Need a Change

I have a question for all those who watch the game of football with passion and interest and even for those who don’t follow it so closely.
Do we follow the football season only to see the big clubs like Manchester United (Man U), Barcelona, Real Madrid or the Clubs from Milan win all the major trophies, Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia, Juventus, Porto, Bayern Munich and others forever competing to be right there at the top and the lesser known clubs fighting to stay out of the relegation zone. Or do we watch the game expecting some good competitive football being played, coupled with some breath taking displays of players dribbling skills, stunning free-kicks and saves, creative passes and timely tackles and blocks. Even a diehard fan of Man U like me will admit that it gives me equal pleasure to watch the free flowing attacking football of Barcelona on display as much as the more strategic display of total football by team Man U.
The next thing we need to understand is: are we ready to accept: a lesser followed club like the Hull City, or a West Ham United winning the English Premier League (EPL). A live example of a similar situation is in 2009 Formula One season: Brawn Team in its debut season on the circuit has left all the big names like the Ferrari, Renault & McLaren way behind. The leaders list has seen the likes of Hamilton and Massa swapping places with Jenson Button and Barrichalo. Button is leading the list, midway through the season with 75 points while Massa has 11 and Hamilton 9 lying at 10th and 11th position. Has that had an effect on the viewership, only TRPs can say but surely it must have had. I am sure not many of us who never missed a single race last 3-4 years, are still following the game with the same level of zeal.
Personally it’s difficult to accept, the club I follow, see loose but I am tired and bored to see the same names at the top of the points table be it in any sport, Football, Formula One or even Basketball (LA Lakers has again won it this year 15 in total). The Club competitions seem to move towards matches like: India verses Brazil in football, or a Singapore verses Australia in cricket.
If we try to understand the reason for Club games becoming famous was the proposition it brought forth for the viewers: players from different nationalities coming together to play for clubs beyond nationalities and providing an opportunity to see the best talent playing side by side to produce the best results in terms of quality of the game. This also gave an opportunity for the billionaires an opportunity to own clubs real life, have a say in team composition and formation: a dream for any avid sports follower. There is no denying the fact that it had lived up to its expectation: the biggest example of it is the quality of football in EPL or La Liga being far better than in the World Cups. However with time it has become a money spinner for the clubs through television rights and team sponsorships. This has attracted the billionaires of the world who are ready to spend any amount of money to build the best team, wooing the best players from all over to play for them. This has helped the players who have opted to have games as their career. But, only a few good clubs performing well or having the potential to be there at the top, have been able to attract investors, others haven’t and this has increased the gap in spending between the top teams and those lying in the middle or low down. This has resulted in congregation of the best talent in a few clubs which has a deep bearing on the outcome at the end of the season.
The second problem as I see it: a Rio Ferdinand or a Vidic playing for Man U have had equal or even more contribution to the success of the club this year than that of Ronaldo, Rooney or Tevez but they are not even valued at half of that of Ronaldo. If the reason is: Ronaldo is a forward and scores goals while Ferdinand is a defender, then there is something seriously wrong in understanding the game and this would surely have an impact on the moral of these players and effect their contribution and commitment to the team game.
What to do then:
Let us look back to our very own just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) which is the latest Club game that has made its place in the World Sports calendar. IPL has provided a cap on the spending that teams can make for signing players. The interest of the players was also taken into consideration. The players were graded based on their performance in World cricket and a minimum price was fixed for each grade. All the teams participated in an auction process to bid for the players and each of them had an equal opportunity to get a mix of established, emerging and new comers because of the spending were not related to the size of the pocket of the franchisees. The result is for all to see. All the teams have a balanced side, having the capability of beating the other on its day. The success of it has been that we had 4 different finalists in the two seasons of the tournament with this year’s finalist being those at the bottom of the table last year.
Formula One had put a cap on the total spending to help the participating teams who were affected by the recession to reduce the undue advantage that some of the other teams would have gained who were unaffected by recession. The big teams like Ferrari, Renault or McLaren, who are affected by this, have threatened to revolt and not participate in future seasons of Formula One if the rule prevails. But one thing that it has done it has removed the monopoly in the racing circuit of a few of the teams. We get to hear new names on the podium.
Thus it’s difficult to prescribe a solution for EPL considering the trouble that Formula One is facing, but definitely the administrative body of EPL and other governing bodies of Football clubs in Europe should take steps necessary to reduce the gap in spending of the clubs, which will increase the competitiveness of the league. If something is not done immediately the interest and fan following that it generates now may go and EPL end up as one of the many Club Football leagues being played around the world.
I would like to end hoping that Real Madrid, which has signed both Kaka and Ronaldo this season, fails to deliver as a team, otherwise with the existing team that Real has, it will take home all the big trophies without much sweat.