Don't get me started about football (i.e., soccer) players and global migration. Trust me.
Ok, you didn't start it maybe, but... see, back in 1995, there was something called the Bosman ruling. And suffice it so say -- I'm restraining myself here -- I have a crackpot theory about France winning the World Cup in 1998 that is all about Bosman (who himself was Belgian, which may seem like the first crack in the pot of the theory, but anyway...)
Now I hear the English Premiership, the top professional league in British soccer, has put in place new rules on "home-grown talent". This is to ensure more Brits make it onto the rosters of the top clubs, since the Premier League has seen ever-increasing proportions of players coming from soccer's "growth countries" in West Africa and South America, as well as some of the Old Countries on the continent (including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the like)
So it's basically protectionism for youth players from Jolly Ol' England (and Wales, it seems). In the interest of full disclosure, I spent much of my 20s playing pick-up soccer in West Africa... and now my family is mostly Brazilian. Three guesses how I feel about this.
Actually, I'll tell you, in three words: I feel conflicted. Though more for Brazilians than for Africans, for reasons that I can elaborate upon... upon request.
I tell you: don't get me started.
1 comment:
Obviously protectionism at its very best/worst. I think it's all just a ploy to hike up the prices premier league clubs can ask for their British youth talent, like the sale of Johnson to Liverpool for a cool 17 million pounds! He's maybe worth about half that. But this is a topic, that like you, I shouldn't get started about because I could start up my own blog on just that.
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