Red card to Eurocrats plotting to pickpocket English football
Posted, March 27, 2007 @ 16:00
Brussels 27th March -- European politicians are about to vote on an attempt to take control of how English football is played, managed and financed.
On Thursday at the European Parliament, MEPs will vote on a series of measures that could give football its biggest shake up in years.
The report*, drafted by the Belgian MEP, Ivo Belet, is a key plank in the European Commission's white paper on sport to be published in June.
The proposals include:
- Harmonising the selling of TV cash rights for European federations
- Forcing clubs to employ 6 UK players for every 5 foreigners; and
- Setting a limit on the number of games any player can play in a season.
The Premier League is dead against the report because it potentially gives UEFA greatly increased power over the way the game is run. Even soccer legend and UEFA President, Michel Platini, has already said that he wants only three instead of four English teams to compete in the Champions League and is calling for a special police for football.
Says Chris Heaton-Harris MEP, Conservative Sports Spokesman, and a professional referee:
"This is a Euro-push to grab control of the game and regulate it through UEFA and Brussels. Already we have seen proposals as to who controls the fixtures calendar, how TV rights should be sold and who gets the money from them. Football isn't yet another industry for politicians to regulate - it is so much more than that, with hundreds of thousands going down to their local recs to kick a ball around every week. Yes, professional football has some big problems, but nothing that politicians and civil servants, who have no idea about the game, can't make worse. It is about time that we politicians agreed that the best people to govern individual sports are the sports federations themselves."
Chris added: "This new legislation could be in force by Christmas. It will be the worst Christmas present English football could get."