World Cup ’98. It will be the biggest event in sporting history – the
biggest money raising event that is. Billions of dollars will be generated as companies
seek to achieve their greatest ever pay day. Of course it is we who will be doing the
paying. It was the good old Olympics which led the way in showing what can be achieved by
forgetting about sporting ideals and concentrating on the money instead. The members of
the governing body of the Olympics, the IOC, have made themselves rich on the backs of the
tremendous profits they have been able to bleed out of what is supposed to be a movement
based on ideals. Life for them is one long junket of free trips and binges as they travel
from country to country, usually making vague promises in return for, well you can guess.
Any country interested in staging the Olympics know full well that they will have to
butter these people up big time. Everything is conducted behind closed doors and in the
worst possible taste. Problems are hushed up as the twin gods of the new Olympics,
television and the favoured sponsors, are kept sweet. Only occasionally is their sheltered
existence disturbed such as when the Winter Olympics went to Norway in 1994. According to
the book "The new lords of the ring" by Andrew Jennings, the Norwegian people
for some strange reason still believed in the principles behind the original Olympic
concept and took umbrage against the rampant commercialism of the IOC (along with the
pro-Franco Fascist record of its President Juan Antonio Samaranch).
Public hostility was widespread and the Norwegian Olympics ended up being run on
exceptionally uncommercial lines in order to pacify the mood of anger. The call from the
Norwegian people was: who are the representatives of the IOC? where is the democracy? why
do they care so much about money? Samaranch and his gang left under a cloud. But nothing
was learnt from this because the status quo was too good for those fortunate enough to be
elevated to such high office. The 1996 Olympics were even more commercial-and even more
lucrative – than ever before.
Naturally their pals in football are all too keen in following suit. So who runs world
football? Ex-Footballers? Managers? Supporters? Hell, no. The ranks of football’s world
governing body, FIFA, are drawn (like the IOC) from a motley bunch of ex-politicians and
bureaucrats, well heeled and well steeled in the art of big business and diplomacy. Ditto
for the European equivalent UEFA. Caring more about their own fiefdoms they seek to
preserve their privileges and power at any cost. The current mainman, FIFA President Joao
Havelange, is coming towards the end of his time in office (he finally retires this month
aged 81) and wants his old mate Sepp Blatter, the current general secretary of FIFA, to
succeed him as Capo Di Tutti Capo. However UEFA president Lennart Johansson is also keen
on the job and has called Havelange "a dictator." The job carries no salary but
the FT reckons that perks etc. can add up to $500,000 pa for the lucky
winner&emdash;plus the prestige. Hence a not inconsiderable amount of behind and
not-so-behind the scenes lobbying is going on as the various power blocks manoeuvre
around. Needless to say behind the individuals are the big money concerns&emdash;the
voices who really count in world football. No one knows better than Havelange the
importance of these companies&emdash;Adidas’s Horst Dassler was a prime mover in
getting him elected in the first place.
Friendly unity?
Surely events like the Olympics and the World Cup are about bringing people of all
nations together in friendly unity and so on? Far from it, these great occasions are the
modern day equivalent of going to war with most of the benefits and few of the costs. In
these events the media are all too quick to talk about "our girls and boys"
going abroad to achieve "great victories" over the foreigner. The concept of the
common achievements of humankind is all but forgotten when national interests are at
stake. The American TV coverage of Atlanta ’96 was referred to as the Oprah-isation of the
Olympics as the companies set about abandoning general reporting in favour of an endless
montage of "heart warming" stories and American sporting successes. Likewise at
this years Winter Olympics, UK media coverage virtually disappeared when it became
apparent that no British competitor seemed likely to win a bean. A far cry from the days
of national hysteria over Torvil and Dean! We all, of course, remember the Dads Army tone
of Euro 96 with the Spanish and the Germans particularly coming in for stick. Anything to
keep the masses occupied and the cash flowing in. When companies refer to football as the
modern equivalent of religion they might care to remember what Marx had to say about that
subject.
This year’s World Cup will once again concentrate on the tried and trusted methods of
raising cash. Everywhere you turn there are advertisements and TV commercials carrying the
officially authorised symbols of the competition. Shops are full of appropriately logoed
merchandise. To this can be added the official souvenir goodies of the various national
associations. Players are popping up all over the place advertising all manner of rubbish.
For some companies there is the additional "honour" of being an official
sponsor&emdash;for this they get their name in all the best places. Not surprisingly
the powers to be were so concerned about sorting out the commercial arrangements that they
quite forgot to notice that there might be a problem about ticket arrangements. The French
authorities had decided to severely limit the number of tickets for the event which would
go abroad. Surely the representatives of the other European nations would notice and
object? No way! After all they would have their own tickets already sorted. Indeed for
those with the cash to buy the special business packages there would never be a problem
about getting tickets. When it became apparent what had happened all hell broke loose.
