234 pages

English

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Regulating Football , livre ebook

Pluto Press - Guy Osborn , Steve Greenfield

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234 pages

English

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Football in Europe has undergone massive changes over the last decade. Regulating Football gets behind the headlines to look at the impact of ever increasing commercialisation and the commodification of football.

The essence of the book is football as it is played, refereed, managed, bought, sold and consumed: the authors capture the life and action of the game as seen from the perspective of the numerous participants and place these experiences within a sociological, economic and legal context which reflects the increasing commodification of the sport.

Exploring the ways in which the game is regulated, the authors question whether we have reached the point where commercial issues have superseded the club – and even the game of football itself. The role of players, agents, officials, governing bodies, and the media are all explored. The authors pay attention to levels of violence and racism both on and off the field in both the professional and amateur forms of the game.
1. The Context and Development of Regulation

2. From Community Bulwark to Global Domination: The Football Club in Transition

3. Players, Power and Contracts

4. Men Behaving Badly: The Regulation of Conduct

5. Policing Racist Conduct

6. Totalled Football: Will Soccer Consume itself?

Notes

Index

Sujets

Sociologie du sport

Recreation

Sports

Social Aspects

Cultural Aspects

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 mai 2001
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849640060
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Regulating Football

Commodification, Consumption and the Law

Steve Greenfield and Guy Osborn

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2001 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

The right of Steve Greenfield and Guy Osborn to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Greenfield, Steve, 1960– Regulating football : commodification, consumption, and the law / Steve Greenfield and Guy Osborn. p. cm. ISBN 0–7453–1025–7 (hard) — ISBN 0–7453–1026–5 (pbk.) 1. Soccer—Law and legislation—Great Britain. 2. Soccer fans—Legal status, laws, etc.—Great Britain. 3. Soccer—Social aspects. I. Osborn, Guy, 1966– II. Title. KD3525 .G74 2001 306.4'83—dc21 00–0

ISBN 0 7453 1025 7 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1026 5 paperback

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09744

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the European Union by TJ International, Padstow, England

Contents

Foreword by Pat Nevin Preface

1. The Context and Development of Regulation

2. From Community Bulwark to Global Domination: The Football Club in Transition

3. Players, Power and Contracts

4. Men Behaving Badly: The Regulation of Conduct

5. Policing Racist Conduct

6. Totalled Football: Will Soccer Consume itself?

Notes Bibliography Index

vi vii

102

135

166

200 212 220

Foreword by Pat Nevin

In an age when football has grown exponentially as a sport and as a business, this book addresses topics which have huge significance. It must be dealt with in a sane and reasonable manner. It is difficult to get a rounded handle on the intricacies from reading the newspapers alone, so a studious piece of work from a group not directly involved in the business is more than helpful. With no inherent prejudice other than wanting the best for a loved sport, this work will ask, as well as answer, many questions. Globally, football is at a crossroads; the decisions and directions taken over the next few years, some by those who have limited knowledge of its subtleties, will affect every player, fan and worker throughout the whole of the industry. Serious study and well-researched information will help in making the correct decisions.

Preface

The relationship between law and football is, perhaps surprisingly, one with a long history. However, although early examples of legal intervention focused primarily upon public-order issues, as football began to evolve so did the law’s relation to it. Different forms of law began to be utilised, culminating in the large number of commercial law issues now confronting football. As this book shows, the ways in which football is regulated are not necessarily all legal in nature, and much of the book is concerned with the mechanisms used to control the game, both internally and externally. It is important to appreciate that the reason the law has become more involved, and indeed has arguably become fundamental to football culture, is the commercial development of football and the effect that this has had upon players, fans, administrators and others concerned with football. Much of this development can be traced back to a number of crucial events, perhaps most markedly during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Italia ’90 was a watershed for the English game. Certainly in media terms, the spectacle of ‘high culture’ (the Three Tenors) meeting what might, historically at least, have been termed ‘low culture’ (in the form of association football) was a resonant one that hinted at a rebirth. Both the performance and wider context of England’s semi-final tie with West Germany confirmed this perspective. Gascoigne’s (‘Gazza’s’) tears here symbolised both the player’s shift from minor celebrity to national monument, and the game rising from the ashes:

England’s semi-final tie against West Germany was seen on television by millions who barely knew the rules of football. They knew enough, though, to grasp that our best player had been made to cry … the warrior’s tears were felt as patriotic tears, our tears. (Hamilton 1994: 44–5)

This, taken in tandem with the wider effect of the Hillsborough disaster barely a year earlier, was to kick-start football’s reinvention. This reinvention took a number of forms, one of the most crucial

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Preface

being the further development of the relationship between football and television. However, underpinning all this was the fact that after Italia ’90 it was suddenly permissible to proclaim yourself a football fan. This process accelerated following the publication of Nick Hornby’sFever Pitchin 1992, a man’s rite of passage seen through the medium of Arsenal Football Club, or as Blake (1996: 178) puts it:

One excellent autobiography by a fan should be mentioned here, partly because of its impact on the world of polite culture: Nick Hornby’sFever Pitchis an insightful and only ironically celebra-tory look at the life of a dedicated soccer fan. Hornby admits to the pain, boredom, frustration of soccer spectating – all doubled since he is an Arsenal fan, and eventheirsuccesses are hardly the cause for national celebration.

