan of baseball, hockey, and North American football…I’ve developed my love for soccer more than the rest. I don’t know what it is about the sport…maybe its worldwide appeal, the strategy involved, or the tense moments throughout the match and pure joy when your team breaks through and scores that vital goal. For a lot of people soccer is slow, boring, and full of actors faking their way through injuries in order to get free kicks from the referees. I’m not here to tell you this doesn’t happen in soccer (I’m looking at you Italians) and if that’s your opinion of the sport it can be warranted and you’re entitled to it. I however love soccer and will continue to by being in such a lively atmosphere for it every day. The amount of media coverage that soccer gets in England is ridiculous (a big reason why a lot of players don’t like to play here) and every move made by clubs both from a professional as well as personal perspective is picked apart and analyzed to the last letter. Therefore, I manage to learn so much more about the goings on in the Premier League than I ever have before and I love it. Even more I actually have the opportunity to attend soccer matches on a frequent basis and was able to do so for the first time last Tuesday at Wembley Stadium.
I’ve watched countless soccer matches on television over the last few years and even caught some streamed on the web. However, I have never had the opportunity to attend a match itself. With the only professional soccer being played in the GTA being Toronto FC, whose tickets are damn near impossible to get; the closest I’ve gotten is watching Real Madrid practice for 30 minutes when they were in town for a friendly. Needless to say I was pretty pumped to finally have this opportunity. The commute up to Wembley was pretty good and it was cool to pick up more and more England supporters all decked out in their red and white as we got closer to the stadium. When I exited Wembley Park Stadium and saw the majesty of the grounds ahead of me I was in complete awe. Because soccer was invented in England Wembley is known as “The Home of Football” and boy does it look like that. It’s a 90 000 seat masterpiece that glows like a star in the night sky ahead of you. The Empire Walk is the 10 minute walkway that stretches from the station to the stadium. As you get closer and closer you can really feel the fever in the fans voices, the stadium grows larger in your view, the singing becomes louder, and the lid seems to almost burst with the anticipation for the match ahead.
Inside the concourse is very basic and modern looking with straightforward signage denoting the locations of aisles and seats. Food is basic from hot dogs, chips, and soda to more local flavours such as pies, chicken strips, and even fish and chips. UEFA has strict rules that there are no alcohol sales during their events so there are no beer kiosks in Wembley. As I walked out through my aisle I stood and just took in the air of the grounds. Literally, because it’s completely open air for the grass to grow you get the cool night air blowing in but the lights illuminating the pitch combined with your recently purchased match scarf has no problem keeping you warmed up. After the anthems and introductions of the line-ups the ball is placed, the whistle blows, and away we go.
Now, this is all right and good…the match itself left something to be desired. England have been having a lot of problems as of late and a lot of that falls on manager Fabio Capello. He consistently chooses squads that are higher in the age category instead of giving the younger players an opportunity to prove themselves on the senior team. As a result, a lot of players usually end up backing out with injuries or to focus on their club careers. Capello is then forced to choose a weaker side and it showed. England was consistently on the attack the entire match but extremely poor passing, simple mental mistakes, and misplaced deliveries left the offence to sputter every time they threatened in Montenegro’s end. Rooney’s been having some serious issues as of late (to be discussed later) and the midfield was having some big issues as well. Ferdinand played well given he hadn’t played for England since pre-World Cup and Gerrard seemed to be a little out of his element himself (strange given how well he’s played for Liverpool this year.) Some of that might be attributed to him losing the captainship to Ferdinand but I think these are stupid rumours. A player of Gerrard’s ability does not just give up his talent at the loss of an armband, the leadership is always there and I think it had more to do with the shambles Liverpool is in right now more than anything else (more on that later as well.) In the end, the 0-0 draw was extremely disappointing and it could have been worse as Montenegro rattled a shot off of Joe Hart’s goal post late in the second half to almost steal an unfathomable victory. The atmosphere, singing, and physical presence of the stadium made the trip well worth it…the match itself did not.
I’m still excited to watch a lot more football within the coming months. I’m going to be attending a Fulham-Wigan match on October 30th, two Chelsea Champions League matches in November, as well as the England-France friendly on November 17th.
On top of the amount of media attention the English National Team has been receiving, the clubs here in England receive just as much if not more. Recently there have been two main storylines in English soccer. The first is Wayne Rooney and the second is the state of Liverpool FC. Let’s take a small moment to discuss Rooney.
