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Conference trucks::football;1

Title:	Soccer Football Conference
Notice:	Don't forget your season ticket.....
Moderator:	MOVIES::PLAYFORD

Created:	Thu Aug 08 1991
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	608
Total number of notes:	85903

559.0. "The End of Internationals as We Know Them?" by CHEFS::ast138.hhl.dec.com::PATEMAN (From Jerry Garcia to Julie Andrews) Wed May 29 1996 09:36

A little while back, The Guardian ran a piece about the future of International 
football. The premise was that it was ultimately doomed to disappear for 
three reasons.

Firstly - lack of interest. Friendlies all over Europe attract pitiful crowds. Iys 
no just England at Wembley. The only games that get good attendances are 
against the major teams like Brazil or Germany. 

Secondly - the rise of the "super clubs" such as Man U, AC Milan, Bayern 
Munich, Ajax etc has led to a huge switch of loyalty away from national 
teams to club sides. This is supported by all the surveys in which fans say 
they are far more interested in success for their own club than the national 
side.

Finally, post Bosman, in Europe anyway, the major clubs could have 11 
internationals from 11 different countries playing, making International 
release etc almost impossible. To date, with the 3 foreigner or 4 foreigner rules 
the bulk of sides were still able to play if they lost a player or two (like M'bro 
with Juninho), in the future that may be impossible. It will also be less and 
less in the clubs interests to have players going to internationals risking 
injury and fatigue.

All this led the writer to the conclusion that by early next century the friendly 
international would be gone, and maybe even major tournaments too - in 
favour of world club leagues. This is clearly a Euro-centric view as in Brazil, 
for example, even the major teams like Santos get crowds in the 5-10,000 
range for league games, and the national team is the focus.

In the run up to the biggest event we have seen in the UK since '66 and with 
football "coming home" what is the view of our many soccer genuises in here? 
Is this how you all see it?

Paul

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
559.1	Hope not, but it looks ominous...	VARESE::SACHA::IDC_BSTR	Oh no! NOT Milan Kundera again!	`Wed May 29 1996 09:56`	18
	It's certainly not how I see it, although I'm conscious of the trend as well. Maybe I'm different; I've been living out of the UK for some 12 years now, so it naturally follows that I don't feel the tension of domestic (i.e. English league) matches nearly so much. By the same token, international matches probably "affect" me a lot more than they did when I lived in the UK. Indeed, I also saw that article in the Guardian and it didn't particularly surprise me. As far as the Italians are concerned, I do know an awful lot of people here who don't give football the time of day, EXCEPT when the national team are playing. There's a similar tendency with regards to F1 motor racing, i.e. many people don't give a monkey's about cars, the sport, etc. but are moved to near hysteria by the Ferrari which they see as the "national" car. My 1000 lire. Dom
559.2	alternatively	ZUR01::ASHG	Grahame Ash @RLE	`Wed May 29 1996 12:17`	4
	But Paul, when England win Euro-96, and probably France 98, it'll give Palace fans the chance to celebrate a successful team with a clear conscience! grahame
559.3	Fear is the key	PATE::POUNDER		`Wed May 29 1996 19:48`	33
	The death of international football matches is almost certain to occur. However it is not just apathy, it is also fear and costs. Games involving England, Holland and Germany (there are more, I know) become a clash of skinheads, fascists and other organised nutters. This is far more likely to cause internationals to be stopped. People are going to be driven away. Communities will not tolerate pitched battles in their patch...and police/authorities will stop allowing games to be held. Why did England go to China for warm-up for the euro-champs ? Easy...stop the clowns from "attending" the game. I'm not saying clubs don't have their share of idiots either. But the stage for this behaviour is focussed on the international scene. The home international series was scrapped because of this. Never mind the crap about low turnout and Wales v N Ireland...it was the Scotland v England game that caused the problem. Especially the last Hampden game when, for the first time I ever recall, English yobs appeared in Glasgow. How the few hundred or so that got into the East terracing got out alive I'll never understand......luckily the Scottsh fans appeared to be "sober" and restrained. Could have been a massacre, the police must have shivered at the screw-up that allowed this to happen. I think good fans are now getting "more behind" their clubs and directing their loyalty in one direction. So I do agree that clubs will get "bigger" as the international thing dies...don't think it's the club game that is causing it....more that there is less attraction a the international level. I also think that is why players pulling out of international games is more rife...this has been discussed at length in other notes. Rangers in Scotland is classic, even given that Scotland are crap right now it seems only Ally McCoist is still desperate to pull on an international jersey. Long Dormant Timmy
559.4	May be an English-specific phenomenon	THITIA::VISCIGLIO	Pas a l'abri d'un coup de bol	`Mon Jun 03 1996 16:35`	12
	Seen from France, the end of Internationals is not even thinkable. Most stadiums are far to be crowded for the Club games, whereas the National team attracts much more people. This is even more valid today, as a lot of French players are playing (or will play) abroad, and the only chance to see them playing for a French side is in the Internationals. PYV