Impediments to Football Development

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Nobody can deny the fact that football marks one of the most popular games all over the globe. Time and again, one would come across a group of people discussing the Spanish La Liga, The English Premier, or The French League 1. staunch football fans would be found arguing out that position concerning the comparison of Ronaldo and Anelka, the comparison of Alex and Cannavaro, comparison of Manchester United and Ac Milan, comparison of Serie A and J-League, comparison of the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Lone Stars of Ghana, etc. these emotional debates have sometimes ended in serious injuries and even death. This shows the seriousness of football to its fans. However, some analysts point out that the football industry is experiencing several problems that are impeding its development. What therefore are these problems that are posing a great danger to the world’s most popular game? This article will identify the challenges that the football industry is facing. It will draw its examples from different FIFA regions and clubs so that a clear picture can be drawn. In addition, this paper will also identify the effects of corruption on the development of the football industry within a country. It will draw its examples from the Nigerian football industry.

Looking at the international football stage, it is clear to rule out that the European leagues are the most favorite and most popular leagues on the globe. This could not be attributed to the standard of the game in the leagues but probably other factors within the administration and the players and fans. What therefore could make Everton FC more popular than Corinthians of Brazil or Boca Juniors of Argentina? What could make Manchester City FC more popular than Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa who astonished them in the pre-season matches by beating them 1-0 to lift the Vodacom challenge cup? With the Kaizer Chiefs’ ability to beat the star-studded Manchester City, what makes it difficult for African bigwigs like Super eagles of Nigeria from posing any great threats during the World Cup competition? (Edwards 2009)

Behind the stadiums, clubs and countries face great challenges that eventually result in some good countries failing to impress in international matches. Football organizations face great challenges that act as impediments to the development of the game within their respective regions. What are the most common challenges that impede the development of the football industry in some regions?

One of the major challenges faced by the football industry is management. Poor management structures and rifts within the structures greatly implicate the standard of the game within the club or the country. According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Social Development in Bayelsa State in Nigeria, Uchendu (2008), poor administration has greatly caused poor performance by the Nigerian teams on the International platform. Of importance is the structure of the administration of football in this football powerhouse on the African continent. While football was initially managed by the Sports Ministry, the government came up with new policies that led to the formation of the NSC to replace the ministry. While this was a good move, it brought with it great challenges. The Chairperson of the NSC was elevated in status and acted as a minister. In fact, he was given space within the Federal Executive Council (FEC). This status quo resulted in the football industry being managed as a civil service. Consequently, this caused the usual challenges that faced the civil service among them being bureaucracy.

In addition, the NSC was formed without well-calculated measures and objectives thus resulting in poorly organized organizations that led to poor performance of the Nigerian National team during the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana. It was also a formation that never involved sports experts during its formation and hence failed to cover all the diverse requirements of the football industry. It also failed to offer adequate autonomy to sports offices at the zonal level and hence failed to tap the talents from the grass root levels.

Government interference denotes another great impediment in the development of football in poor-performing countries. As a saying goes, “whoever pays the piper dictates the tune.” True to this, government interference in football matters has greatly implicated negatively on the overall performance of the teams. This clearly points out that the standard of the game is likely to be stagnated when the government remains the sole sponsor of the game within the country. However, this happens in contravention of the FIFA statutes. According to FIFA, the National Football associations are supposed to be autonomous organizations that are free from any interference of the government. Countries that have faced this challenge include Nigeria and Kenya where the governments’ interference has caused strings of poor performance on the international scene. For the case of Nigeria, the government formed decree 101 which forced the football industry within Nigeria to be run by the government through the Sports Ministry. This, therefore, caused the National Football Association to be a mere formality without any autonomy. Most of the decisions were formed by the government. This was a real contravention of the FIFA statutes that eventually led to threats from FIFA to sanction Nigeria. Accordingly, the rifts within the administration of football in Nigeria were clearly pointed out in the performance that saw Nigeria facing early elimination from the African Cup of Nations and also saw it move lower in the FIFA Rankings. This also causes a great challenge to the development of football. It is greatly impossible for national Football Associations to want full financial assistance from the government while expecting to get full autonomy at the same time. It is either the Association’s fid another alternative of revenue generation for them to be independent of the government for them to get full autonomy or they rely on the government for funding and expect government interference because the mentioned saying remains true. The payer of the piper will continue dictating the tune (Uchendu, 2008).

Fans are an integral part of the football industry. Without fans, the whole thing loses its meaning. However, the fans are continuing to be great impediments to the development of the football industry in many parts of the world. While the government of France had tried to come up with measures to curb hooliganism and other forms of crimes during the 1998 World Cup, there were several cases of these crimes during the event. Fans usually change the meaning of the game and turn it into hooliganism activities by engaging in violent confrontations one with the other hence spoiling the game. For example, during the 1998 World Cup in France, incidences of violence were reported on many occasions. English supporters, for example, engaged in a great confrontation with French counterparts in the town of Marseilles while German fans also engaged in right-wing politics maneuvered their way into France and engaged in violent confrontations in Lens. Apart from violence, several other crimes were committed during the World Cup. Among them were criminal order, drunk and incapable, robbery, forgery of tickets, etc (Forster 2002).