Fever Pitchstarted an avalanche of football writing. The quality varied, but at least work began to be produced which could be compared with the libraries amassed in the more historically literate, if less popular, sports such as boxing and cricket. Out of the woodwork came ‘football fans’ who had rarely dared admit their allegiance before but, with this new-found respectability, were now able to flaunt it. Politically, it became a badge of honour, a way of connecting with the common man, that was utilised by many politi-cians in an attempt to gain authenticity. Brick (1999: 4) notes that this was not always successful:

Blair was once asked why he supported Newcastle United, he replied that he remembers sitting behind the goal in a packed St James watching his hero Jackie Milburn. When Milburn played for Newcastle there were no seats behind the goals at any ground in the country let alone at St James. Milburn played his final game for United in 1957. At most Blair would have been 3 or 4 years old, so it’s unlikely that even he could remember such an occasion. Even if he was actually there it is unlikely that he saw much and a miracle that he was not trampled to death if he was sitting in a part of the ground where thousands of others were standing.

Certainly more and more television personalities began to ‘assert their credentials’, evoking something of a backlash as johnny-come-latelies, who lacked the authenticity and baggage that a traditional

Preface

1 notion of fandom demanded. Whilst such a view is a narrow and elitist one, it does show a theme which lies at the heart of this book, the perception that the game has been taken away, changed and repackaged and, in this sense, made less palatable to the traditional bedrock of supporters. Football at the beginning of the twenty-first century is unrecog-nisable from the game that was created in 1873 in a number of ways. One is the status of the players themselves. The demise of the amateur side within top level football had the obvious effect of legalising payments within football. This led to transfers of players between sides, in turn leading to disputes such as those involving the players George Eastham and Jean Marc Bosman which are discussed in the course of the book. A cursory examination of the teamsheet of just about any side in the English Premiership also shows that the demographics of club sides has changed beyond recognition. Whilst overseas players are not a new phenomenon, the 1990s have seen the original ‘trickle’ (who were granted novelty status) grow into an avalanche of players of varying quality. Much of the debate about the ‘overseas invasion’ concentrates on the number of overseas players of average ability who are displacing their domestic equivalents. There are a number of reasons for such a change. First, the decision in theBosmancase permitted far greater freedom of movement for professional players at the expiry of the contractual period. Second, the financial clout of the leading clubs, through the increasing influx of broadcasting, sponsorship and mer-chandising income, has allowed the clubs to offer far greater financial rewards to the players. The unrivalled (so far!) television coverage of Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB (in the UK) has also propelled the game into a different dimension and provided clubs, players and their agents with unrivalled economic and commercial opportunities. Supporters have seen their game (and much has been made of the fact that football is thepeople’s game) change beyond recognition. At the top level all-seater stadia have become the norm with the consequent increased admission prices that have led to allegations that large numbers of traditional supporters have been priced out of attending live games. The new broadcasting coverage has also developed a new generation of sedentary armchair fans taking their place, whose connection with the club is made via other means. BSkyB has indeed revolutionised the way in which football, and sport generally, is consumed in this country. Whilst today the thought of showing games live raises few eyebrows, before the

