Why shouldn’t the Premier League go abroad? (11/2)

As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
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gooner.ed
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Why shouldn’t the Premier League go abroad? (11/2)

Post by gooner.ed »

http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=527

usual thread starter… I think I know what the reaction to this may be. Posted in the interests of debate.

LB
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How about this argument from abroad?

Post by LB »

Did any of these people at the EPL (or even you) ask the people abroad who will be affected by this? Did you consider the impact on leagues in these countries because we know soon it will not be one game a year but 10? Did you consider that perhaps the goodwill the EPL enjoys now will disappear in anger at football imperialism? Do you really think that I, as an ardent Arsenal supporter, expect to see (or eevn want to see) Arsenal in my home country playing league games?

Do you not think many of us will be insulted by the idea that our leagues are subservient to yours so that you must not only occupy our TV screens every day but also start occupying our football grounds? Where do you think it will stop? Have you imagined what will happen if the Portuguese and Germans follow suit with their large populations in Southern Africa? Suddenly our own leagues disappear because we cannot compete with your money. Do you think we will like that?

Please people, be careful about this globalisation thing when it comes to people's cultures and customs. You are playing with fire.

Amos
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Re: Why shouldn’t the Premier League go abroad? (11/2)

Post by Amos »

gooner.ed wrote:http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=527

usual thread starter… I think I know what the reaction to this may be. Posted in the interests of debate.
If there is a narrow, parochial attitude amongst Arsenal supporters it is demonstrated by the author of this article. Firstly, who on earth said that Arsenal supporters don't want to play overseas? Arsenal have played overseas for many years in international tournaments, pre season competitions and exhibition matches without any complaint from supporters many of whom have paid a lot of money to enjoy the privilege.

As for Premiership greed the writer should open his eyes and look at it from the broader perspective of the overseas football federations. Japan and Australia have already stated their objections. If the premiership is allowed to develop as a parasite devouring support in other leagues then that will ultimately not serve the global game at all well. Every pound of gate money that the PL takes outside it's national borders is potentially a pound taken out of the pocket of a local club. Premiership greed may be rife already but that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter.

As regards the third point - of course fixture congestion matters. The PL recognises this which is why it has come up with such a harebrained scheme as the 39th game. A scheme that is palpably unfair and distorts the competition. If it wanted to tackle the issue and remain fair then the scheme would require all teams to compete on an equal footing which would mean one match each home, away and on a neutral overseas venue. This third game would mean a reduction of the PL by a third to 14 teams. PL chairmen aren't going to vote for anything as logical as that of course.

Before bandying around Little Englander insults at those that can see a broader perspective the writer needs to examine his own limited perspective on such issues.

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I Hate Hleb
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Post by I Hate Hleb »

THE AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION OF THE ANTI-GLOBAL PLAN'S DESENTERS IS SO WAY OFF THAT I CAN'T EVEN BE BOTHERED TO BEGIN TO PICK THE PLETHORA OF HOLES IN IT!! :oops:

HOWEVER, THE MOST SILLY ONE I MUST ADDRESS. NO-ONE CONSIDERS YOU TO BE LESS OF A FAN IF YOU LIVE AWAY FROM THE N5 AREA!! OTHERWISE ARSENAL'S FAN BASE WOULD BE A FEW THOUSAND AND NOT THE MILLIONS IT IS. YET, THE FACT THAT SOME CLUBS HAVE FANS THAT LIVE FAR AWAY FROM THE AREA THE TEAM THEY SUPPORT PLAY IN, IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR PACKING UP AND MOVING THE MATCHES CLOSER TO THEM!! NOW THAT ARGUEMENT IS JUST PLAIN STUPID, THUS THE REASON NO-ONE - UNTIL NOW - HAS MADE IT!! :oops: :roll:

ALSO, I DID NOTE THAT THE AUTHOR DIDN'T STATE THE MOST OBVIOUS REASON PEOPLE ARE AGAINST THIS PLAN - NAMELY, THAT A 39TH MATCH WOULD UNBALANCE THE FIXTURE LIST AND MAKE THE WHOLE LEAGUE UNFAIR!! THERE IS NO WAY OR GETTING AROUND THAT!!

