European Super Greed: Where Will it Lead?

 European Super Greed: Where Will it Lead?

11 June 2021

3 min read 

We’re on the doorstep of a new European football tournament.  They are a year late, but the Euro’s are here.  This week’s sports news spoke of the after-shocks of another European non- tournament. The seismic story of the season- the rapid rise and fall of the European Super League.  This week the Premier League confirmed sanctions against the 6 clubs involved and also sought to build consensus to safeguard a similar future threat of a break away.  

The speed, scale and shock of the ESL’s rise and fall may leave us wondering- did that really happen at all?  You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a bad dream, but the plans for 15 clubs from leagues across Europe to form an elite league shook the world of football.  Yet the scale of the story doesn’t match the debris underfoot. Yes, there is broken trust between owners and fans in particular, but sanctions that are fairly light and reforms which are far from earth shattering.  This has more been a stormy night in which lightning flashed across the sky than any major earthquake. 

The flashes of lightning, however, were revealing much that we already knew, but preferred not to dwell on.  The dominance of money and the market over the world of football is nothing new.  Stories of corruption within the beautiful game have surfaced before in recent years- not too far from home in the governance of FAI in Ireland, or influences at play in FIFA awarding Qatar the World Cup in 2022.  

The ESL story, however, was too big to ignore.  It was the most surprising non-surprise- that many of those who are in power in the world of football have a love of money which trumps their love of the game.  What lay beneath had surfaced.  Darkness brought to light.  Behind closed doors secret scheming brought into the open.  Owners who remained faceless and distant called out.

In response there was an outpouring of anger across the board from those who have a love of the game and are key stakeholders- from fans, to players, to managers, to media- protests abounded.  They even got in the way of the fiercest of football rivalries as Man United fans protests resulted in their match v. Liverpool to be postponed!

The threat of further minimising the chances of the glory days of the little clubs FA Cup giant killing exploits. The injustice of a few clubs further consolidating an unfair financial advantage over the rest.  The sheer greed of owners to exploit the sacred heritage of football clubs to line their own pockets. All the entangled and entwined weeds grown from the roots of the love of money.   

The surprise of the superleague caught us off guard in a way that meant our response was unfiltered.  When we are surprised and our emotions are speedy and substantial they allow us to see what really matters to us.  It wasn’t only the doors to mysterious board room meetings that were thrown open.  Maybe the game that we love so much isn’t all that we hoped it would be? 

In our Covid coloured world we have been given more time to reflect on what really matters to us.  We’ve been shook and it has been revealing.  Michael Calvin, who released his book called, “Whose Game is it Anyway?” at the timely moment of the ESL furore, believes that the mood of these Covid times has brought a search for meaning, which is often quiet and private.  His gut feel is that people have had enough of superstore football.  We are beginning to question the power 
we place in the hands of a few in football and the place of money in the game and indeed our lives. 

What might be a more measured way forward? Where can we find meaning that helps put money in it’s proper place? We might find wisdom in knowing that “we brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” Such a vision for living that is content with just enough is expressed in early Christian writings by someone who has found meaning in Jesus.  This means that regardless of having plenty or being in want that they have learned contentment, by finding strength and satisfaction in Jesus.  

This Christian perspective on life is far from bland or boring.  This is exemplified by Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, who is one of the most passionate and outspoken managers in the game.  It would be hard to deny his love for the game, but the meaning he has found in Jesus gives him passion and perspective. 

Matt Dickinson writes, 

“Klopp has been very open about how…. his “lust for life” derives from his faith.  It also gives him a sense of security.  “There is nothing so important to me that I cannot bear to lose it, and that is why I find I have no reason to fear.”  For Klopp, religion is liberating…”

So, the ESL rise and fall and other shaky moments in our lives offer us a chance for reflection and change.  It may be a surprising non-surprise that we are constrained and confined under money and the markets and even under our own desires and drives.  

Where will such reflection lead?

Maybe on a quest to for more-  

for meaning, contentment and freedom?