The following statistics pointed out the number of arrests made by the police during the World Cup in France.

Offence Number of arrests
Public order 246
Criminal damage 16
Drunk and incapable 11
Other offences 13
Total arrests 286

All these petty and great offenses contribute greatly to the interference with the marketing of the football industry of the country to the international level. For example, the event that saw Inter Milan and AC Milan FC teams facing off in San Siro during the UEFA Champions League, a game that ended in homemade rocket launching into the field by the Inter Milan fans led to sanctions by FIFA which banned any fans of inter Milan attending European Matches that involved inter Milan. This is a great loss in monetary terms. Teams depend on the revenue collected from tickets to develop their standard of the game. In addition, the reputation of the team is negatively affected and hence lowering its market value in terms of media rights (Edwards 2009).

Football policies concerning the different aspects of the game also implicate negatively on the development of the game. A good example is highlighted by the issue of fans in the above-mentioned case. With poor policies concerning hooliganism, the cases of such events are likely to continue and hence taint the image and development of football. Based on the degree of affiliation between the football teams and their fans, it is important that the government and stakeholders’ policies put this into consideration. In the 1998 World Cup, inadequate tickets from legitimate channels and the rigorous effort involved in getting one and also the government warnings to all fans not to travel without a ticket led to other fans going for other means of seeing their teams play. This led to hooligans entering France from other countries and buying tickets from touts while the police watched. This shows that the policies made by the French government and the stakeholders were faulty and hence failed to put into consideration all the needs of the fans and their diverse demographics (Garland and Rowe 2002).

Further still, the policy of the European Union which has rendered its member countries borderless between one country and another is a factor that contributes to the allowing of hooligan fans to enter the country and engage in hooligan activities. What are the implications of these policies on the development of the football industry? The national or team brands’ values are lowered. This causes great economic implications to the team (Forster 2002).

Poorly organized domestic football leagues in the African and South American regions have greatly contributed to the lack of development of football in these regions. This is a major contributor to the lack of development within the regions in the fact that the poorly organized leagues fail to cater to the needs of the players who eventually migrate to Europe where they are given satisfactory attention. Money is one of the major incentives in the attraction and retention of good players within a given league. The main reason as to why a player will want to remain in his team is whether he is getting enough money and adequate attention is being given to him. Countries that have been able to make their domestic leagues superior and well organized have been able to perform exemplarily on the international stage. A good example was Egypt, a team that used only home-based players but was able to win the African cup of nations and also retains it. The team was also able to show an outstanding performance in the Confederations Cup in South Africa (Maguire and Pearton 2002).

Political involvement in the football industry also impedes negatively the development of the industry. In many countries, the football industry has been used as a political weapon that has, unfortunately, led to a loss of revenue and publicity that would have been very instrumental in the development of the team and of football as a whole. Certain events like Hillsborough’s death of 96 Liverpool FC fans in 1989 led to a reconsideration of the fans within the political realms. While in the ’70s and ’80s fans were viewed as a respectable part of football, the image changed in the ’90s. Stricter measures were enacted to curb the fan’s behavior. These measures were not enacted by the stakeholders but by debates from high-profile legislative personalities. For example, in the British government, the merger between BSkyB and Manchester United FC was blocked by the Secretary of State Stephen Byers after great pressure from organized fans. The effort of the fans was greatly applauded by the political bigwigs. Barely had the Department of Trade and Industry announced this decision then the House of Commons had its second reading of the Football (Disorder and Offences) Bill which was aimed at controlling the football fans. This shows the frictions between government departments and their policies concerning Football. While politics could be viewed with different eyes by different perspectives, the negative implications on the development of the game cannot be sidelined (Garland and Rowe 2002).

Apart from politics in the FA, the Nigerian Football industry has also experienced great politicking that has led to low standards and slowed the development of the game. According to Achandu (2008), the appointment of Amos Adamu as the director-general of the NSC was an issue of politics that resulted in a dictatorship by the director. Accordingly, the director failed to acknowledge the contribution of other members of the Sports fraternity and ruled without being supported. As a result, he even sucked people who were more engaged in freeing the National Football Association from the government. This was the reason for the sucking of Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima. This is a strong factor in the development of the football industry. By the inclusion of politics, the National Football Associations are unable to freely make their own decisions that will be aimed at the improvement of the game instead, the politically placed directors work strongly on protecting the political situation at the expense of the game development. For example, the sacking of Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima who had good ideas and wanted the Nigerian Football Association to have autonomy led to the continued domination of the government to the sports matters and hence inefficient management which directly translated to poor performance of the team during the African Cup of Nations in Ghana.