If you don’t know soccer, you might still know Wayne Rooney. As famous as Christiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, and Lionel Messi; this English player is the face of not only the English National Team but Manchester United as well, a highly established and feared club in international football. He’s the reigning footballer of the year and has been racking goals and sponsorships so quickly it’s amazing he’s only 24 years old. The biggest problem with Rooney is his new lack of form. He hasn’t scored a goal in competition for Manchester since the Champions League knockout stages in March, played extremely poorly for England in the World Cup, and has been battling with his manager since the start of this season only starting two matches so far. He’s been under consistent media speculation and abuse about an apparent affair with a prostitute, drinking and smoking, as well as urinating in public. The rift with his manager has opened up his debate on whether he’ll resign with United after his contract is up in 20 months time or if he’ll move. Today’s paper has even been speculating he’ll make a blasphemous move (by United supporter’s standards) to the in city rivals Manchester City. Needless to say, this entire saga has been dominating the sports sections of newspapers for months here and there’s a lot of talk going on.
Now, this is an extremely fine line to walk. I understand that he’s supposed to be a role-model in his community and for England and that he’s clearly had some personal issues and a bit too much fun with the mates. Come on though, you pay a 24 year old 150 000 pounds a week and what do you think is going to happen? That’s right, 150 000 pounds a WEEK. Footballers make some serious coin and problems are bound to erupt when that money is in the hands of somebody so young. On top of that the media abuse has gotten pretty out of hand. England is known for its paparazzi and the famous footballers they stalk. If Perez Hilton blogged in England it would be about footballers only. They are the Hollywood stars over here and every step they take is closely watched and scrutinized by the public. It’s a lot of pressure and I think some of that intrusion has to be blamed for Rooney’s form as of late. The man is going through a lot of problems right now (some self-inflicted and deserved) but it’s amazing how much is written about it every day.
Speaking of headlines Liverpool has been all over them recently as well. If you haven’t been following the stories the team was just purchased by John W. Henry and the New England Sports Venture group (they own the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park). After a heated legal battle with the previous owners they won the right to buy the team. However, Liverpool is also going through a lot of on field issues as well. As a big time Liverpool fan it upsets me that they’ve been going through all of this legal crap but on top of that playing poorly on the pitch that has them in the relegation zone eight games into the season. However, it seems that every sports writer in every media outlet in this country has been jumping on this in order to make a point about the Premiership. It’s rich, it’s unfair, and it’s not real football. I have read countless articles about how we shouldn’t feel sorry for Liverpool and that it just goes to show how dumb of a business soccer has become in England. The league is basically battled out by four teams every year: Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal (known as the “Big Four”). They are all owned by big players in the world’s wealth and they pour money into new player acquisitions constantly. Then there’s the middle of the table teams that year in and year out hope to make second tier European football but don’t have the financial resources to compete in the domestic league. And then there are the little teams that battle to stay in the Premier League for more than a season before inevitably free-falling their way back down to the Championship to try all over again. Recently some teams have become big players in the Premier League: Manchester City being the main one, while others such as Liverpool and Manchester United are slowly fading due to debt and off the pitch issues. The big problem therefore is the Premier League is not a fair league. People are arguing that English football needs this kick in the head to understand that it needs to stop worrying about pouring as much money as possible into teams from Middle Eastern billionaires and start worrying about promoting the game at home, working in the communities, and having a higher percentage of English players on their teams. These were all pillars back just a couple decades ago and now you’ll struggle to find even one English player on the pitch for a team at the top of the table. It’s a shame but they’re right.
It’s difficult to operate as a professional in this sport without being in the spotlight somehow. If you don’t deliver you get bashed in the press while the successful teams reap millions upon millions of dollars. The rich get richer and stay the best while the smaller clubs are doomed to remain in obscurity. UEFA has recently announced a new Fair Play ruling that will exclude any European league team from Champions League or Europa League soccer if they are more than 11 million Euros in the red from the season before. The hope is that this will force teams to lower their payrolls by a lot, allow more domestic players the chance the play, and hopefully start to even the playing field a bit. This seems like a damn near impossible venture, but maybe it’ll put us one step closer to enjoying watching more competition and more domestic talent that will lead to player development and ultimately a winning National Team.
I guess I’ll just have to keep reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment