The key foundation of all professional football leagues in the world is the relationship between the supporter and his football club. The average person following the game must believe above all else in the integrity of the contest, their mindset when observing a match is pure and not affected with ideas of foul play, match fixing and corruption.
This is what drives all revenue streams generated in modern sport. Gate attendances, ticket sales, memberships, merchandising, television revenue, sponsorships, corporate coteries are linked to one common thread and that is the passion and general interest of the public in the sport and their need to be emotionally involved. If we lose this the empire will come crumbling down.
Greek football is a classic case of a game that has lost its way. I recall in 1986, at the impressionable age of a young teenager, attending an Athenian derby between Panathinaikos and AEK Athens at the Olympic stadium and 70,000 were in attendance. The game nearing the end of the season had little significance for Panathinaikos as they had already won the title yet the stadium was full and the atmosphere was electric. Play the same game today and you would be lucky to have half the attendance.
What has gone wrong? The reality is the average supporter in Greece has lost their belief in the integrity of the game. They do not believe the league is played as a fair and honest competition. “Matches are fixed, games are sold, teams are offered bribes to lose, referees are corrupted,” supporters are crying out. This problem is not only in Greek football but widespread. The prestigious Italian league was rocked in 2006 with the Calciopoli scandal.
The Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) stripped Juventus of their 2005 and 2006 crowns because of their involvement in the scandal and it has seemed ever since the general public do not discuss Italian football has lost the same respect and passion that it once demanded. It must be said that all sports have experienced this problem, closer to home cricket has had its fair share of bad press.
The AFL has a problem with match scheduling, before a ball is bounced certain powerhouse clubs have an advantage in the 22 round race for the minor premiership. Collingwood every year has an advantageous draw due to the very fact they are a huge crowd pulling club and everybody wants to play them. “Its good business” they say. It makes more money” It makes economic sense”.
What about the integrity of the contest? What about the sport? Explain that to the supporters of the team that may miss a top four position and a realistic opportunity for a premiership due to a more difficult draw. Many I believe are becoming disenchanted with modern sport and I fear the next generation of people will not have the same love and commitment for the game and their clubs. Player loyalty and one club players are threatening to become a thing of the past. On the back of my St Kilda jumper growing up in the 70s and 80s I proudly wore the number 1, the jumper of the late St Kilda great Trevor Barker.
Barker had a distinguished career and was considered the Saints best player throughout the 1980s, in a decade where the team had very little success. In fact his 230 games did not include any finals appearances, a league record. Many times Barker was head hunted by the power clubs of the time with lucrative offers and finals football yet he stayed at his beloved Saints. He is a symbol of loyalty now at the club and his honoured with an award and many supporters think of Trevor Barker and understand the meaning of dedication to a football club.
In our own Victorian Premier League we have problems keeping abreast of the merry go round of transfers through the various windows during the season. Clubs prepare for championships, they recruit and invest significant money in teams hoping to compete strongly for finals yet clubs are losing players a month before the end of the season to A League and even State 1 teams and they have no hope of replacing these key players.
It is gut wrenching to the club, its football department and supporters when they lose key players going into finals time. In any football league or sport we must have uncompromising standards to maintaining the integrity of the sporting contest. This should stay paramount over the dollar and we must protect our sports to the corruption and greed that is threatening to kill modern sports. We all try and keep the innocence we had as children when we believed in the game, we believed it meant something to the players playing for the club and we believed that our football clubs are like families. I hope my children can grow up in the same way I grew up reading about the positives and not about scandals and bribery.