Corruption has been termed as one of the greatest impediments in the development of a country not only in football development but in all aspects of economic development. In Nigeria, the string of poor performance has also been attributed to corruption from the high levels of management of the team. The greatest causes have been identified as a lack of integrity and transparency in people managing the team. In addition, lack of transparency and financial accountability have resulted in shunning sponsoring sports by the private sector. This has led to little participation in football development by the private sector which has great ability to improve the football standards of a given country (Achandu 2008).

Corruption also leads to substandard training facilities. The Nigerian Stadia were found wanting. This was indicated to be one of the causes of poor performance by the National team. Training facilities are very important aspects of the development of a sport. Using substandard stuff usually leads to substandard performance and hence lack of development of the sport. With transparency and accountability, private sectors like rich oil firms, Banks, constructions firms etc can greatly contribute in the improvement of the training facilities like stadia which will equally contribute positive results and development football industry. Accordingly, corruption acts as a factor which drives away potential investors from the industry and hence impedes the development of the game (Achandu 2008).

Talking of corruption in the football industry cannot be complete without mentioning Italy. This is a country well known for its corruption, not only on the pitch but also off pitch. On the pitch, Italian players are known to use non fair play methods to ensure that they win a game by all means. This was clearly portrayed in their clash against Australia where one striker (Grosso) simply dived after a soft tackle from Lucas Neil. This awarded them a penalty that led to victory. Same incidences of unfair tactics were experienced in the world cup game against France where France’s Zinedine Zidane was insulted into head butting his Italian opponent before being sent off (Pearce 2006).

In addition to this, the Serie A has been marked with cases and cases of corruption. Among the most recent cases were match fixing. Juventus, for example, was relegated after it was found guilty of massive game fixing. This happened after an article was published about an incident where a telephone conversation between former Juventus manager, Luciano Moggi and officials from the football federation was intercepted. All these cases have negatively implicated on the Italian football industry (Pearce 2006).

Italy is not the only country that has been marred with corruption. In Germany, there have been reported cases of match fixing. In 2004, Robert Hoyzer, a German referee was imprisoned for 29 months after he pleaded guilty of having fixed matches during the 2003/2004 season. This happened in exchange of 50,000 and a plasma TV. He achieved this by either red carding a player or awarding a penalty. With the cooperation of Hoyzer, the German football was forced to investigate 25 other people among them referees and 14 players (Bures 2008).

England cannot be spared from corruption. One of the greatest cases of corruption in the English Premier League was exhibited in 2007 report by Lord Stephens who found out that there were massive cases of corruption in the transfer of players in the League. Within the report, corruption was reported in more than 362 deals of player transfer. This included 26 premiership clubs. In the final report, three managers were mentioned as chief suspects. In addition, 15 agents were mentioned as chief suspects in the perpetration of corruption in transfer deals. This is very important in the development of the game. When managers are found or implicated in such corruption scandals, the reputation of the team is greatly spoilt thus causing low value of rights and other revenue generating activities (Bures 2008).

Conclusion

It is therefore important to note that football development is dependent on several factors. Failure to ensure that the factors well organized could act as an impediment to development of football. These factors include the government interference, politicizing of the game, inadequate autonomy of the National football associations, poorly organized domestic leagues, poor policies, rowdy fans and corruption. These factors greatly lead to poor development of the football industry within a given country or region. On its part, corruption touches on almost every part and aspect of football development. It involves substandard equipment, discouraging investors and participation of private sectors, appointment of qualified staff, failing to acknowledge the real need of the industry etc. cases of match fixing as exhibited by countries like Germany and Italy and many other Leagues greatly affect the rate of development of the game. In addition, transfer of players and greatly affects the balance in the league. Accordingly, the standard of the game remains low as most of the clubs that have less money are deprived of any players of value. Corruption by officials of the Football Federations as the case in Italy and referees greatly hamper the development of the game. Deserving teams therefore fail to earn their deserving wins at the expense of officials who have organized for an outcome. As a result, special measures should be taken to address these issues of corruption because for a region or country to experience development, these issues must be tackled squarely. Failure to do this, the football industry will remain stagnant.

References

Bures, R. 2008. Why Sport is not Immune to Corruption. Transparency International- Czech Republic. Web.

Edwards, P. 2009. “Man City Delighted with SA Tour.”BBC Sport.

Forster, K. “European Law and Football: Who is in Charge?” From The Future of Football by Garland, J., Dominic Malcolm and Michael Rowe. London: Frank Cass Garland, J. AND Michael Rowe.

“The Hooligans’ fear of the Penalty.” From The Future of Football by Garland, J., Dominic Malcolm and Michael Rowe. London: Frank Cass.

Maguire, J. and Bob Pearton. “Global Sport and Migration Patterns of France ’98 World Cup Finals Players: Some Preliminary Observations.” From The Future of Football by Garland, J., Dominic Malcolm and Michael Rowe. London: Frank Cass.

Pearce, J. 2006. Corrupt and Sad Times in Italian Football. Web.

Uchendu, C. 2008. Extinguish Them! Daily Sun online. Web.

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Impediments to Football Development

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