Bizarre Love Triangle: The Politics of International Football
I had initially anticipated that my next 3 articles, which are in the pipeline, would concern something completely different to the slightly dubious nature that this one takes on. However, by complete co-incidence an issue has come to my attention that I felt must be written about, if only to gauge the thoughts of the football audience more than anything.
In the day of yellow cards being issued in the name of the goal celebration, is it a case of the killjoys again, or is it all perfectly acceptable? No doubt you’re all aware of the recent result in Israel which has left England requiring only a draw on Wednesday night against Croatia. It was a result that contradicted the conspiracy theorists within the English media, who had referred to the fact that Guus Hiddink’s father had helped the Jews with their escape during the Second World War. It seems England loves Israel, who love Hiddink, whose employers love the Balkan country. Here goes…
I was back in Manchester over the weekend just gone for a christening, followed up in the function room at Bury Football Club. The proceeding day, I picked up a copy of the Manchester Evening News en route to the airport. The main story on the back page detailed how the Israeli winning goalscorer and self-confessed Manchester United fan, Omer Golan, had been offered a £50,000 car from the English bookie, Fred Done, as a thank you for his part in Russia’s downfall on Saturday Evening. The Israeli FA didn’t take too kindly to the donation, a response that naturally left Golan, who earns £80,000 per year plying his trade for Maccabi Haifa, crestfallen. Done feels the question of ethics doesn’t come into the equation, stating that the story was all over the Israeli media in the week leading up to the crucial match and therefore everybody was aware of it. It also followed recent allegations that Roman Abramovich had offered the Russians $40,000 per man to beat Israel.
Of course, with Russia playing Andorra in their last fixture it seems a no-brainer, meaning it all boils down to events at Wembley. Consider the following news from the UK Yahoo Sports website. It came at the tail-end of an article relating to Alexander Kerzhakov’s dismay at not coming off the bench in Israel:
Meanwhile, Russian billionaire Leonid Fedun - who owns Spartak Moscow - has offered to donate four luxury cars to the Croatia goalkeeper and best three outfield players if they can beat England. “I’m doing this strictly as a fan,” Fedun told The Sun. “If we have even have a small chance we must use it.”
It’s worth remembering that the Russians hit the post moments before the winner, and much of this is still hypothetical, with the game not yet played, but Croatia certainly possess talent in the likes of Eduardo Da Silva, Niko Kranjcar and Vedran Corluka to trouble England as they did last time round. The Russian FA’s stance is surely vital in terms of consistency here. If they wish to adhere to the ethics of the beautiful game as the Israelis have, presumably they will step in to veto Fedun’s offer. That said, the English FA hasn’t, to my knowledge, prohibited Done’s offer to Golan.
Hence, is this really a question of acting unethically? Is it really so bad if a player earning a fraction of the wages compared to Kerzhakov, for example, picks up a car for doing well? The juxtaposition of these offers, and the implications of the Israel win, probably means that depends of your nationality. Personally, the England fan within me is of the viewpoint that there is nothing wrong with Golan receiving the car, I know I would look for an excuse – aside for England not having been good enough over 12 games – and if I were to see a picture of Fedun, smiling with the three Croats, I wouldn’t be happy.
More logically, though, if none of these offers had taken place, I would have to simply say that England were not good enough, as much as it would hurt, and credit to Russia and Croatia. Do you have a view on this?
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Interesting article. Brings a whole philosophical dimension to the game, doesn’t it? I always thought that this sort of stuff went on behind the scenes anyway. It just seems that the nature of this qualification might have brought things out into the open more than usual.
Personally, i think such ‘bonuses’ aren’t new to the game or the players, only the manner in which they receive them changes from time to time. Didn’t Adebayor get into a scuffle with his own country’s football association over non-payment of bonuses due to the national team? It all boils down to what’s legal & what isn’t. If the FA’s around Europe condoned this kind of action, who are we to say what is correct & what isn’t?
As yet i don’t have any clear-cut opinion on this issue, but i can see the wide scope for abuse this sort of practice can open the game upto.
From a neutral fan’s view, I feel the players themselves should say no to such outside gifts. But from a player’s point, I say why not? A professional footballer can have a career of maximum 18 years(roughly from 18 to 36) during which he’ll be paid to look after himself and his family. If he does get a free holiday or some free automobiles, then so be it. But what next? Free admission in Oxford or Cambridge for the footballer’s offsprings(joke)? And if England do lose to Croatia, will the abovesaid bookie take back his offer to Golan?
I don’t see the issue here, when you’re out on the pitch do you really think that a players is thinking of the gifts he will get if he wins?
Any good football will be thinking of the game and the gifts on offer will be more a distraction than an incentive to play better.
What about the not so good footballers, mintox?
like Spiral says, the whole abuse thing comes into play, matchfixing and all that. it’s not so much the fact that it doesn’t exist, but that it doesn’t get talked about.
just my two cents.
And Anthony, is it the England players who are bad or is it the manager? Someone who counts home wins against Israel and Russia as proof that the squad are playing well as a team needs some lessons in what’s expected of them and what the team is capable of (2 different things, btw).
What’s more troubling than any of these specific bonuses is the precedent they set. Once players accept that they can receive rewards for their performance from people outside their clubs, then they’re suddenly that much closer to taking a reward for, say, throwing the match by playing badly. (Which is what happened in the 1919 baseball World Series, as well as at select other times in the history of major sports.)
I don’t see any danger of that here, or any real problem with bonuses that give the players an incentive to play well or try harder to win. But it does seem like a good idea to limit this sort of thing so that no one takes the wrong lesson from it.
I’ll have to agree with Brian here…
If players will accept “gifts” for playing well, will they start accepting gifts for playing badly on purpose?
Thanks for the comments people, nice to see your thoughts. It just struck a chord; thinking on some of the comments it springs to mind the Irish Football Association offered the Northern Irish team around £1m to qualify for Euro 2008, I think. Certainly, the likes of David Healy might not necessarily need that, but the lesser known players in the squad might use it. Not that I am suggesting the players don’t have pride: I think that particular team and bond with their supporters is magical. When the money is being offered from select opponents for certain games like here, though, it seems a tad shadowy.
Ahmed, good question, not one I have the answer to lol. Thinking just about the keeping slot, James, Robinson all have had problems with errors in recent times. Maybe that’s the magnified nature of international football and the position itself.
I’ve watched Micah Richards’ meteoric rise and I think he has been a breath of fresh air for England, in terms of commitment, passion and above all, consistency. I was never particularly enthusiastic when McClaren was offered the job, though, and I haven’t seen much to persuade me otherwise. I think he tried to be flexible, ie 3-5-2 in Croatia, bringing back Beckham, calling up Downing (Boro connection), but haven’t been really impressed at all so far.
I think on a final note though, just looking at the problems Italy and France have gone through in qualifying suggests Croatia, Russia and Israel were never going to be cut and dried for us.
I am not overly confident at all though about Euro 2008 yet though, win permitting tonight, but no doubt that will change as the tournament draws closer, and no doubt by the 2nd or 3rd game the usual trends will occur.
Sagar, I have just not long finished the autobiographies of Steve Waugh and Shane Warne. For those who don’t know, Warne and Steve’s brother, Mark, were offered $200,000 (off memory) to perform badly in 1994. Cricket of course, but didn’t something like that happen with Bruce Grobelaar? It does beg a very interesting question…
personally, i’m torn between which is the lesser evil. hate russia with a passion, so don’t want to see them qualify, but at the same time england doesn’t deserve to be in the finals.