So the international break this time around has not been so boring or without news. Any footie website, forum or blog you open would likely be brimming with talk of the recent transfer ban, its consequences, and the issue at hand. FIFA, UEFA, and just about every ‘Pundit’ is hell-bent on bringing morality and ethics into a game where we pay 230k a week for kicking a ball around. Now, let me attempt to take a more objective look at this whole issue, and lets explore the other side of the coin. FIFA and UEFA are incensed with the big clubs, especially English clubs over the issue of transfer of youngsters. They say it is unethical of the big clubs to lure young players from youth academies of smaller clubs with offers of big money contracts and dreams of stardom. Fair enough, but they must realise we don’t live in an ideal world where people place ideals and principles over success and money.
Some of the reasons they give though, border on the ludicrous. FIFA says that by signing kids of 15yrs age, big clubs uproot a child from their surroundings, and deprive him of getting a proper education. Yeah right !! As if the kid who’s played football all his life, and is actually pretty good at it would be thinking of attending high school and then a university to get a degree. Also, 15 year olds are not any kids these days (most of them are not even virgins), so the question of causing emotional disturbance doesn’t seem a very valid one. And which kid would not dream of playing in one of the big clubs. Heck, if I had been offered to play cricket for some English county for that kind of money when I was 15, I would have jumped at it. And I would be very unhappy if the ICC tried to stop that from happening, telling me to instead keep playing for my local club.
Some of the youngsters are brought from very unflattering surroundings. Just ask Michael Essien or Tevez. Their first clubs would pay them meager wages, if any, and dream of selling them for millions when they become famous talents. They hardly offer any healthcare facilities, and often the player’s family is left to bear the expenses of any injuries suffered while playing. There is no guidance on diet intake or exercise routines. This, Mr. Platini and Blatter is slavery. FIFA says a player should sign his first professional contract with his youth team. But have they thought what happens to those youngsters who are made to sign pre-contract agreements, but are not as gifted as some of their peers. Does FIFA ensure these players are also given professional contracts ? No. In fact, they are left with nowhere to go, having sacrificed their education and having no particular skills to obtain gainful employment.
Another word thrown around is ‘child trafficking’. Now an international organization in this regard says this,
Child trafficking concerns the business of removing children from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, whether elsewhere within the country or overseas, to be put to use by others, usually to make money. The purpose of this exploitation is child labour, or child sexual exploitation. Besides the harm inflicted by the exploitation, the separation of the children from its family and its environment aggravates the harm inflicted.
Here, the youngsters are not separated from their families. In fact, the clubs try and provide for the entire family to move and ensure they get the best of facilities. They are not made to mow the lawns or clean the toilets. They are not sexually exploited. They are not made to beg on the streets after their arms or legs are amputated. So calling this child trafficking is a cruel slap to those poor kids on the streets of more than 90% of the countries on earth who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from.
Every young kid in the reserves of a small club across Europe and elsewhere dreams of playing for the likes of Chelsea, United or Real Madrid one day. And if they are talented enough, are offered good money and much better standard of living, who is to say its wrong for them to accept that offer. Do they, or their family not know what’s best for them ? FIFA says this cheats the smaller clubs who have taken pains to nurture the talent of these youngsters. But are you really telling me these clubs have only the best interest of the player at heart and not one eye on the money they could generate ? Please. Agreed, the big clubs have their own selfish motives when offering these youngsters attractive pay packets, hoping to unearth the next Ronaldo or Kaka. But who isn’t selfish ? The player and his family see an opportunity to make big money and enjoy better standards of living. The ‘feeder’ clubs carefully pick and nurture only the real gems in their youth squad, offering short change to the less fortunate ones, in the hope of making millions by selling them to big clubs later on. In such a scenario, damning and vilifying the big clubs, saying this is right or this is wrong becomes a tricky issue.
good read man.fifa should may be start concentrating on football rather than breach of human rights and allied ailments
@ OP
Its not such an easy issue as you make it out to be.. I DO AGREE with you in saying that the clubs treat their youngsters impeccably.. In fact United have 3 golden rules with our youth.. 1. They will have the best facilities to develop. 2. If they are good enough, they will be given the chance in the 1st team irrespective of their age & 3. If they are somehow unable to make the grade at OT, United are responsible for finding them another club… So you can hardly complain that the big clubs are exploiting the youth.. That is NOT THE CASE…..
The real issue here is not the exploitation of youth but the exploitation of smaller clubs… Lets talk about Le Havre here.. They’ve just been relegated to the lower tiers of French football and still spend nearly 40% of their turnover on their Academy…. And United swoops in and gets their best player on a pittance… Is it fair to Le Havre? OF course not…. I know how i’d feel if someone stole Evans or King from my academy… But the reality is, had United not acted, then a certain Mr.Wenger would have swooped in and signed the lad…. And all this has been permitted until now by FIFA…. And Chelsea have been handed this punishment to make an example….It is not unprecedented though as Roma have been handed out the same punishment in the Mexes deal(which got reduced to one transfer window i might add)… So FIFA have indeed begun to take action but the rules are still unclear and it leaves a sour taste in the mouth when one club is punished( not that i don’t enjoy it) for something that everyone does including most of the spanish and italian clubs…And comparing Child trafficking and slavery to this issue is irrelevant.. Its not FIFA’s job to worry about those issues.. But they should stop acting as if they are doing this for the youth and come out and say that they are doing it to PROTECT the smaller clubs from the big sharks.. FIFA must lay the ground rules for underage transfers and enforce them across all leagues and not arbitrarily punish a club in the hope that it’ll proove as an example. That is just not right…
Yes, you are right about the smaller clubs, which is the issue that has caused such a furore. But, as I mentioned, I am looking at the other side of the coin, taking a different point of view. Now u can weigh the pro’s and cons.
