Football reaches a crossroads
4 September 2023
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In the Media
Julian Jessop quoted by the Daily Express
1 September 2023
In the Media
Healthcare
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Mark Littlewood writes for the Times
IEA Director General Mark Littlewood has written for the Times on why English football teams are quick to fall short of their morals for financial gain.
Mark wrote:
“If the overarching simple aim is to inject as much finance into English football as possible and thereby produce ever more dazzling performances on the pitch, such facts might warrant a mere shrug of the shoulders. The problem is that it is becoming impossible to reconcile football’s funding with the political pronouncements that come from players and clubs alike.
“The Rainbow Laces campaign was set up in 2013. Run by Stonewall, the lobbying group , its aim was to support LGBT inclusion in sport and it was enthusiastically endorsed by most English teams. When Jordan Henderson became Liverpool captain in 2015, he became a particularly vociferous supporter.
“His annual salary of £18 million is a serious uplift on what he would be earning in England and should allow him to buy a fair number of rainbow laces for his football boots, given that they retail for £5 a pair on Amazon. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and Henderson appears to have concluded that discretion is now the better part of valour when it comes to campaigning for equal rights.
“The globalisation of football and its financing means we are at a crossroads. Either football can be a serious campaigning force for social change or it can simply focus on making money and winning matches. By their actions, clubs, players and commentators are selecting the latter. This means that their warm words about equality, diversity and inclusion increasingly will fall on deaf ears.”
You can read the full article here.
Mark wrote:
“If the overarching simple aim is to inject as much finance into English football as possible and thereby produce ever more dazzling performances on the pitch, such facts might warrant a mere shrug of the shoulders. The problem is that it is becoming impossible to reconcile football’s funding with the political pronouncements that come from players and clubs alike.
“The Rainbow Laces campaign was set up in 2013. Run by Stonewall, the lobbying group , its aim was to support LGBT inclusion in sport and it was enthusiastically endorsed by most English teams. When Jordan Henderson became Liverpool captain in 2015, he became a particularly vociferous supporter.
“His annual salary of £18 million is a serious uplift on what he would be earning in England and should allow him to buy a fair number of rainbow laces for his football boots, given that they retail for £5 a pair on Amazon. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and Henderson appears to have concluded that discretion is now the better part of valour when it comes to campaigning for equal rights.
“The globalisation of football and its financing means we are at a crossroads. Either football can be a serious campaigning force for social change or it can simply focus on making money and winning matches. By their actions, clubs, players and commentators are selecting the latter. This means that their warm words about equality, diversity and inclusion increasingly will fall on deaf ears.”
You can read the full article here.
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