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Mass Protest / Boycott

E

elltrev

Andy Sinton
Having just read the stubhub thread, I started wondering if it would ever be possible to organise some form of mass protest and / or boycott in the face of fans bearing the increasing cost of the increasingly egregious wages of footballers?

*This isn't related directly to stubhub; it was just that which got me thinking*

Virtually every football fan feels a degree of disgust and injustice at the ridiculously high wages of footballers, especially as the cost to individual fans rises ever higher at the same time. And yet virtually all fans continue to subscribe to Sky and / or attend matches / and or buy merchandise.

Of course most people don't act because acting alone would feel futile, and we love football too much to miss out on it. But if, hypothetically speaking, a mass campaign started to gather pace and to have a realistic chance of enforcing some sort of change, surely most people would want to join it?

EDIT: I shouldn't have insinuated that fans are bearing an increasing proportion of the cost of players' wages; I mean that the cost for individual fans is increasing despite the fact that players wages would be ballooning anyway due to increased advertising and global fanbases.
 
It should do, but football fans in this country are a load of fickle mugs who are either to blind to see that we're being ripped off or to thick to organise any boycott. If one boycotts another will take their place. If we were in germany or elsewhere they wouldn't stand for this. Look at this article below. a 19 euro charge and they boycotted the match!

As Freddie Shepard once said, football fans in this country are mugs who are prepared to pay £40 for a shirt that costs £5 to make. Fans such as myself can't go to the lane anymore because the prices are ridiculous. For a Dortmund match you pay 9 euros for a ticket AND it doubles up as a FREE train ticket!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/15/germ...und-fans-to-boycott-hamburg-clash-over-ticket
 
I'm sure I'm in the minority but I don't have a problem with the wages they get, with all the money in the game the bulk should go to the talent, look at other entertainment industry's like movies and television, it's always the same
 
Plus football players are the focal point of some peoples lives. Some people actually live for football.

For a commodity that is consumed by a global fan base for an entire life time i have to say that I don't really have a problem with their wages either.
 
Plus what they earn in their carreers is actually peanuts compared to bankers or industrialists, whose bonuses and conditions in the factories they own actually have a detrimental effect on the lives of other human beings.
 
Armchair Expert said:
Plus what they earn in their carreers is actually peanuts compared to bankers or industrialists, whose bonuses and conditions in the factories they own actually have a detrimental effect on the lives of other human beings.
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This, very much so. Don't get me wrong: I do think footballers are overpaid, simply because I don't think the contributions they make to society justify the exorbitant wages they receive. Furthermore, the people that pay their wages, the fans, are fast becoming utterly irrelevant in the modern footballers' mind, with players chasing ever larger pay-cheques without giving a single damn for the people who turn up every week cheering them on, but moaning to the press when those same fans express frustrations with their sub-par, disinterested or unmotivated performances. So there is definitely a case to be made for footballers' salaries being deemed to be too excessive.

However....while they don't improve society all that much, they don't harm it either. They do what they do, and rightly or wrongly, people think that is worth paying them humongous sums of money to do. They put a lot of that money back into the economy via their quick-fire purchases of mansions in Essex, luxury cars from London and gaudy jewels, and generally live contented, unobtrusive lives. They retire, become pundits or coaches, and eventually end up as well-off fans of the clubs they grew up supporting. So there isn't too much by way of actual harm to the society we live in there. But when bankers get paid millions of pounds in bonuses for crashing entire financial systems, pressuring for the repeal of laws enacted to protect society from unfettered greed, throwing away the savings and retirement funds entrusted to their care in reckless gambles, and eventually demanding cuts in the services afforded to the poor as they struggle to get by in the newly impoverished society the bankers themselves created....then you have a very real case for arguing that these people actually damage societies, people and countries, and do not deserve to remain outside of prison, never mind all the money they are given on a regular basis.

Those are the sorts of people that need protesting against, not footballers. There was a wage cap in football before, and a sense of community between the club, the players and the fans. And once everyone gets tired enough to stop going to matches, spending their time on more worthy pursuits, there will eventually be a wage cap and a sense of community again as the game retreats from the massive amounts of money it is currently rolling in today. Or hell, maybe it will end up like the Bundesliga, where most clubs are owned by their fans and consequently ticket prices remain low, attendances remain high, and wages remain sensible. Whichever way it happens, it will eventually happen, and football will be a better sport for it. But for now, there are far more odious people earning much more money for doing far more disgusting things than your average footballer.
 
DubaiSpur said:
I do think footballers are overpaid, simply because I don't think the contributions they make to society justify the exorbitant wages they receive.
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but its society that has created that situation, not the footballers

the problem is actually us
 
galeforce said:
but its society that has created that situation, not the footballers

the problem is actually us
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That's why I don't think they deserve to be pilloried as much as the bankers, who have engineered themselves a situation where they get bonuses for screwing the rest of us. Do I think society should change? Definitely. Do I have a right to force society to pay teachers, soldiers and medical workers more? No, because that means subconsciously assuming that the people have no agency, i.e the ability to choose what they do or give money to. I believe people consciously decide that entertainment (which includes football) is more important than a host of other, arguably more corporeal things.But, I have faith that eventually we'll learn what is important and what isn't. I still believe that, deep down. But for now, since we won't change in our prioritising of entertainment over substance, let's at least focus our ire on the people who really screw us over, and the people whose exorbitant wages we had no say in or control over.
 
