Can sport survive a European recession?

Lots of talk about a possible recession, even a depression; crisises in the Eurozone and expectations that the UK unemployment rate will continue to increase.  What will this mean for sport and the men and women who earn good money from their sporting prowess?   If you consider the economics of English football, virtually every club needs a continuing income from TV rights and few can afford a dip in the level of income they draw down every year.  It sems inevitable that if a recession kicks in, jobs are lost and/or incomes fall amongst the sports watching public, eventually the costs of watching sport - either through attending events, or paying for subscription TV channels - will persuade people to stop. It may be a short term measure, but it only needs a slight downturn to suddenly effect the viability of many sports. 

Premier League football has so far seemed immune to world economic events, but clubs without incredibly rich owners are all vulnerable - even Manchester United.  Other sports, such as Rugby Union, where the club rugby fan base has been built since the switch to a professional game look vulnerable due to high wages and a flaky fan base.  Rugby League may well survive intact as it has a structure that appears capable of adapting to changing economic events. The salary cap is a key factor. 

In 1984 the average basic wage  in the English Football League Division One was 2.5 times the average national wage. In 2010 the average basic wage in the Premier League was £1.6 million; more than 45 times the average national wage.  Surely that's a situation that cannot survive a severe economic recession!

A report from Sporting Intelligence provides a detailed analysis of footbll wages and is well worth a read  http://bit.ly/ulr78H

Greedy Liverpool want more TV money

Liverpool want to leverage their commercial strength in overseas TV coverage by dumping the Premier Leagues current collective negotiating strategy and negotiating their own TV deals, to the detriment of most of the other football clubs in England.  Liverpool of course think they'll make more money as a result.

The response to this is best summed up here http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2011/10/12/ian-ayre-i-am-very-disappointed-in-you.html

England exit the Rugby Union World Cup: Wales march on.

So England exit the World Cup without ever looking likely to win the match against France and few will shed tears for an unloved team. The paucity of Englands play, the behaviour of their players, as well as historical enmities have made England the hate figures for this World Cup.  Even in England support was patchy.  The Daily Telegraph has commented in recent days about `this unlovable team',  Rugby League fans never quite take to the Union fellows, and Danny Baker on Five Live this morning was bemoaning all the media attention paid to, as he sees it, `an incomprehensible game'.  It should never have come to this. With all the resources available within the Rugby Football Union, we should be able to field a side that plays with flair and adventure and brings delight to rugby union followers the world over:  England should be the Brazil of the rugby union world. And yet, we're far from that, and the world is happy when we lose. A sad state of affairs.

Wales meanwhile are the polar opposite; exciting, adventorous, passionate and likeable, and there is no silver spoon amongst their players. I'll be supporting Wales in the semi final against France (well my Grandad was born in North Wales, just over the border from Chester!) and a thrilling match it's bound to be.

  Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau !

A strange football rivalry explained

A good mate of mine is an avid Palace fan. He's such a big fan he spent one season in the late-1980s watching them home and away, every match over the season.  He was single at the time mind you. 

Over a pint I recall him telling me that Palace's biggest rivals were Brighton:  it didn't make sense to me, there's at least 60 miles between the two teams, so it's hardly a derby and surely Palace would view Millwall, Charlton or Chelsea as more deadly rivals?? 

Well today the Guardian has revealed the story behind the rivalry and they put it down to Alan Mullery (one time Brighton manager) and Terry Venables (once of Palace) and their own `friendly' rivalry whilst at Spurs which carried over into their management careers.

The teams play tonight at the Amex Stadium, Brighton and a full house is guaranteed. I'm sure the atmosphere will be spicy!

Rugby Union World Cup a disappointment so far

It started on the 9th September with the opening game between the All Blacks and Tonga and on and on go the group stage matches. Will many people have bothered watching todays match; Australia v United States, start time 9.30am GMT?  I very much doubt it.  There's too many boring, one-sided matches, shown at inconvenient times and I'm not sure what the organisers are trying to achieve! No wonder some players occasionally go AWOL down the pub. They too must be bored stiff..

The tournament kicks off properly on 8th October when the first of the knock out matches takes place. From then on we'll have some great matches up to the Final on 23rd October, which is what the World Cup should be all about, and from the 8th October we'll see interest in the tournament soar.

My view, for what it's worth, is that the final will be between the All Blacks and Ireland with the All Blacks triumphant.