The Kick Project

Pic: pearsonblog The BBC have released the results of a study into just how much it costs to be a fan of a major football team these days. The headline figures are telling and say a lot about modern football's shift away from its grass-roots, street level base. It emerges that the average cost of the cheapest seat in the EPL now sits at 30 Pounds. Note this is for the cheapest seats. While few seats in today's super stadiums are like the old nose bleeds - behind a wall and facing at an angle - these spots are well away from the field. The minimum wage in Britain in 2015 is 6.70 Pounds/hour. So that means, the man/woman on the street working in the lowest formal jobs in the country (and we all know lower rates are paid in the informal or underground economy) would need to work for almost 5 hours to watch a 90 minute game of football. Chelsea FC is owned by a Russian whom some consider a modern day Robber Baron - in Russia at least - with an estimated net worth of o...

Those who've been paying attention will note that we are fans of the Ivory Coast national team. They warmed our hearts with their efforts to heal their troubled nation earlier this year when they won the African Cup of Nations. We at The Kick Project, have also long been fans of the Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, star of Chelsea, Marseille, and Galatasaray among others. Arguably the best ever African footballer (argue away!), Drogba has always had a seemingly enduring belief in the power of football to generate peace. With war in his homeland exploding across the country in 2002, the formerly stable nation was split in 2, largely along ethnic lines. This left one area dominated by government forces and another by rebel forces. Many suffered and those in rebel held areas, especially so as they were isolated from the country and more or less under siege. In 2007, as the war flared again, Drogba and his team mates organised for an international game to be played in the r...