Good morning to all.
It will be brief today, and I assume for the next few days, as football has been postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Premier League issued a statement yesterday, which read:
To honor his extraordinary life and contribution to the nation, and as a show of respect, this weekend’s round of Premier League matches will be postponed, including Monday night’s match.
I realize this is a touchy subject for some people, but I think they’ve got it wrong. If everything had been shut down, then that’s one thing, but that’s not what happened. The cricket continues. The rugby continues. The horse races continue. The entertainment continues. Life and work continue. Soccer doesn’t.
The RFU statement makes a lot more sense to me:
The Rugby Union will go ahead this weekend as teams and supporters come together to honor Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to be united in our grief as we express our sorrow at her passing.
Rugby, at its core, is about community and bringing people together, in good times and bad.
Why couldn’t football have done the same? A period of silence. Black bracelets. Perhaps the national anthem could have been played, but simply postponing everything, in the strangest and most condensed season of all, seems like a mistake. Instead of packed stadiums allowing those who wish to pay their respects, they will remain empty, and the FA’s decision to even shut down grassroots football, so that children cannot even play their matches this weekend, is so ridiculous. defies any rational explanation.
The idea that the police were a problem has been dismissed, that could well be something to consider next weekend as preparations are made for a state funeral, but that is not what happened. There was no edict from above, this was left to the authorities of each sport to make a decision and football is alone this morning while everything else continues.
Why? It’s hard not to think that once again football is seen differently. Remember during lockdown when politicians turned to footballers to ask why they weren’t doing more to help financially when fundraising for the NHS and related charities became a thing? Leaving aside the fact that it is the responsibility of the government to properly fund health services (they should try at some point), it was easy to try to play high-profile, high-earning footballers as if they were greedy, while saying nothing about their friends. . in industry, banking, finance, and other high-income businesses, not to mention the corporations they allow to avoid taxes on the monstrous profits they make.
This Tweet from Henry Winter (not sure if it’s from an article or just an opinion that’s too long for a Tweet), is also instructive:
pic.twitter.com/l04RHKf7fg
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) September 10, 2022
It’s more evidence that football fans are looked down upon by those at the top, even those who run the game itself. There will be periods of silence in the stadiums when football returns anyway, so this doesn’t make much sense.
And what about respecting the fans? Those who have bought tickets to games around the country; who have paid for travel, accommodation, etc. They get partial refunds if they are very lucky. The Premier League also has to consider that in their thirst for worldwide revenue, they have created a global product. I lost count of the amount of messages from Arsenal fans coming in from all over the world this weekend and now I will miss an experience that means a lot to them, and that has cost a lot of money. Make that true for every other game in the Premier League, and surely many in the EFL too, and that’s a lot of people who have been disrespected, in my opinion.
Then there are the businesses that revolve around soccer, the bars, restaurants, concession stands; staff who miss a day of work and because much of it is part-time probably won’t earn the money they’ve been hoping for, particularly problematic at this time when every penny counts; the gigantic waste of food that will have been ordered and delivered at this point. I know that some clubs are donating to food banks (a great gesture but it highlights the inequality in society that these things have to exist), but surely there will be many that are simply thrown away. And that’s without taking into account the smaller businesses, the burger joints, cafes, restaurants, etc., whose own orders will have been made with the anticipated crowds in mind.
Like I said, I think football has got this wrong, and ultimately the idea that canceling football games is the right way to show respect is wrong. You can show respect in all kinds of ways and still play. You can express sympathy and solidarity, and keep playing. You can use the community aspect of football to bring people together, produce some powerful moments and keep playing. You can celebrate a goal, a victory and enjoy the 90 minutes, and it doesn’t take anything away from those expressions of respect, sympathy, pain, etc.
But those running the game have done nothing to show respect for the Queen’s passing, instead simply highlighting the disdain they have for football fans, and if you want to talk disrespect, that’s it.
Have a nice saturday. There’s a new Arsecast for you below, chatting about Thursday’s Europa League win and some thoughts on the postponement. Have a listen.