Btw Keyrock.. I LOLed at this statement of yours..
Every young kid in the reserves of a small club across Europe and elsewhere dreams of playing for the likes of Chelsea,
I’d like to bring one Mr.Frank Arnesen to the discussion here… Remember this lad?.. Yeah, he’s the guy incharge of your scouting network… The man for whom you paid 8 MILLION to tottenham with his yearly wages in millions…The reason you brought him in: To stop the chav’s reliance on bitch’s Filthy money and bring up talented young players through Chelsea’s Ranks… Do you know how many talented youngsters he’s brought through chelsea’s ranks? Precisely ZERO…. Thats right, zilch… Infact Mourinho has come out and said that Arnesen is the reason why Chelsea haven’t had players from the academy… The signing of Gael Kakuta was supposed to be something of a coup to Arnesen… A Young talented french kid signs for Chelsea over Arsenal… But look how that has turned out.. Wenger has been doing this for years and not a word has been spoken about it. Now that’s a manager and a good scout…. Wenger has made his London rivals look like right fools by not signing a player… And as an United supporter, i can only hope that Chelsea do not fire Arnesen.. May his good work continue forever…
Haha…nice try venky. But u need to try better to get me worked up. Frank Arnesen was recommended to Roman by a certain scout named Piet de Visser, who is regarded as one the best scouts in the world, bringing players like Romario and Ronaldo to Europe.
Arnesen has been here only 3 yrs, so his is a work in progress. He has brought some really talented youngsters to the club. The reason why they don’t play regularly in the 1st team is because there are experienced internationals even on the bench.
FOUR YEARS and not three… Its easy to wiki de Vissie’s name and say that he’s brought Romario and Ronaldo to europe.. That has nothing to do with this issue.. We are talking about Arnesen here and the only thing that he’s achieved is to manage to get Chelsea banned for an year… Way to go Arnie
See, this is where a discussion becomes irritating when u try such cheap tricks to rile up others. Arnesen is a scout, he did his job by scouting for Kakuta. How is it that he managed to get Chelsea banned is beyond my comprehension.
And, Visser being a great scout himself, if he recommends someone, it must be because he has seen something in him. Is that so hard to get ??
@Keyrock:
Dude i agree firmly on the early age oppurtunities that ll b presented to promising talents.. But clubs should follow strict protocol respecting the age restrictions,jurisdictions of host nation thereby making it less controversial nd legal .. For instance Arsenal signing someone like fabregas(like his barca academy move)inside England ll amount to breach of law.
Hey,
In Spain, you cannot sign a player before he turns 18. If I’m not wrong, there are other countries in Europe with similar rules on signing young players.
In England, the rule is 16. This has led to quite a few signings of youngsters from Europe (mainland) at the age of 16. The biggest example of this law is Fabregas, who couldn’t sign for Barca at 16 (the law of the land) but could sign for Arsenal (law of the land).
Coming back to the main topic, if you allow talent from smaller clubs to be sucked up by bigger clubs, we’ll land up with the big four competing for the top four spots and the others never being able to compete – not due to lack of talent, but because of lack of money.
It sucks for Chelsea that FIFA decided to choose them as the scapegoat, but poaching of talent off smaller clubs has to stop or else, the only way a club will win anything will be if a rich billionaire fancies owning a football team.
The English Premiere League has already become such a league, where the only way a club can win is by spending millions on buying (ready-made) talented footballers. Let’s face it, the only reason why clubs like Chelsea/City have supporters is because of the millions their owners are spending. And the only reason why people like Keyur do not supporting West Ham is because bigger clubs (like the one he now supports) buy off all the footballers they develop…
I don’t understand why some mancs talk as if they were born right next to OT and supporting united was in their blood, passed on from generations. Accept it, everyone outside England who supports an English club does so only because it has good players, or it wins trophies.
And if you are doubting Chelsea supporters in England, let me tell you, even before Roman arrived, Chelsea was a classy club. Located in posh West London, its supporters were usually of the upper-middle class, and many celebrities.
that posh celebrities were fans is not an index of how classy the club was. And money played a bigger part in chelsea s brand value increase than in man utd or pool or arsenals case.
At some stage, money has always played a part in a club’s brand value.