Preface

involvement of BSkyB football on TV was a comparative rarity rather than something that was taken for granted. The football authorities had always been protective of games being shown live for fear that this might affect attendances, for so long the financial lifeblood of the clubs. However, BSkyB not only made a large amount of cash available to be allocated between the clubs, but also turned the whole process of viewing sport on its head. Cameras were positioned at every Premier League ground for every game, the numbers of cameras at key games (usually those being televised) was increased, studio technology and analysis was massively enhanced, turning this into an art form, and the game was hyped beyond belief. Certainly, few who viewed a drab Wimbledon versus Sheffield Wednesday (for example) from Selhurst Park would have believed that such fare con-stituted a ‘Super Sunday’. The proliferation of new camera angles and studio wizardry made the science of football more accessible to the public, with every action potentially subject to constant re-2 evaluation and comment, a development not without its critics. Additionally, the broadcasters were able to circumvent the tradi-tional criticism of live broadcasts affecting attendances by scheduling games on Monday nights, Sunday afternoons, Saturday 3 mornings, etc. With this new money the clubs embarked on a policy of spend, 4 spend, spend. Whilst the infrastructure in terms of ground improve-ment was financed by a combination of private and public money raised from levies placed on betting, fan bond schemes and loans from wealthy benefactors, at the same time the UK was suddenly becoming a more attractive place for foreign stars to ply their trade. There was a suspicion, initially at least, that foreign star names saw the Premiership as a soft option for their twilight years rather than a league on a par with those in Italy, Spain and Germany. Certainly, the majority of players who came in the initial influx were past their real prime, although nevertheless often devastatingly effective in the 5 Premier League. The figures certainly show that the numbers of overseas players joining British clubs increased dramatically over the years following the inception of the Premiership, and the whole issue of player movement is covered in depth in Chapter 3. The influx of such players certainly made the game more cosmopolitan – a wider reflection perhaps of the increased ‘continentalisation’ of our culture in terms of leisure and recreational habits. While the journeymen of foreign football still see it as an economically viable place to ply their

Preface

trade, there are signs that some of the young, truly great talent is also beginning to look to these shores for employment. Whilst football has changed over the last century, there are clearly more changes to come in the future, some of which may well be reactionary in nature. There is always the question of the economic bubble bursting and the consequences of the high wage player economy. Professional football, at the highest level, has undoubt-edly become more commercialised, commodified and subjected to a greater degree, and different forms, of regulation. Such change has been accompanied by disquiet among supporters and commentators who argue that during this process some of the ‘soul’ of football has been lost as the game has been consumed by business interests. This book analyses how football has altered and, most important for our purposes, the role of the law in that process. As the game has altered so has the academic terrain: the analysis of football hooliganism of the 1980s has given way in the 1990s to an economic examination. In a mirroring of the topic of study, the social scientist has been superseded by the management analyst and the accountant. This book attempts to highlight the importance of law as a catalyst for the change. In a whole host of areas it has been legal intervention that has led to new developments. The contractual freedom first developed inEasthamwas extended byBosmanand was a contribu-tory factor in the huge influx of foreign players. Similarly, corporate legal identity has altered as clubs have switched from private companies to PLC status. Competition law has now become an important consideration, whilst on a more mundane level there has been greater intervention on the pitch. Perhaps, however, the starkest and most disturbing examples concern the immense increase in the legal controls exerted over football fans, which has raised important civil liberties questions, although as we stress throughout the book, this aspect is merely part of a wider regulatory equation.

DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS

It is inevitable in any piece of research that a number of things happen. First, you wonder when you should stop. Within football, developments that could easily be subsumed within this book occur almost daily. Similarly, barely a day goes by without a new book on football being published, often raising salient points that could have 6 contributed to our analysis. We have chosen to stop now, otherwise we would never get to publish this text, and we apologise for any omissions which will have to await a later edition, or a different text.

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This leads on to the second point, or disclaimer. Writing a book of this nature necessarily forces you to consider what should be included and what omitted. We are well aware that there are many aspects that could have been covered: women’s football and issues of discrimination (apart from race), to name but two. However, the material selected for inclusion was that which we felt best illustrated our arguments concerning the regulation of football at this point in time, and as such we make no apologies for not including aspects which others might consider fundamental. Again, another day and another book perhaps.

As is customary we would like to thank all the usual suspects. However, there are a few people we must thank individually for the particular input and help they have given to this project. First of all, our long-suffering editor Anne Beech, who has been amazingly understanding during the gestation of the text, is deserving of special thanks. Additionally, a number of people have agreed to be inter-viewed, or supplied material that has been integrated and used within the book. These include Umberto Gandini, Nicole Casaus, Tim ‘Villain’ Worth, Avis Whyte, Martin Edwards, Ray Clemence and Ching Fang-Weedon, Ken Foster, Sue Tilling and Rob Elvin. In addition, thanks are due to the following organisations for hospital-ity and information: Barcelona FC, AC Milan, the Home Office Research and Development Statistics Directorate, Football Unites Racism Divides (FURD). Apologies to all those we have forgotten and, although we would love to blame you all for the deficiencies in the text, unfortunately protocol demands we take responsibility for all errors and omissions. Closer to home, thanks are due to our long-suffering families for putting up with us during the gestation and writing of the text: Delyth, Allison, Aneurin, Keir and Cerys take a bow. Writing this book has been a labour of love, and all of our writing has tapped into this – writing about things that both animate and concern us, things that we can both criticise and consume but, more important, things we would talk about and debate whether our words were being recorded for posterity or not. As such this book is dedicated to bar-stool analysts of football culture throughout the land – we’re in the same band.

July 2000