THE MAIN REASON I HAVE HEARD FOR THIS IDEA ESPOUSED BY SCUDAMORE AND HIS CRONIES - APART FROM FINANCIAL ONES WHICH, IN ALL HONESTY, DON'T EVEN SEEM THAT BIG A REWARD FOR SUCH DISRUPTION - IS THAT IT WOULD BE LIKE THE NFL AND BROADEN INTEREST IN OUR GAME.

YET, THE PREMIER LEAGUE IS ALREADY THE MOST VIEWED IN THE WORLD - WATCHED IN OVER 200 COUNTRIES - AND DOESN'T NEED MORE EXPOSURE IN THE SAME WAY BECAUSE - UNLIKE THE NFL - IT IS ALREADY A GOBALLY WATCHED AND PLAYED SPORT. AND WHAT ABOUT THE DAMAGING IMPACT IT WOULD HAVE ON THOSE COUNTRIES OWN LEAGUES AND PLAYERS?

NOW IF THE CLUBS WERE TO SAY THEY WOULD USE ANY ADDITIONAL INCOME EARNED FROM THIS VENTURE INTO REDUCING MATCH TICKET PRICES FOR THE REGULAR FANS, THEN MAYBE THE MORAL ARGUMENT AGAINST IT BEING PURELY MONEY-MOTIVATED WOULDN'T HAVE SUCH A POTENTIALLY DAMAGING IMPACT. BUT ARE THE CLUBS LIKELY TO AGREE TO DO THAT? IS JADE GOODY AN INTELLECTUAL? :roll:

MAKE NO MISTAKE, NO MATTER WHICH WAY THEY TRY AND DRESS THIS UP, THE PROPOSAL IS ABOUT PURE GREED AND NOTHING ELSE. :roll: :lol: :wink:

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Sammy Mooner
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Post by Sammy Mooner »

The Premierships insistence on crapping on the fans has to stop somewhere. This is the place to stop them IMO. Remember 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon? I do and I could usually attend games at a reasonable time on a reasonable day. Now it could be 12.30 in Newcastle on a Saturday and the next week possibly 5.15 in Blackburn on a Sunday or Manchester 8.00 on a Monday. Why shouldn't English fans be able to watch their own English Clubs in their own country at a reasonable time? Because of TV and money, thats why.

Overseas Premiership matches is just an extension of this concept. We all know that if one game is played abroad it won't stop there and before you know it a couple of seasons later we’ll be tuning in at 2.00 am on a Sunday morning to watch our own team play live on TV what should have been a home game - no thank you.

As for Arsenal's overseas fans the ones I've been in contact would rather wait and see a game at Ashburton. It's their choice to support Arsenal or their local side and they know the consequences when they allot their loyalties. I follow the NFL 49ers but I don't expect to see them play in London, nor do I want to. I'd have some sympathy with the Premiership if they played, say, an Arsenal match in Kenya at rock bottom admission prices for local fans, but they're not going down that road are they?

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GoonerJim
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Post by GoonerJim »

'' Literally. I wouldn’t mind betting, you could pick almost any corner of the globe and find a huddle of blokes in replica shirts sitting round a TV at some ungodly hour''

Right lets get one fact straight with this comment - *particularly* when it comes to the asian market: Asia is the counterfeit football shirt capital of the world! And the Premier league were supposed to have been clamping down on all that along with other footballing bodies. So thats one form of revenue completely discounted. Secondly how do the vast vast majority of these 'fans' contribute financially to Arsenal?? Answer is they dont and one match a year is not going to change that. This is purely a money making exercise for SKY (Who will hold the exclusive screening rights to the games im sure)

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Red Gunner
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Post by Red Gunner »

If the foreign fans of Arsenal are benefiting us so much financially; why don't they do it to their local clubs who they can watch regularly? For example, Japan is modern, has a high standard of living and is wealthy; if Japanese football fans contributed to their football and raised the level of the game like they supposedly have done with Premiership. Then I am sure that more good players would be interested in playing down there.

Despite saying that, I have doubts that foreign fans have contributed a lot to Premiership. I mean where the Premiership would be if English football fans wouldn’t have visited stadiums when it was shit or when it is expensive like nowadays; also it is English fans that have sponsored Sky by buying TV season-tickets. I also wonder how the atmosphere would be if Arsenal vs Spurs were in Dubai, Liverpool vs Everton in New York and Man Utd vs Man City in Tokyo. The whole “odd-gameâ€

chriscatchpole
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call me a cynic but...

