Revolutionary idea indeed. BBC reports – On Thursday, the 20 Premier League clubs agreed to look into the possibility of playing an extra round of matches every season – abroad. The idea comes 16 years after the historic creation of the Premier League, and shows just how much the top flight of English football has changed since that key move in 1992. My thoughts below.
It’s quite easy to get a revolutionary idea. The difficulty is only in making people believe that it’s their time’s worth. And then comes getting support or strong lobbying for that idea. Football has seen many such revolutionary ideas and has seen most of them dismissed. From bigger goal posts to video technology to four 25-minute quarters to 10 minutes bins, we have always seen new ideas in football. If you analyse and compare various sports to see how much they have changed over a period of 100 years, you’ll realise that football has changed the least. The governing body of football has always maintained their stance keeping the game simple. I’m completely with them. The most special thing about the game of football is ironically its simplicity.
Now the FA has come up with one of the most unbelievable ideas in football. My immediate response was ‘ah! good idea but why don’t we do it differently!’. If I’ve break down this proposal in parts: (i) premier league teams playing matches outside England (ii) playing premier league matches outside England (iii) Not every team will play outside England in this arrangement (iv) premier league to have 39 matches each instead of 38.
(i) Premier league teams playing matches outside England: Fantastic proposition. I’m jumping for joy! Even if India may not be on the list currently, the mere prospect is mouth watering. How I’d like to see Terry and Lampard an Indian stadium of 100,000 fans (yes, it can be a sell-out)! It’s a great idea to spread the game of football in areas like Asia and North America. Whereas in Africa, I don’t think they need premier league to promote football in Africa. It’s already quite big there. One negative is that the local leagues will have to face tough competition against the one of the best leagues in the world. I don’t follow the Indian football league. Suppose I do. Though I must be able to watch a dozen Indian league matches for the cost of one premier league match in India (hypothetical), what if I decide to save my money by avoiding a dozen Indian league matches to watch a premier league match? This is not a socialistic world (if yes, the socialism would be shot down before it commits a suicide). FA wants to make money, the clubs want to make money, we want to see world class football, that’s it.
(ii) Playing premier league matches outside England: This seems like a no-brainer to me. How in the world can we see a league match being played outside that nation? Every ground-breaking idea would have to face these ‘how in the world . .’ questions. There are certain things that simply won’t make sense until they work but we want that in the first place to see if it works. This idea of playing a Chelsea vs West Ham league game in say California, seems completely out of place. League games should stay within the country. Let’s leave it at that. I’m not talking about the long flight journeys and the resultant fatigue. I’m talking about the sentiments here. How intense would the Ashes series be, if it were to be played in the USA? I can understand if the quarter finals, semi finals and finals of a cup competition is going to be played in a neutral venue. That can be digested. But this idea of playing premier league games outside of England is YUCK.
(iii) Not every team will play outside England in this arrangement: A proposal cannot be more unscientific than this. Only 10 teams out of 20 would get to play outside England. How funny! How would that be arrived at? Toss of a coin? Drawing lots? There are very significant differences in playing at home and playin away within England and playing in a neutral venue thousands of miles away. After playing the 38 matches of regular home and away fixtures against other 19 teams, who would be our opponent for the 39th match and how will that be decided? Too early to ask? Still I cannot think of a decent method of arriving at this. I don’t think if they’ve announced the timing of these matches. It’s not known yet whether they will be in any month of the season or all will be played towards the end of the season.
(iv) Premier league to have 39 matches each instead of 38: That’s so unnatural. When you have 19 teams to play against it can’t be more than 38 matches. The opponent of the 39th match could very well be decided by a lucky draw. Such kind of randomness and luck in the premier league is unwarranted. Also the 39th game played outside England will not be called either as a ‘home’ match or an ‘away’ match. This means the statistics and record keepers will have to exclude this for home and away records and such stuff.
When you put all the above four ideas into one single proposal that inter-connects all these situations, the end product is not a very pleasant one. We should realise that this proposal is at a very preliminary stage. Some of the components of the proposal could change as we go along. I hope FIFA rejects this idea of tinkering with the premier league. If the objective is to make more money or to promote football, they can choose other competitions but never a league.
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19 Responses - Add your comment!
its many yrs i ahve been watching… dont exert extra load just for the sake fpr more money..
yet i would like such a match in new delhi………..
