The Kick Project

I always thought the football authorities over-reacted after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. It was a horrible accident and shouldn't have happened, but standing crowds weren't really the problem. Thus rebuilding stadiums to dispense with the terraces was both uneccessary and mistaken. As this article notes in good detail, the debate about retro-fitting stadiums is now hotting up. Having paid a small fortune to watch top level games in Europe, I know that match prices are out of reach to most and for those without access to fountains of cash - like me- going to a top level football game is more a rare treat than the weekly ritual it used to be. This hurts kids especially. The irony of all-seater stadiums is of course that you spend half the game standing up anyway. In the EPL such match prices, along with high TV fees which have put many free-to-air TV channels around the world - including here in Australia - out of reach, go to paying overly inflated ...

Really interesting spot on football wages in England particularly.   Showing my age, but I remember pre-EPL when players would set up businesses post-career to maintain an income. Trevor Brooking from memory had a sausage factory...I had trials with then first div clubs in England (Coventry and Wolves) and recall it wasnt the money I was interested in, it was the glory, and if could simply make a living doing something I loved, then life was good. It was the same for the other lads I was trialling with. Sounds like the "Good "Ol Days" I know but I think something is missing with all the money. One thing I have to mention is that for years Australian TV would have English football highlights on free-to-air TV, now its only on pay-TV, which means lots of kids miss out on the opportunity to watch top English football (still the best), as I was able to every week. Money talks alright but sometimes I reckon it talks rubbish. See this piece I wrote a few years ago for the...