Bernstein: Premier League levy could rescue grass roots
Tax would provide funds to upgrade facilities Campaigners ‘disgusted’ by FA’S collapsed deal
David Bernstein, the former Football Association chairman, has called for a levy to be introduced on Premier League income to solve the “disgrace” of dilapidated grassroots football facilities following the collapse of the Wembley sale.
In recommending a £600million deal for the national stadium, the FA released a series of stark statistics that disclosed how one in six matches were cancelled last season because of pitch quality. The FA also reported that only one in three pitches were deemed “adequate” and had promised that the entire income from Shahid Khan’s offer would be ploughed back into grass roots and eventually be worth £1.5 billion to the amateur game.
That funding will not now be forthcoming – a situation described to The Daily Telegraph as “disgusting and devastating” by campaigners for grass-roots football – and Bernstein now believes the Premier League should contribute more to the communities around them.
“There is not anywhere near enough money at the bottom end of our game – the grass roots has been neglected,” Bernstein told BBC Five Live. “We are completely out of balance in this country. It does pay some monies to other parts of football but it is nowhere near enough. My view has consistently been the Premier League should be levied, money should go to the FA, which would be distributed to the wider game and which would make the selling of Wembley unnecessary.
“A Premier League tax if you like. It is a major issue. It is something that should be explored and, if necessary, looked at by government.”
Bernstein’s comments follow Gary Neville’s suggestion of a levy on agents’ fees and will reopen a debate that has raged for almost two decades, dating to the 1999 Football Task Force, of which the Premier League was a part. One of the Task Force’s recommendations stated that: “The Premier League should continue to make a minimum of five per cent of income available post 2001 primarily for investment in grass-roots facilities and projects.”
The Premier League does not accept that it formally agreed to these recommendations, but the debate was the catalyst for the formation of the Football Foundation, in which the league has funded just over £300 million in projects since 2000. That, though, amounts to less than five per cent of the £8.3 billion television deal for the current three-year cycle from 2016 to 2019.
However, former sports minister Richard Caborn did subsequently agree in 2005 on five per cent of revenue for football development beneath the Premier League and the league is currently investing £100 million per season in communities, education and facilities; and a further £100million in Football League solidarity payments. That £200 million accounts for seven per cent of its total broadcast revenues, although that figure halves to about 3.5 per cent if the Football League payments are not included in the “grass roots” equation.
“The amount we invest in good causes, communities and the wider development of the sport outside the Premier League is unprecedented in global sport,” said a Premier League spokesman.
Kenny Saunders, who has been coaching junior teams in Liverpool for 40 years, has long argued grassroots football is at “crisis” point and, with the support of Bolton MP Sir David Crausby, has launched the Save Grass Roots Football campaign. It is a petition that also calls for the Government to enforce a five-per-cent levy on the Premier League’s broadcast deal that would be ring-fenced for grass roots.
That would have amounted to £400million in the current cycle. “People in grass roots will be gutted and devastated by the news – and feel let down again by the FA,” said Saunders. “I am disgusted the FA could not find the unity to get this through. It is a very sad day. Wembley should never have been built in the first place – that money should have gone into grass roots. It is a disgrace that our children still have sub-standard facilities.”