letter to the editor from Richard Corbett MEP |
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23 May 2006 |
no related press release
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Herald Express |
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Dear Editor, I am used to being misquoted (article 'Red card alert: Is British football being cornered by the European Union?' 20th May), but to read an article that has so completely managed to get the wrong end of the stick is somewhat less common. Far from being an attempt to "licence football teams direct from Brussels", let alone to raise any money from football for the EU, the current independent review of European football is in fact being the opposite: making recommendations to the EU (and to national authorities and to UEFA) which should strengthen the self-management of football by the relevant sporting authorities in order to avoid interference by public authorities, be they national or European. The club licensing scheme exists already, it is a UEFA scheme and has nothing to do with the European Union. Discussions on football finance centre on whether TV rights should be sold collectively, with redistribution to all participating clubs (as in the English Premier league) or individually by clubs, with just the top clubs picking up the bulk of the revenue (as in Italy ) - and there seems to be strong support for the English system. There has been no suggestion to "subsidise loosing teams" with tax payers money, nor is it easy to understand why your correspondent considers that "eurocrats are eyeing up British football as a rich cash cow" when this is a UEFA rather than an EU matter. I would have thought that the issue of the concentration of wealth and success in the hands of a smaller and smaller group of clubs - a problem in almost every national league in Europe - would merit more serious treatment from a newspaper coming from a region that has no clubs capable of challenging for top places in English football.
Richard Corbett Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber |
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