Sport’s greed, hypocrisy, dodgy motives and sheer hogwash have most of us reaching for the mouthwash
THERE was one reaction to the Football Leaks revelations which shouldn’t have made me laugh, but did.
Amnesty International’s claim Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners are trying to “sportswash” their country’s “tarnished image” by throwing money at the club.
As though the concept is new. As though Vladimir Putin wasn’t sportswashing at last year’s World Cup. Or when, in May 2003, Tony Blair committed his government to backing the London Olympics bid he wasn’t diverting attention away from his invasion of Iraq two months earlier.
Sport and dodgy motives have long shared a bed and no group makes the two-backed beast more lustfully than the men who run football.
Which is why UEFA are as humiliated as City and Paris SaintGermain by these leaks as they stand accused of helping to get the club’s rich owners, closely tied to regimes riddled with human rights abuses, off the hook. A sort of sportswash whitewash.
The FA are also in a compromised position over Daniel Sturridge’s charge for allegedly “passing on information which can be used for betting purposes” as he went on loan to West Brom in January.
Sturridge says he’s never broken any gambling rules but if he has he should be punished. Yet how could the FA hand out a possible career-ending ban when it runs a game that has long been betwashed.
Up until last year the FA were paid by Ladbroke’s to be their “official betting partner”, the Championship is sponsored by Sky Bet and 60 per cent of clubs in the top two divisions have gambling companies on their shirts. Sturridge even trains in a Bet Victor-sponsored tracksuit.
There are pitch-side adverts at virtually every stadium and barely a game is shown on commercial TV without Cockney potato head Ray Winstone yelling at us to take a punt on the next scorer.
And let’s not forget the rest of the hogwash: PFA boss Gordon Taylor paying himself £2.2million a year, agents taking multi-million pound fees for helping players sign on dotted lines and hedge fund sharks being allowed to buy clubs and suck up their profits at will. And now we hear Chelsea’s Bruce Buck (below) has asked his fellow CEO’s to stump up £250,000 each for a £5m leaving present for the Premier League’s outgoing boss Richard Scudamore. Forget the gold watch, have a goldwash.
This is the same Scudamore (left) who has already been paid £27m for persuading TV companies to hand over obscene amounts to his organisation, which is eventually paid for by armchair fans.
The same chap who pleads poverty when fans lobby for ticket price cuts despite the Premier League having £1.6billion in reserve.
Yet rich football suits believe it’s right to make their fellow rich football suit even richer, when there is no need or precedent, and when many of them don’t pay their own staff the living wage.
When many of the kids within a few miles of their grounds have no decent pitches to play on and fans are setting up foodbanks to help local families stave off hunger.
If the clubs vote to further enrich Scudamore it will confirm beyond doubt there is a sickness in the game.
It will also put them under intense scrutiny and leave them without any defence the next time they attempt to raise ticket prices.
Three years ago when asked why English football could demand so much money Scudamore answered: “Because it’s unscripted drama.” On the pitch possibly, although they’re doing their best to kill that.
Off the pitch we all know the script. It’s a carefullyvetted one involving vested interests designing new ways to strengthen their power and fatten their wallets.
Which leaves many of us reaching for the mouthwash.