MONEY: The Killer of Football

Greed: One of the seven deadliest sins, defined as ‘intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.’ Evident in high profile European football, the thirst from those in charge of the game is putting the power of money at a higher regard to the consolidation of the soul of the game.

Every week we hear stories of teams exploiting financial rules, governing bodies shutting down attempts at regulations, accusations of bribery at FIFA and rising ticket costs. The game originated from a working class back ground, from factory workers and church goers, but is slowly becoming a sport of corporate clients and middle easter relocations.

The human rights issues concerning Qatar’s World Cup bid was highly reported and rightly scrutinised, but was still, surprisingly, a polarising topic, debated over whether a country that criminalises homophobia and was accused of using modern slavery to construct it’s stadiums is one that’s fit to host the biggest sporting competition in the world. Those at FIFA allegedly recieving brown envelopes filled with cash were not interested in those debates. The success of this World Cup was clearwith the final arguably being the best game of all time - and the middle east should not be excluded from the world of football, at least with no changes to their inclusivity of those around the world, but the privilege of hosting a World Cup should not be awarded from bribes.

Also highly documented, the proposals for the European Super League sent the game into disripute. 12 of the biggest clubs in the continent brandished themselves as ‘founding members’ of a new competition, one that would have no relegations and would guarantee set income to those involved, regardless of performance. There were rumours of games being moved to different countries, for example a Chelsea vs Barcelona fixture could be played in California, USA - completely going against the idea of football clubs being a representation of the area they are within. Tension from fans saw Manchester City and Chelsea withdraw, quickly being followed by the other English clubs and then the Italian’s, leaving just Real Madrid and Barcelona. Regardless of this outcome, it is not a question of ‘if’ the Super League will return, it’s a question of ‘when’.

With every Champion’s League final we hear more and more tickets are taken up by corporate clients, as much as half the stadium was for corporate clientell for Liverpool’s UCL final vs Real Madrid. Those seats allocated for fans were then bumped up in cost, pricing out any working class fan.

As fans, our enemies are not rival clubs, rival fans or even referees - but is instead those running the game at the highest level, and their greed.

By Matt Groom

Two hours.

Two hours is what it took for an incident to scar all involved for life and for the trajectory of them to change forever. Whether that be a physical or mental impairment, it is felt by all involved to this day.

It was a warm afternoon in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and a few thousand Liverpool fans descended on the city in hopes of another wonderful day out, as they were familiar with at the time. After the match kicked off it was a mere six minutes until it was abandoned. People were being crushed into the fencing as at the time it was common to have it up to stop pitch invasions.

Lee was a young local man there that day and was excited to watch his team in yet another semifinal that would hopefully lead to their fourth FA Cup trophy win. When asked about his feelings before the game began, he said he felt, “Hugely confident, you know most clubs don’t always get the opportunities that we do. You know, we regularly play in these big, exciting games so it was nothing new for us as a club.”

It wasn’t until he got further into one of the five standing sections that he realised that something was amiss, as the long queues outside seemed normal due to the huge size of the club.

“I started to feel quite squished, more than normal at an away match. We just were constantly being pushed forward even though there was no room. I was one of the lucky ones that day. I got out, lots didn’t, and I feel guilty about that sometimes. You know what’s so special about me?” He said. It was extremely hard to cope with for fans all across the city, especially when they were wrongfully blamed for the 95 deaths at the time. It unfortunately became 96 in 1992 and 97 in 2021.

Lee recounted his annoyance saying, “It was disgusting if I’m being honest with you. Being blamed for something after everything we had been through. It felt like a huge slap in the face. They said it was drunken idiots who caused it, but everyone knew that wasn’t true. Trying to come to terms with it was impossible when that was what we were getting from the police.

“I still struggle to trust them now to be honest, it’s just always been a thought in the back of my head. They caused it that day not us.”

After almost 34 years of injustice nobody has had criminal charges brought against them despite years of agony for Liverpool fans. Several attempts have been made over the years to hold people accountable, but people involved have only ever been punished for a few minor offences.

The Sheffield Wednesday club secretary was found guilty of a health and safety charge, but as of 2023 that is it.

“Obviously I am happy that someone has at least been punished, but it isn’t enough. People act like we should appreciate the bear minimum and be happy with it. On the legal side I don’t think there is anything else that we can do so it’s really annoying.” Lee said. He also explained his annoyance at the rise and acceptance of the Hillsborough chanting around the country, “It does hurt me I’m not going to lie. It happens every week too. It’s not just something that happens when we play United or City, everyone does it now. Even Forest a couple of months ago and they were at the other end in 1989. It could have just as easily been them that day and they still did the chants.

“I’m not too sure how we can calm the chanting down .The clubs can put out as many statements as they want, but without actually punishing the fans who do the chanting it just carries on. For so long we were blamed for something we didn’t do, now we have to deal with all the stick that comes along with that.

“I don’t even think trying to educate people on the disaster would help, it’s all pointless at this rate.”

The songs are mostly heard when the Merseyside reds meet with the reds from Manchester.

Due to the horrendous nature of the obscene chants Liverpool Football Club and Manchester United put out a joint statement condemning it. Jürgen, “One of the main reasons why the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United is so special is that it is so intense, and no-one should ever want to change this. But at the same time, when the rivalry becomes too intense it can go to places that are not good for anyone and we do not need this.“We do want the noise; we do want the occasion to be partisan and we do want the atmosphere to be electric. What we do not want is anything that goes beyond this and this applies especially to the kind of chants that have no place in football. If we can keep the passion and lose the poison, it will be so much better for everyone.”