RTG has always been wary of the different fan groups who campaign on various noble, but hardly radical, issues affecting modern day football. It was, therefore, with some trepidation that RTG entered Imperial College London for the Football Supporters’ Federation Parliament on 9th July. Thanks go to the FSF for good organisation of the event and for their continuing efforts on behalf of football supporters. To our surprise, there were important debates about the ownership and governance of football in addition to the long-standing pet projects such as the ‘safe standing’ campaign.
Our hopes for the day, and what might realistically be achieved from such a gathering, were dampened somewhat as we climbed the steps up into the building and overheard one of the delegates say to her colleague, ”I suppose many of this lot are all part of the prawn sandwich brigade”. RTG has always maintained that the important factor is your love of football. It doesn’t matter who you support, how often you go to games or where you come from. If you appreciate the values of sport and fair competition that the game should represent, then you should have a voice in the debate over the soul of football.
It was pleasure to hear key note speaker Andrew Jennings open the event with his talk on the history of FIFA since the 1970s. Andrew gave us a fascinating, yet disturbing, overview of how an organisation that was conceived to work for the good of, and to govern, world football, was deliberately infiltrated and manipulated by corporate interests and a few disreputable people who turned it into their own secret world of dodgy dealings, backhanders and malpractice. The sheer horror of what some of these people have done to football over the years, and what they continue to get away with, illustrates the size of the task that supporters are facing to get back control of our sport. Millions of dollars of our money are being systematically robbed from the game and portioned off to the fat cats to top up their own personal fortunes.
As stated at the beginning of this piece, RTG has been critical from our early days of the well-meaning but committee-driven organisations which tend to focus on their own pet issues without seeming to achieve much in the way of change. It was encouraging to see Andrew Jennings given a platform to spread what is an important word as well as seeing a number of other key issues raised and debated for inclusion in next years campaign. It was worrying, though, that in the session on club ownership, there were 11 points of action that were carried over from last year to be revised and amended, the majority of which had seen virtually zero positive progress in the last 12 months.
RTG has no desire to criticise the FSF - far from it. They are trying to improve the game for supporters and that should be applauded. However, the power of football supporters to change the way the game is run relies on a unified approach rather than small groups trying to fight on a number of issues that reflect purely their own agenda. There may well be a groundswell of support for safe standing but, when you consider the magnitude of the problems Andrew Jennings highlighted about FIFA, there are clearly more major issues facing the game today. When a QPR supporter raised the issue of ticket pricing, the FSF agreed to fight for a cap of £20 maximum, an issue few supporters would disagree with in principle, but that is realistically not possible. After all, who wouldn’t be for a maximum price of £1 per pint?
At one point, a frustrated Liverpool fan called Steve stood up and said the time had come for more direct action because nobody is listening to us. RTG echoes this view. Football supporters have to appreciate the power that could be wielded should we choose to use it by working together. Imagine the loss of revenue if, for one weekend, we were to boycott TV, club shops, drinks and food in the ground or even the matches themselves.
We need a simple headline issue to which we can rally supporters across the board, and even internationally, to fight for the soul of football. The FSF is doing its best to campaign on many fronts while playing within some very laudable rules but unfortunately, at the current rate of progress, your club might well be playing home games in China by the time you’re allowed to stand safely on terraces again.
While we continue to allow the TV tail to wag the football dog; accept an England team that gets further from winning any major honours; turn a blind eye to archaic officials enriching themselves at our expense; adulate overpaid, disloyal players; incentivise agents to encourage that disloyalty; sanction owners who buy our clubs with debt, while still taking money out for themselves; and tolerate incompetent governing bodies who have not updated their organisations since Victorian times; and we take no action, then we will lose the soul of football. Every day we put this off, makes it that much harder to stop.
RTG has always said we don’t have all the answers but we can join together and start the fightback. Sign up here today.
Our hopes for the day, and what might realistically be achieved from such a gathering, were dampened somewhat as we climbed the steps up into the building and overheard one of the delegates say to her colleague, ”I suppose many of this lot are all part of the prawn sandwich brigade”. RTG has always maintained that the important factor is your love of football. It doesn’t matter who you support, how often you go to games or where you come from. If you appreciate the values of sport and fair competition that the game should represent, then you should have a voice in the debate over the soul of football.
It was pleasure to hear key note speaker Andrew Jennings open the event with his talk on the history of FIFA since the 1970s. Andrew gave us a fascinating, yet disturbing, overview of how an organisation that was conceived to work for the good of, and to govern, world football, was deliberately infiltrated and manipulated by corporate interests and a few disreputable people who turned it into their own secret world of dodgy dealings, backhanders and malpractice. The sheer horror of what some of these people have done to football over the years, and what they continue to get away with, illustrates the size of the task that supporters are facing to get back control of our sport. Millions of dollars of our money are being systematically robbed from the game and portioned off to the fat cats to top up their own personal fortunes.
As stated at the beginning of this piece, RTG has been critical from our early days of the well-meaning but committee-driven organisations which tend to focus on their own pet issues without seeming to achieve much in the way of change. It was encouraging to see Andrew Jennings given a platform to spread what is an important word as well as seeing a number of other key issues raised and debated for inclusion in next years campaign. It was worrying, though, that in the session on club ownership, there were 11 points of action that were carried over from last year to be revised and amended, the majority of which had seen virtually zero positive progress in the last 12 months.
RTG has no desire to criticise the FSF - far from it. They are trying to improve the game for supporters and that should be applauded. However, the power of football supporters to change the way the game is run relies on a unified approach rather than small groups trying to fight on a number of issues that reflect purely their own agenda. There may well be a groundswell of support for safe standing but, when you consider the magnitude of the problems Andrew Jennings highlighted about FIFA, there are clearly more major issues facing the game today. When a QPR supporter raised the issue of ticket pricing, the FSF agreed to fight for a cap of £20 maximum, an issue few supporters would disagree with in principle, but that is realistically not possible. After all, who wouldn’t be for a maximum price of £1 per pint?
At one point, a frustrated Liverpool fan called Steve stood up and said the time had come for more direct action because nobody is listening to us. RTG echoes this view. Football supporters have to appreciate the power that could be wielded should we choose to use it by working together. Imagine the loss of revenue if, for one weekend, we were to boycott TV, club shops, drinks and food in the ground or even the matches themselves.
We need a simple headline issue to which we can rally supporters across the board, and even internationally, to fight for the soul of football. The FSF is doing its best to campaign on many fronts while playing within some very laudable rules but unfortunately, at the current rate of progress, your club might well be playing home games in China by the time you’re allowed to stand safely on terraces again.
While we continue to allow the TV tail to wag the football dog; accept an England team that gets further from winning any major honours; turn a blind eye to archaic officials enriching themselves at our expense; adulate overpaid, disloyal players; incentivise agents to encourage that disloyalty; sanction owners who buy our clubs with debt, while still taking money out for themselves; and tolerate incompetent governing bodies who have not updated their organisations since Victorian times; and we take no action, then we will lose the soul of football. Every day we put this off, makes it that much harder to stop.
RTG has always said we don’t have all the answers but we can join together and start the fightback. Sign up here today.
