STRIKE FORCE
Spain’s stars will make personal sacrifices and bring their domestic game to a halt if the smaller clubs and youth football don’t get a fairer share of TV revenue
THEY say judge a person by their deeds, not just their words. With regards to understanding the potential strike which stands to cripple the Spanish football season, that’s a good way to start.
Real Madrid lost 2-1 to Juventus on Tuesday, leaving them with a decent chance of reaching the Champions League Final in Berlin on June 6.
Twenty f our hours l ater, Leo Messi’s 13-minute masterclass also left Barcelona with one foot in that showpiece — setting up two distinct prospects: the first- ever Clasico European final and, potentially, Barça’s second Treble in six years.
By Thursday morning, I ker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Gerard Pique could all be found amidst the massed ranks of most La Liga captains at the headquarters of the Spanish PFA (Afe) in Madrid.
They were there to stand firmly behind their president, Luis Rubiales, in announcing that their grievances with the new law supporting an improved distribution model for TV revenue in football were sufficient that, if changes weren’t agreed, then from Saturday, there would be a players’ strike.
If necessary, the stoppage would include the last two weekends of the season in La Liga and the Copa del Rey Final on May 30.
The players’ image is powerful. Xabi Alonso is there too, afforded time off from training by Bayern Munich to stop in Madrid before returning to Bavaria.
Let me explain what needs to be taken so seriously about this action before trying to unpick some of the viciously complicated, self-seeking and entrenched reasons for the dispute — one which includes the Spanish League, the Spanish FA, the players’ union and the Spanish Government.
In disputes like this (League and Government v FA and PFA) anyone who says there is a right and a wrong, which are totally distinguishable and have clear blue water between them, is either naive or lying.
But put yourself in the place of, say, Xavi or Iniesta.
When they showed their solidarity, they had played in the Barça team that had just whacked Bayern, they led the league and were in the Copa Final against opponents they have beaten 7-1 on aggregate in their last two shared finals.
The Treble was very much on. Xavi, to start with, is very likely playing his last few weeks as a Barcelona player after a career lasting 16 years during which he established himself as the greatest ever Spanish player.
He stands to finish that career not only as one of just eight players in history to win league, cup and Champions League in the same season, but to have done so twice.
The fact the Copa Final is at the Nou Camp adds a certain tang. Xavi’s l ast hurrah. Farewell to a maestro.
But he is willing to put all that on the line by voting to withdraw his labour for a cause which will not, in any way, benefit him once he has gone.
In the case of Iniesta, Ramos or Casillas, should any of them emerge victorious from this week’s Champions League semifinals, any Spanish strike would mean approaching the Champions League Final in Berlin having played no football for nearly three weeks. Hardly ideal.
And if Real Madrid or Barcelona were to play Bayern or Juventus in the Final, as opposed to each other, a distinct disadvantage. It’s personal glory placed well below the common good — not only in La Liga but in the lower divisions, too. That is a firm part of their protest.
So, how to judge guys like these, plus the other squads who stand the risk of La Liga finishing this weekend and leaving their dreams of avoiding relegation or making it into European competition lying in ruins?
Perhaps they are all playing the percentage game, telling themselves the League will back down, there will be negotiations, that all the games will be played.
But there is the chance, with positions so entrenched, that this weekend is the final one of what has been a thrilling league campaign. The chance these players will have to make personal sacrifices so that potentially bankrupt clubs and players who aren’t paid on time have greater financial security.
For example, La Liga president Javier Tebas made a barbed remark about the very image of Rubiales and La Liga’s captains, which I’ve described positively as looking like the old ‘Herri Batasuna’ shows of force. ‘Herri Batasuna’ probably means next to zero to you, but Tebas’ reference to the most l eft wing of the Basque nationalist political protest parties and his comparison is meant to insult, demean and isolate.
Tebas, once a youth leader of the ultra- right Fuerza Nueva, i s the lawyer who is leading the Spanish league into some sort of modernity.
His avowed ai ms of f i ghting violence in Spanish football and investigating corruption have both made progress.
The law now passed to split TV revenue 90/10 between Primera and Segunda clubs and to ensure that the less- successful top-tier clubs get a larger share of a larger financial cake is his baby.
However, one huge error was not including the players’ union in any negotiations — and they want a voice, more money for youth football and 20 per cent of TV revenue invested in the Segunda clubs. If there is to be more ‘equity’, they want super equity.
Worse, however, i s the all- out personal vendetta between Tebas, and Spanish FA president Ángel Villar, who has been in charge for a quarter of a century.
The league has taken legal action against the players union, but are not sure how to do so against the Spanish FA.
The battle for power in Spanish football — so long Villar’s fiefdom — is a bitter one and this i s where entrenchment may dominate and where the risk to the rest of Spain’s season lies.
They may arbitrate and we may have football. But don’t bet on it.