Extra tickets were supposed to be made available but the phone arrangements were nothing
short of a disgrace. In reality the authorities don’t want fans at the games except as TV
extras&emdash;and for that the French will do as well as anyone. They seem to have
forgotten what happened in Euro 96 when games which did not interest the home fans were
watched by half empty stadiums where people were put off by the relatively high ticket
prices. For FIFA keeping the TV companies happy counts for much. They pay a wad for
televising such events as the World Cup and expect their money’s worth.
National game
We should not be surprised at all this. After all look what has happened to the
national game. First we saw the establishment of the Premier League to maximise income for
the elite wealthy clubs at the top. Buoyed by a flood of cash from the Sky TV deal, the
desire to fleece fans became something of an obsession for more than a few directors. A
club’s success became noted by the quality of their balance sheet rather than their
position in the league table. More and more emphasis on merchandise on the one hand,
rising seat prices on the other. When people talk about inflation being under control they
obviously haven’t tried to renew a club season ticket recently.
When the two Newcastle United directors were caught out rubbishing the club replica
shirts, they exposed the cynicism which exists in club boardrooms up and down the country.
The Newcastle incident was particularly interesting in that the club had helped establish
a somewhat lucrative cult by which all fans attending a home game felt obliged to wear the
overpriced replica shirts. When they talked about how great the Newcastle fans were, what
they really meant was how great their credit cards were. The club had already endeared
themselves to supporters by selling one of their key players, Les Ferdinand, seemingly
just in order to ensure that the clubs financial report balanced for the benefit of the
City of London. When Newcastle walked out to play second best to Arsenal at this years FA
Cup final, their supporters must have cried out "Where is Ferdinand, Asprilla and,
above all, Ginola?" All sold but at least the slide on share prices has been stopped
which will be a comfort!
The Newcastle fiasco over shirts could not have come at a worst time for the leisure
industry generally. Firms like Adidas, Umbro and Nike have been pumping millions into the
game in loss-leader deals in order to try and reap the potential profits available. All
was going well until the collapse of the Far Eastern economies dealt a serious blow to
this potentially massive market. Clubs like Manchester United had already been dispatched
on tours to the region to help drum up support. Now that market is in decline, share
prices are falling and strategies are being hurriedly rethought. These firms now
need&emdash;rather than hope for&emdash; a good World Cup.
The core sponsors are also desperate for a good World Cup. The establishment of such a
special status for firms like Adidas, Coca-Cola, JVC, MasterCard and others has been
central to sports sponsorship for nearly two decades. These companies pay a king’s ransom
but in return get the full benefits of exclusivity, pitchside advertising and so on. The
establishment of a firm called ISL (International Sport and Leisure) in the early 80’s has
been critical in tying the sporting federations like FIFA, UEFA and also the Olympics IOC
into a closer relationship with key companies. ISL has regularly won sole control of
marketing and sponsorship rights for events like this year’s World Cup Finals. However
after a power realignment in Adidas following the death of Dassler, a new player has been
established with German backing, The Event Agency and Marketing AG (TEAM). One of their
major clients is UEFA and the establishment of the Champions League (or rather the
Champions and their rich pals league, as some have called it) to replace the European Cup
has been their most noticeable achievement. The aim, as one Dutch journalist recently
reported a TEAM employee as saying, is to establish ".. a golden triangle, it’s a
field of power we call it&emdash;football, television and sponsors" More and more
it is the commercial interests which will dominate rather than the sporting ones. The
Champions League shows what is possible and they won’t stop there.
Sport and politics
Politicians, especially Tories, are very quick to rant on about sport and politics not
mixing when the industry – for that is what it is – comes under attack over issues like
racism or supporters rights. But the reality is that sport and politics mix like a hand in
a glove as they know all too well. At the slightest hint of "national" success
they are the first to jump on the bandwagon. Glory on the sporting field can be quickly
converted into votes at either local or national level. Politicians love to surround
themselves with sporting heroes in the hope that by association some of the magic will rub
off on them. Even Thatcher, who hated football almost as much as public transport, invited
the 1982 England world cup squad to Downing Street. It was Thatcher too who realised how
the Heysel deaths of 1985 could be turned to a political advantage by creating a back door
for the introduction of ID cards. Only the tremendous reaction following the Hillsborough
disaster in 1989 scuppered that scheme. So socialists should not feel shy about raising
demands as to how football should be run.
This is supposed to be, as the media are forever telling us, the people’s game, our
World Cup, etc., etc. But we have little or no say in it. We generate the passion but all
the officials see are the buckets of cash. The governing bodies of football, both national
and international, are remote, out of touch and above all travesties of democracy. So long
as big business and the multi-nationals control the game and shape it in their interests,
this will continue to be the reality of things. Words like Club and Association, as
against say company or plc, are merely words now and the principles of the game are
joining them in that sad status. The fightback should start now, starting with the
grassroots supporters groups, to ensure that fans have a say in the game, alongside the
players and coaches, and that big business is given the red card.
