The first round of the 1904-1905 season had just finished in England. In a desperate attempt to save themselves from relegation, Middlesbrough paid Sunderland £1,000 for goalscorer Alf Common. Professionalism had only been in the cradle of football for sixteen years and many people still considered it indecent to charge for playing, even to pay for a transfer. The thousand pounds generated a scandal. The press spoke of “flesh and blood for sale”, implying that the players were objects of slavery. He also wrote: “We are tempted to wonder whether footballers will become rivals to thoroughbred racehorses on the market.”
It's not that Common did the great Haaland, he barely scored 4 goals in the ten remaining games of the championship, but he contributed to maintaining the category. In his debut, Middlesbrough, who had not won a away game for two years, beat Sheffield United 1-0 away and the big Alf scored the goal with a penalty. Due to his very high transfer fee at that time, he is among the 100 legends of English football. With Common the transfer race began, later becoming an essential part of the activity. The signing of Alfredo Di Stéfano is the supreme milestone in the life of Real Madrid. He made it what it is.
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In March 1963, an 18-year-old ragazzo who had been excelling in Serie C with Legnano moved to Cagliari, from the Italian Second Division: he was Gigi Riva. An inconsequential pass. “After defeating Spain in Rome in a youth match with the national team, my coach at Legnano told me that they had sold me. I thought it was Bologna, since I had seen in La Gazzetta that they were following me. Or Inter, of which he was a fan. But no: they transferred me to Cagliari. It was like they shot me, it didn't seem like a good destiny,” Riva recalled years later. Sardinia was an island in the south, completely isolated and despised by the political, social and economic power of the north. “A land of shepherds and bandits,” they criticized. “Those were years in which saying 'I'm sending you to Sardinia' was a way of sending people to a terrible place,” Gigi said. But he bowed his head and signed, as all footballers of yesteryear had to accept. They didn't decide, the club simply told them “we sold you to that team.” One leader called another and asked “how is Riva's kilo?” And, if it suited them, they bought.
Sixty-one years later, River became interested in Rodrigo Villagra, a good Talleres de Córdoba player. There were some logical tug-of-wars in the negotiation, Talleres asked for 10 million dollars, River stretched up to 7. Between supply and demand, and fearing that the operation would fall apart, Villagra threatened the president of Talleres, Luis Fassi: “If not You sell me to River, we're going to have to shit hard.” A gentleman, Villagrita. River finally agreed to pay 8 million and Villagra is already a millionaire. He agreed to a four-year bond. The question is: if you get an offer from Milan or Chelsea tomorrow, will you also want to beat River's president…?
There is a world between Gigi Riva and Rodrigo Villagra. The result is that the footballers are the absolute owners of football. Neither FIFA nor the clubs nor the sponsors: them. And the contracts have a relative value, they only serve to safeguard the figures (safeguard them for the player), but no validity in terms of time. If the club does not pay, FIFA threatens it, sanctions it, may demote it or even disaffiliate it. If necessary, the footballer makes him finish off the headquarters or stadium, but he always charges. On the contrary, if the player wants to leave because he receives a substantial offer, he leaves, even with a current contract. No one can stop a protagonist when he wants to leave. Not even Bayern Munich could make Lewandowski comply with what he had signed. He said “I'm not playing for Bayern anymore” and did not show up for the preseason. The German multi-champion had to accept what they gave him and the scorer headed to Barcelona.
In these cases, FIFA does not open its mouth. FIFA is terrified of footballers, it does whatever it takes to please them. FIFA keeps inventing tournaments to generate more and more money, and it needs them to play. There is no dance without dancers. FIFA does not notice that the club is the base of the pyramid. Without clubs there is no circus either. At the beginning of time, the clubs came together and founded the associations, and the associations created FIFA.
The club sets up the stadium, the fans, hires the footballers, the technicians, organizes the show, employs dozens of officials, sells the tickets, is in charge of the security of the show, health, transportation of the delegations, the dissemination, monitors the behavior of the public, invests huge sums in signing reinforcements, sets up training divisions to generate new crashes… And it is under the control of the association, the confederation, FIFA and the players themselves. If things go badly for them, they demand every last cent of the contract. “It is what was stipulated.” If they do well, they ask for a raise or want to leave sooner. And some people return a small part of what they received when they arrived. Because that's another topic: changing clubs permanently pays off. The most substantial thing, what was charged at the beginning, rarely has a return.
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In the vast majority of cases, the club trains the player from the age of 13 or 14. It provides teachers, doctors, infrastructure, emotional support, competence to develop, and often helps their parents. When he reaches Primera, the young man forgets everything, he wants money or he leaves. The owner of his destiny is his representative. The leader can't do anything. There is a completely wrong idea that clubs grope footballers or deceive them. It's just the other way around.
Dembele was a ruin for Barcelona. He paid Borussia Dortmund 135 million euros for him, giving him a contract of 14 million per year for 5 years (€70 million), to which the agent's commission must be added (another €20 million). Total, €225 M. He was injured for 784 days plus another 26 days suspended (810 days inactive). In 6 years he scored only 42 goals. It is not remembered that he won a game for Dembelé in Barcelona. If he ever became champion it was because of the rest of the team, not because of him. When Xavi had given him full confidence and he had to undertake his seventh year, he stopped going to training and declared rebellion to force his transfer to Paris Saint Germain. Of course, Barça had to release him. He recovered at least 50 million. In the black book of misfortunes, Dembele fights for first place.
In the past, the clubs exercised excessive control over the player, there was arbitrary submission: “if you don't sign for what is offered to you, we will hang you.” The Bosman Law radically changed the equation. Now the clubs are exploited by the players. In Peru, to normalize the club's economy, a limit of 25 professionals per team was set. Immediately the members of the National Team (Paolo Guerrero, Luis Advíncula, Pedro Gallese, Pedro Aquino, Piero Quispe, Luis Abram, Miguel Araujo) warned that they will not play the next friendlies if the number of 27 athletes with a contract is not returned because the measure affects to the guild. Even if they are bad, you have to make sure they get the hang of it.
It went from one extreme to the other: today, football has only one master: the player.
Last Tango…
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
#Alf #Common #started #Tango #opinion