Post by chriscatchpole »

There is something that is bothering me about this and I'm not sure i can see the answer.

many teams play exhibition matches overseas anyway - they choose to. In some cases they do it mid season.

some play the matches fairly locally, say amsterdam while others traipse off to money-tree land and come back knackered.

is this a plan to force all clubs to follow the money train to the same place so that those that choose to go there aren't disavantaged?


here's an alternative - why not play an end of season or pre-seaon premiership cup in a lucrative place? it could be a knock-out with the champions league 4 getting a bye into the second round.

the lack of fairness over the randomness of the extra game will be the real killer. The potential financial cost of losing a title or champs league slot or even premiership status due to whims of fortune (i know these already exist in the game anyway, but why add to them) might be too much for the collective chairmen to stomach. screwing the fans over wont even register on their radar.

Cus Geezer
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Post by Cus Geezer »

I think the author is a really clever boy and I feel like such a reactionary knob head - I'll admit it I was doing my working class hero act - I've even taken to wearing glasses like John Lennon's.

In fact why don't Arsenal play 38 premiership matches in different countries. It wont tire out our players because they are foreign and are from a foreign country anyway and can go and live in foreign land or wherever it is, while playing for Arsenal.

Arsenal can sell their ground again and build more flats because they don't need a ground when there's 38 others around the globe - come on boys we can bore all Spurs fans about how rich Arsenal are like we've all got shares in it or something.

JBGONI
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Premier League has to go global

Post by JBGONI »

I find it difficult to understand why London Arsenal supporters believe it is only their club. Most Arsenal supporters are now outside London. Most of the players are not from London.

Arsenal will have to be play some matches outside UK to satisfy its worldwide market. If Arsenal were come to South Africa, it would have a full house,I have no doubt about it.

The only trick is how it will done. That it is necessary I have no doubt

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Galasso
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Re: Premier League has to go global

Post by Galasso »

JBGONI wrote:I find it difficult to understand why London Arsenal supporters believe it is only their club. Most Arsenal supporters are now outside London. Most of the players are not from London.

Arsenal will have to be play some matches outside UK to satisfy its worldwide market. If Arsenal were come to South Africa, it would have a full house,I have no doubt about it.

The only trick is how it will done. That it is necessary I have no doubt

London Arsenal supporters don't think it is only their club - read the general section of this website. However, if there are references of this kind then you can't get away from the fact that those of us born in London, brought up on the doorstep of the ground, schooled in London have something spiritually in common with the club and with London that is unique.

And I would like to comment on this section of the original article:
The second point is that Premier League football is getting greedy. Getting greedy? Of course they’re getting greedy. It’s been that way for years! Where have you been? Quite recently, Keith Edelman announced quite impressive end of year figures. Weren’t you even slightly pleased about that? Of course you were, you hypocrites! I bet you went straight into work the next day armed with all the relevant financial information and rubbed it right in the noses of that Spurs fan who sits opposite. At the end of the day, you have to decide. You either want the club to make money, or you don’t. If you want to see the best players, you might just have to pay top wages. Make your bloody mind up. You can’t have it both ways.
Just to let you know some of us don't glory in financial achievement. I made my mind up to support Arsenal when there was no money in the game and Arsenal were going nowhere. I will support them again if there is no money and my support is unconditional. I didn't ask for the money to come into the game, which, rather than being a gift, is OUR money. Who do you think pays for the dishes, buys the tickets, the merchandise?

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Vic Crescit
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Post by Vic Crescit »

As one of the two Gooners who kicked this off, a few comments:

1) Agree with all those who say it's not necessary to be a reactionary Little Englander helmet head to believe that Arsenal belongs in the little corner of North London that I have the privilege to live in.

2) although I count myself as a proud Londoner I'm not from London originally. I was born in Wales and came to London when I was five when my parents moved from the Valleys for work. I still think of myself as Welsh. That's one of the many things I love about London. You can be from anywhere and be a London. Amongst my neighbours are a Somali family of which all three kids are Arsenal mad, a black guy whose family was originally from St Lucia, an Ecuadorian couple and a Vietnamese family. We're all Londoners.

