LIKE many people, I am really looking forward to the multi-sport European Championships which begin in Glasgow this week. We’d better enjoy them because, thanks to Brexit, I fear they will be the last major European sports event we’ll see in the UK.
Scaremongering pessimism? Well, who the hell will want any event to come to immigrant-hating, ignorant, arrogant, divisive Britain?
And how does ending freedom of movement next March gel with the inclusiveness preached by all sporting authorities?
Here’s my latest evidence. You probably didn’t see this at the weekend but this terrifyingly stupid Tory Government has finally been fiercely taken to task over the issue of Brexit’s effect on sport.
It hasn’t been done by the pathetic Scottish Football Association or the troubled Scottish Rugby Union or any governing body or players’ union or fan organisation, although many people and groups in UK sport have said repeatedly that they are hugely concerned about Brexit.
No, these warning shots have been fired by the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee.
After a thorough inquiry into the effects of Brexit on sport, the sub-committee wrote to England’s Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch, on Friday asking politely what assessment the Government has made of the impact an “association agreement” with the EU – which the UK Government currently favours – would have on UK sportspeople participating in EU teams and vice versa.
They also asked about Brexit’s impact on sport at both the elite and grassroots level, and I was stunned to read the next bit of their statement to Crouch: “The committee also heard evidence that such ‘British’ sports as yachting and horseracing rely heavily on workers from the EU.
“The British Horseracing Authority told the committee that Britain’s exit from the EU would ‘exacerbate the current staffing crises’ for professions such as racing grooms and ‘threaten the viability’ of horseracing in the UK.
Wow – one of my favourite sports is predicting a serious existential crisis because of something that Scotland, don’t forget, overwhelmingly rejected. Why are we not reading this in the mainstream media or learning about it from the BBC? Well, we know why ...
Here’s my own example of Brexit’s possible effects. When they signed for Celtic, Frenchmen Moussa Dembele, Olivier Ntcham and Odsonne Edouard did not meet the specific criteria for gaining a work permit but were able to sign because of freedom of movement. It’s the same for many other EU footballers in Scotland and England and for many players in rugby, too.
Committee chairman Lord Michael Jay said at the weekend: “The evidence we received suggests that for many sports, the impact of Brexit could be extremely significant.
“Ending free movement from the EU could present both challenges and opportunities, but it is clear that we need a proper analysis and a plan for how it is managed.
“We have written to the Minister today to ask her to explain how the Government will support the sports sector when free movement ends, and how it will ensure that sport in the UK does not suffer. We look forward to receiving her response.”
Now you could take Jay’s point and apply it to many aspects of life in the UK at the moment. You could also point out, quite rightly, that sport is not even close to being the most important concern at this moment when the entire UK is facing economic and cultural disaster as we head over the vertiginous cliff of Brexit.
Of course all those anti-immigrant – the main reason for most votes - English people who voted Leave knew how Brexit would affect sport, including the football or rugby clubs they support.
The Brexiteers knew how devastating it would be for sport, didn’t they? They had to know all its outcomes because no intelligent person would vote for something when they didn’t know what it would do to sport and every other part of UK society.
The truth is that nobody knows what Brexit will do. Not the other 27 EU countries, not those who voted Leave or Remain and certainly not the UK Government. There is no certainty. No questions have been properly answered, there is no truth about what is going to happen, there are only tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Sport, sadly, is no different, so enjoy our last big European event because we’re about to become the pariah state of the globe.
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