We need sport to be sport – the fans ensure it is not just a private business

As ever whoever is controlling the money supply will be controlling the direction in which resources are applied. If any members of the GFA board didn’t agree with the direction then they would probably find themselves out of a job. But really if this is to be a project for the whole community then those supplying the funds should be accountable to the Guernsey public, shouldn’t they? It’s hard to see how the FA, UK government and Premier League, never mind anyone making anonymous private donations can be held to account by those who make up the Guernsey community.

And centralisation with power in few hands is always dangerous. What if the other £7.725m. is coming from a single source? I think that the bulk of the GFA’s comments in your article can be read in many ways and the ramifications and side effects could be damaging to other local clubs.

Football existed for 100 years as a sport. Then, roughly coinciding with TV contracts and the creation of the FA Premier League it became an industry, and has tried, or been forced to try, to make the conversion from one to the other far too quickly. As a result, we have clubs being run by football people who don’t understand business, business people who don’t understand football, and dare I say it, in some cases, business people who don’t understand business.

Take Leeds United whose takeover by a venture capital company has just been completed. According to Leeds’ website the new co-owner and vice chairman said:

‘With my family hailing from Leeds, it’s an honour to be able to uplift this incredible community. This is more than just an opportunity, it’s a personal mission. The chance to reinvigorate the cherished Leeds culture, to create a platform that attracts the world’s finest players, and build a truly global brand that celebrates diversity, is a prospect that thrills me.'

Does he not understand the tribal nature of football? Fans want to see their team with as many local players in it as possible, gaining as many points as possible and doing particularly well against their traditional rivals. Proper Leeds fans will in the coming season be far more interested in beating Sheffield Wednesday, having good cup runs, winning promotion or at least seeing the younger players at the club come through into the first team and do well than they will in how many items of merchandise carrying the club crest and a diversity promoting message are being sold in obscure countries on the other side of the world.

Also on the Leeds website is an article (although the link to it doesn’t work) entitled ‘Update on Football Department’. Well who’d ever have thought it? Leeds United has a football department. So do many sports and clothes shops I think.

It was great to see so many physically fit people in the Town during Island Games week, as opposed to the usual mix of overweight cruise passengers and out-of-condition locals who make up far too high a proportion of the 18-30s age group these days. It gave the Town a really effervescent feeling and because they were representing their nations they were generally well behaved so we didn’t suffer the downside of ‘the exuberance of youth’.

If we want people to take up or support sport, then it needs to be seen as sport, not as a business or a political arm of whoever funds governments. These days it feels as if we may as well support Marks & Spencer, Burger King or Monster Energy as support Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lincoln City or whoever.

Matt Waterman

Flat 2

3 Burnt Lane

St Peter Port

Guernsey

GY1 1HL