And that will be Chelsea’s downfall.. Their brand value depends on success alone unlike United or Pool or Arsenal who’ve stood the test of time through times lean and mean… Another thing to remember is that They are bankrolled by a Russian Oligarch close to the leadership.. If the leadership changes, The bitch will fall with it…. You only have to look at what happened to Mikhail Khodorkovsky to know what i’m taking about….. Take away Chelsea’s money and success, and all the plastic chelsea fans will start supporting Citeh…
And if you are doubting Chelsea supporters in England, let me tell you, even before Roman arrived, Chelsea was a classy club
LOL.. As classy as West ham ever was… You have no history or heritage unlike United, Liverpool and Arsenal.. Supporters of Chelsea in england have been doing so for generations and that passes along from father to son and so on… There are far more clubs in England that have more supporters than chelsea.. In fact, Arsenal and spurs have more supporters in London than Chelsea.. West Ham aren’t far behind chelsea in their support base either… I live in Dublin myself and i very rarely see Chelsea supporters… The only ones i see wearing chelsea jersey’s are immigrant africans who happen to support Chelsea coz their favourite player from their national team plays for chelsea… In fact there are more LEEDS UNITED supported in Ireland than Chelsea supporters..
🙂
@ pm :
Relax dude.. Roman is buying some history as we speak..
Located in posh West London, its supporters were usually of the upper-middle class, and many celebrities.
I’m sure nothing thrills you more than seeing John Abraham in his Chelsea jersey.. You should occasionally write for the last page of those glossy supplements that come with newspapers…
Accept it, everyone outside England who supports an English club does so only because it has good players, or it wins trophies.
Yes.. My point! You’d be supporting West Ham if it weren’t for the billions of some Russian billionaire whose latest fancy is foorball!
But things back home are different.. You support a team if you like the footie they play as EPL is something new to us and we all have to start somewhere.. But don’t BS me by saying that you started supporting chelsea due to its class.. You’d be talking tosh… If Roman had brought West Ham instead of Chelsea, you’d be a West Ham supporter now, blowing bubbles into the sky…
You do remember Chelsea had Zola before Roman bought the club, and that it was playing in the CL already, don’t u ?
Also, Chelsea played some of the best football in England during that time if u watched the game then.
Now, if that isn’t reason enough to support a club, then ok… i’m talking tosh…
Anyways, this is all going off-topic here. Why do u losers have to bring in talk of Roman’s billions in every single discussion remotely related to Chelsea ? Get a Life.
You do remember Chelsea had Zola before Roman bought the club, and that it was playing in the CL already, don’t u ?
You do know that Chelsea have played in the CL only once before Ab’i am a bitch’ brought the club don’t you?Or perhaps you don’t and you’re hoping as usual that the rest of us will be as naive about the stats as you are….That raises the question IF YOU WATCHED the game then… And while Chelsea had Zola, West ham had Paolo Di Canio and the Hammers played great footie then too… Own it up dude.. If it wasn’t for Bitch’s billions you wouldn’t be a chelsea supporter now….
ahem…ahem…
Top post there. But the main objective of the ban is pretty clearly stealing the kid outside the law. Chelsea need not have gone for such an extent in the first place because, as you said the team has got pretty experienced players in the bench already and their policy should exactly be the opposite of Arsenals. Whats the point in bringing the kids to Bridge in the first place. They are not gonna get into the first team anyway. Since Roman, I am not sure if any youth player has ever got into the first team and played atleast 10 mins. Remember this is the same team that couldn’t even afford to deal with Glen Johnson for a long time. Now, the spending will have to stop somewhere so the need for youth might be a matter of concern but its not a pressing concern and its definitely not downright necessary to steal the kids. Problem is no one saw it coming and Chelsea are unfortunate to be the first in being banned, when all this happened for years. Main problem that tempts the clubs to deal in such matters is the varying rules in tying up a professional contract in diff european countries. Solution, FIFA should sit down with EU and propose rules that are common to Europe instead of one for England and one for spain. That cud be a major setback for Arsene tho…
Been reading this blog for some time now. A first time commenter. First things first, nice blog. Keep up the good work guys.
Why I felt so compelled to comment now was the allegation that everyone who supports Chelsea does so because of Roman’s Roubles (sounds better than Bitch’s Billions anyday 🙂 ). Chelsea might not have been as good then as it was now, but surely, it had a team worth cheering for. Zola, Gudjohnsen and Hasselbaink up-front, Zenden and Gronkjaer on the wings, Lampard in midfield, Desailly, Le Saux, Melchiot and Gallas in defence and Cudicini in goal : That, for me, is a team which I can support for the quality of football. Which is what, as a 14 year-old in 2000, I did. Probably, my ‘crime’ was in not shifting my allegiances when Roman’s money come in. But by then, I was too committed to Keeping The Blue Flag Flying High. To those who are already thinking up sneering repartees or cold statistics, all I have to say is “you can’t change the fact that every word above is true”.
Just so that I follow the time-honoured tradition where no comment is complete without slandering an opposition club – ” Scousers suck. They are the most over-rated team around and are surviving on the sheer talent of just two people.” 😀
Scousers suck
Welcome abord mate 🙂
True man, true.
That Zola – Guddy – Jimmy was a dream frontline.