Michel Platini has already shown his extreme disapproval, and Sepp Blatter will undoubtedly do the same.
The idea of our travelling abroad would not only mock the sanctity of the competition, but also alienate its core fanbase and have an adverse effect on other countries’ leagues. The decision is an absolute no-brainer in my opinion – the fans are totally against it, the managers are predominantly against it and the head of UEFA is against it. If the idea were to go through, then God knows what will happen to English football.
If the PL are going to play games abroad, we should keep it as it is now, with summer tournaments and friendlies – no more.
I think we’re still a long way from this becoming reality, but I certainly support it!!
the premiership has had fantastic and enourmous success and you only need to go to asia, africa, americas to understand how much ‘fans’ the premier league have outside there. premiership clubs have ACTUALLY overshadowed their LOCAL TEAMS overwhelmingly.
we (Fan in the UK) are not the only fans and i quite agree if a additional match can be played in these areas, it is a win-win situation (premiership gets closer to external fans, make more money, clubs build up the brand)
however, having said that, there is still a lot of thinking and planning required. my opinion is that it should have a competitive edge but the result should not count to the league points as it will give undue advantage or otherwise as the case may be to clubs vying for positions (top or relegtion).
Bring Chelsea to Melbourne or else!!!!!!!!
great idea but in asian countries i dont think anyone would come and watch
DERBY COUNTY vs WIGAN…….. or matches like these
Same with Australia. I think the FA need to be pretty clever in where they send the teams. The lower table teams would have to be moved not to far from home, as the further away from England you get the less well known teams like Derby and Wigan become.
I think the English premier league should stay in England. It’s not a circus.
there are a few loop holes. the top 10 clubs can benifit from this. but tell me seriously
do u go and watch a wigan vs derby/sunderland match if u support neither? in countries like india where people who live outside the cities dont know even chelsea how can u expect crowds for these matches. but if it were to be a manu vs liverpool in indoneasia then i think it will be a seel out even if the ticket is us $ 100 . thats the amt of craze there…there are 2 side of the coin. lets see how it shapes out. but i suppport this move…..
loyal fans of all premier clubs will become second class customers of the clubs,watching chelsea in the middle of the night, and only playing at stamford bridge for 10 games aseason, with no fa cup or carling cup thats the vision of the share holders of the premier league, fans who think its agood idea arwe as mad as the owners are greedy.
Nope! As much as I’d like to see Chelsea in Washington DC, it just wouldn’t be right for the league. For one thing, where the heck are they going to play? An NFL Stadium in the fall? That ain’t going to work. In the spring? Baseball season is way too popular. And while our MLS and USL are not the cream of the crop, some of us like our brand of football. I am satisfied with pre-season tours and satilite broadcast.
Drogba at Barca? As much as I like him as a player, dude has to get over JM and play! Who is supposed to sit on the bench and let him play, Eto or Henry? He’s got a good thing at Chelsea pairing with Anelka. And if the prayers of many of us are answered, Rikkiard (I know it’s mispelled) will be his manager next season anyhow.
make man utd vs chelsea at the telstra dome as the 39nth matchday, i would paya grand to go to that
I’m with you Den, but they will be playing it at the MCG if it comes i think. Teams depending
MCG is the best cricket stadium i have seen. i would love to see a match there
WHWN WE HEAR CHELSEA PAID DROGBA’S AGENT OVER £750k IN FEES, ONE HAS TO SAY A RUSSIAN AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED, OR IS IT THE FANS( OOPS SORRY SPECTATORS NOW).
Hey King Blues where are you from? I h ave seen many football games at the MCG the latest being Australia v Argentina. However the seat’s are way to far away from the pitch.
i am from india i watch it on tv but i have some pics of it my bro went there
yeah it’s pretty amazing. Hold’s 100,000 people.
I think this is a brilliant idea that the Premier League should go Global. I have my support for this 100 percent, I think this will be a dream come true and we as fans want Football to become very, very, very powerful sport in the world. I am mad about Football and I love the game because Football is always down in my heart. You know which match I should see, I want to see Man Utd VS Los Angeles. This can be a dream match in the near future. Just to let know that I am a Man Utd spporter and I have been spported Man Utd for the last 14 years now.