3) I love Arsenal with an abiding passion and have done since I first set foot on the old North Bank in January 1968. I also love football and many other sports.

When I go to the USA I want the full American experience whether its baseball or American football (basketball I can take or leave), up in Canada and it the States I've had the good luck to see some NHL games.

When I was in Australia I loved going to watch the Aussie Rules and the Rugby League. In both North America and in Australia I've watched what we call football and they call soccer. I saw the old NASL in Canada and the States and the old Canadian Soccer League, I've been to two MLS Cup Finals and two regular season games. I hope if I'm ever in Oz again to catch the A League. Likewise in Japan.

I'm a regular visitor to South America where I'm a socio (voting member) of both Nacional (Montevideo, Uruguay) and River Plate (Buenos Aires, Argentina). I love the whole South American football experience.

A VERY long way of saying there's more than one way to be an international football fan. I've had lots of Gooners in touch with me from around the world saying they're against this. One of them will be over from Los Angeles for the Smoggies home League game. He's every bit a Gooner as I am, he just can't get to games very often, as I couldn't in the year I worked in Ecuador and Uruguay.

So far, I know of three on-line petitions against the PL move. Here they are:

Football Supporters' Federation:

http://www.fsf.org.uk

iPetitions website:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keep ... tures.html

Downing Street website:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EPLabroad/

All worth supporting I think. Can't do any harm and might do some good.

For those against this plan there's a public campaign meeting & rally organised by the FSF on Monday evening 18/2/08 starting at 7.30pm in Friends' Meeting House opposite Euston station. See you there!

KEEP THE FAITH!

5 points clear. LONG way from in the bag yet but couldn't be much better really. Now for the Mancs in the Cup on Saturday!

irishgooner
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Post by irishgooner »

[quote="khalid_red"]If the foreign fans of Arsenal are benefiting us so much financially; why don't they do it to their local clubs who they can watch regularly? For example, Japan is modern, has a high standard of living and is wealthy; if Japanese football fans contributed to their football and raised the level of the game like they supposedly have done with Premiership. Then I am sure that more good players would be interested in playing down there.

Despite saying that, I have doubts that foreign fans have contributed a lot to Premiership. I mean where the Premiership would be if English football fans wouldn’t have visited stadiums when it was shit or when it is expensive like nowadays; also it is English fans that have sponsored Sky by buying TV season-tickets. I also wonder how the atmosphere would be if Arsenal vs Spurs were in Dubai, Liverpool vs Everton in New York and Man Utd vs Man City in Tokyo. The whole “odd-gameâ€

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GoonerJim
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Post by GoonerJim »

[quote="irishgooner"][quote="khalid_red"]If the foreign fans of Arsenal are benefiting us so much financially; why don't they do it to their local clubs who they can watch regularly? For example, Japan is modern, has a high standard of living and is wealthy; if Japanese football fans contributed to their football and raised the level of the game like they supposedly have done with Premiership. Then I am sure that more good players would be interested in playing down there.

Despite saying that, I have doubts that foreign fans have contributed a lot to Premiership. I mean where the Premiership would be if English football fans wouldn’t have visited stadiums when it was shit or when it is expensive like nowadays; also it is English fans that have sponsored Sky by buying TV season-tickets. I also wonder how the atmosphere would be if Arsenal vs Spurs were in Dubai, Liverpool vs Everton in New York and Man Utd vs Man City in Tokyo. The whole “odd-gameâ€

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Vic Crescit
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Post by Vic Crescit »

Irish Gooner

Don't doubt your passion mate, but have I got the right because I like hurling and gaelic football (which I do) to insist that the GAA brings the All-Ireland Finals to London?

I don't think I'm a narrow-minded xenophobe. I also lived outside London for the best part of eight years, working for a year in South America and various other parts of Britain. I also have no problems with foreign players (although I do think the balance has gone down the drain, having been ludicrously restrictive aside from Irish players for historical reasons until 1978/9).

I don't think those that oppose this idea can be painted as narrow-minded shits. I don't believe that Arsenal belows only to Londoners. I have Gooner mates in USA (Los Angeles), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Norway and Germany. Nnne of them think this is a good idea. In fact all of them think its barmy.

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