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Robson Sharuko
Senior Sports Editor
THE African Super League is in a coma, the European Super League is dead, heavyweights are tumbling and the people power movement is celebrating a milestone victory over the wealthy club owners.
After one of football’s bloodiest Tuesdays, in which controversy, chaos and conflict tore apart world football, there was a sense of relative calm yesterday, as the beautiful game took a deep breath.
Italian powerhouses, Juventus and AC Milan, and Spanish giants, Atletico Madrid, became the latest clubs yesterday to announce they had withdrawn from the proposed ESL.
And, this forced Juventus chairman, Andrea Agnelli, one of the key players in the proposed European Super League to concede that the project had suffered a still birth, crushed by the bonfire of protests.
Manchester United co-chairman, Joel Glazer, was forced to even deliver a rare apology to the fans, in an open letter, sent yesterday.
“This is the world’s greatest football club and we apologise unreservedly for the unrest caused during these past few days,” Gazer wrote.
“In seeking to create a more stable foundation for the game, we failed to show enough respect for its deep-rooted traditions — promotion, relegation, the pyramid — and for that we are sorry.”
Intense pressure from British politicians, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pundits, fellow clubs and fans forced the English Premiership Big Six — Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur — to end their association with the ESL.
Johnson even threatened to introduce legislation to protect the game and the fans.
“How can it be right to have a situation in which you create a kind of cartel that stops clubs competing against each other, playing against each other properly, with all the hope and excitement that gives to the fans up and down the country?” Johnson said.
“Football was invented in this country, these clubs, these names, originate from famous towns and cities in our country.
“I don’t think it right that they should be somehow dislocated from their hometowns and home cities and turned into international brands and commodities without any reference to the fans who have loved them all their lives.
“Be in no doubt that we don’t support it.”
But, as the dust began to settle yesterday, after the bloodbath on Tuesday, a number of questions, which could have been buried under the fury of the storm of protests, started to emerge:
Why is it that the FIFA leaders, who have built their empire on a foundation where they say Government, or third-party interference, is not allowed, in the affairs of football, did not raise the red flag, when British politicians, intervened in the ESL affairs?
Did FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, and his team in Zurich deliberately turn a blind eye, on what could be perceived as Government, or third-party interference, during the fallout sparked by the ESL, simply because the politicians were singing their song of rejection?
Would FIFA have reacted, in the same way they did, in turning a blind eye to what they have always perceived to be either Government, or third-party interference, if the politicians were singing a different tune to the song that was coming from Zurich?
Does FIFA’s silence, which then can be assumed to be a lack of their concern, to the involvement of politicians, in the ESL dispute, give an impression the issue of Government, or third-party interference, is not something that is cast in stone?
Or, does this paint a picture that, when it comes to FIFA, there are different rules, for different countries, and heavyweights nations, play to a different set of rules, to those that bind other smaller nations?
What precedence does this set, for FIFA in particular, and world football, in general, given that other politicians, or third-party constituencies, can now point to ths ESL drama, should they decide to make their interventions, in their countries?
How do those in the Pakistan, and Chad, whose countries were suspended, from taking part in international football, last month, due ”to third-party interference and government interference,” feel right now?
Why did FIFA consider the proposed intervention of the Sport and Recreation Commission, to use their power to remove the entire ZIFA leadership from office, and replace it with a normalisation committee, two years ago, an intervention by a third-party?
”In this context, we must remind you about the contents of Art. 14 par. 1 let. (i) and Art. 19 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes, which stipulate that all member associations are obliged to manage their affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties,” FIFA wrote in their letter to the SRC, in August, 2019.
”Therefore, should the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts & Recreation of Zimbabwe, upon recommendation of the Sports and Recreation Committee (SRC), decide to appoint an interim committee to administer the affairs of ZIFA, it would be considered undue influence in the sense of the FIFA Statutes.
”Consequently, the matter would be presented to the relevant FIFA bodies for consideration and possible action, which may include the suspension of ZIFA.”
FIFA also appear to have turned a blind eye to the court case, on Tuesday, to protect participating clubs, and players, from possible sanctions from both the world football governing body, and UEFA.
A Spanish court ruled in favour of the appellants, in their preliminary ruling.
Questions are now being asked as to why domestic football keeps chained to regulations, empowering the game’s leaders to punish anyone who approaches the courts for relief, when giants like Real Madrid and are free to seek similar relief, from similar courts, without being sanctioned?
Last year, little Herentals had to fight long, and hard, to retain their place in the domestic Premiership after the PSL expelled them, for having taken their case to the High Court, during a stand-off between the two parties.
The PSL’s Statutes Article 53.1, which say “its members, players’ officials and match and player’s agents will not take any dispute to ordinary courts, unless specifically provided for in the statutes and FIFA regulations,” which was used to punish Herentals, now appears to have been overtaken by events.
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