Interesting responses. I feel like people haven't addressed my point though. I wasn't complaining at footballers' wages in and of themselves; as others have said, there is a huge amount of money in football thanks to its globalisation, and it's probably most fair that it goes to the players themselves. What I take issue with is the fact that the cost to individual fans continues to increase despite the huge amounts of money that is already in the game, and thus already in the players' pockets.

This season is a case in point - despite the huge increase in clubs' revenues from increased TV money, the price of tickets has increased too. Of course I appreciate that no club would unilaterally reduce its prices and so be disadvantaged compared to its competitors, which is exactly why I think some sort of pan-league movement is required, be it an official body or a fan-based movement.

And in anticipation of someone defending the status quo by saying that clubs are companies who should be free to set their prices as they please, in my view that is the problem - clubs being seen as companies rather than football teams.

Replica shirts costing more than £50 is ridiculous.
 
I fully take your point Elltrev, and i'm sure many people agree with you, but on the whole the market doesn't. If £50 for a shirt was ridiculous they wouldn't sell any, the value of something is that which people are prepared to pay for it.

The tools of protest are readily available, all people have to do is take their eyeballs and their wallets elsewhere. As it is there are still thousands of us who pay £50 a year to be on the season ticket waiting list.
 
I am boycotting the Chelsea game in protest.

In fact i have already put my ticket up for sale at £500 on StubHub.
 
galeforce said:
I fully take your point Elltrev, and i'm sure many people agree with you, but on the whole the market doesn't. If £50 for a shirt was ridiculous they wouldn't sell any, the value of something is that which people are prepared to pay for it.

The tools of protest are readily available, all people have to do is take their eyeballs and their wallets elsewhere. As it is there are still thousands of us who pay £50 a year to be on the season ticket waiting list.
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Likewise, I do take your point about the market price. And I suppose people's stance on this kind of thing depends on their economic values, which are generally deeply-rooted and subject to something more unshakable than logic. However, having said that, for me the underlying point is that I think football should be seen as a sport - not a business - and so things like market value should not take the priority that they normally would in discussions about business and economics. The priority should be the fans - particularly the 'real' ones who have a love for the club that transcends merely being entertained. And thanks to the globalisation of football, and the PL in particular, clubs and their insanely wealthy players could afford 'look after' these fans - to ensure that the cost of supporting their beloved club stays low. But instead they continue to rinse them for everything they can, to further feed the already-astronomical wages of the players.
 
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Love the sentiment but I'm not sure how workable it is.

I would assume season ticket holders aren't too fussed about stub hub on the whole. They either gain (potentially massively) by using it, or don't lose, by not using it.

But ST holders are 23,500 of our crowd, take off away fans and you have maybe 7,000 or so who potentially are affected negatively either for this game or another. Bearing in mind these guys are scattered in a 1:3 ratio against pro-stub hubs in the ST holders and I think you are more likely to get a "Stand Up If You Love Sol Campbell" chant going.

Away from a match and I don't know where you would get this number of spurs fans.

Boycotting purchase of these tickets, I'm afraid there will always be fans who buy them. The pror might stay low but the club will then point to this and say no problem! And THFC don't feel any negative impact.

BUT I like the sentiment . Pushing te legal side of it might be a way to go?
 
elltrev said:
Likewise, I do take your point about the market price. And I suppose people's stance on this kind of thing depends on their economic values, which are generally deeply-rooted and subject to something more unshakable than logic. However, having said that, for me the underlying point is that I think football should be seen as a sport - not a business - and so things like market value should not take the priority that they normally would in discussions about business and economics. The priority should be the fans - particularly the 'real' ones who have a love for the club that transcends merely being entertained. And thanks to the globalisation of football, and the PL in particular, clubs and their insanely wealthy players could afford 'look after' these fans - to ensure that the cost of supporting their beloved club stays low. But instead they continue to rinse them for everything they can, to further feed the already-astronomical wages of the players.
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If it's a sport not a business then it is amateur. Amateur sports are brick such as athletics (incredibly boring) or women's football (even more so).
 
scaramanga said:
If it's a sport not a business then it is amateur. Amateur sports are brick such as athletics (incredibly boring) or women's football (even more so).
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Not sure if your post is tongue-in-cheek, but I'm not suggesting that players don't get paid anything - which is the definition of amateur sport. I just want to see the values of the game relate to sport rather than business.

I actually watched a bit of women's football recently and was impressed by the quality - some better pass-and-move than our lot at times last season!
 
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