LIKE many of you I am a football fan and even if you are not, I am sure few will have managed to escape hearing the news this week about the proposed, and subsequently abandoned, European Super League.
People are passionate about football globally. The game is coined as Scotland’s national sport. Most cities, towns and villages are home to a football club.
The European Super League was announced last weekend and the outcry from the media, politicians and fans was almost immediate. It confirmed the fears of many football fans – a lot of club owners and chairpersons only see their club as a money-making scheme.
Of course, football clubs fundamentally are businesses, but they are so much more to the communities around them. They are often key contributors to the local economy and can help shape the fabric of the local community in countless ways.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson 'backs British Super League to stop Scottish independence'
I support Partick Thistle, but it is more than simply a football club to me. It is a community. It is often where I enjoy time with loved ones. Memories that I will treasure till the day I die have been made in Firhill.
For many people, their football team is the only constant thing in their life. To experience those moments of crushing disappointment and utter euphoria alongside a stadium full of people who are feeling the exact same thing is undoubtedly special. That shared experience brings together people in such a meaningful way that if a football club is at threat, the way of life for its fans is also at threat.
The immediate and emotive backlash to the announcement from fans was therefore of no surprise. Governments around the world were quick to condemn the proposed league, and the UK Government acted very swiftly to set up a “root-and-branch” review into football governance.
It did not take long for the chairpersons to realise they had pushed their greed too far and pulled the plug on the project. They released statements apologising for their initial decisions and all wanted to reassure fans. It is always heartening to see “people power” winning for a change.
However, there is another observation to be made here. Boris Johnson has admitted he is not a football fan himself but was nonetheless outraged by the proposed super league – presumably, because he also witnessed the immediate and ferocious public backlash and wanted to get on the right side.
I don’t remember this outrage, or instant action from the Tories in regard to other recent movements that have sparked protests and outcry by the general public – the Black Lives Matter movement, the bombing of Syria and the Grenfell Tower tragedy, to name but a few examples.
Johnson has been so quick to condemn the greed in football but continues to ignore the greed and sleaze of the very government he leads.
READ MORE: European Super League football offered a warning to an independent Scotland
Tory cuts have led to a 63% rise in food bank parcels handed out in Scotland over the past five years. New statistics from the Trussell Trust show that this year one emergency food parcel is handed out to a child every seven minutes. Food banks in Scotland have given roughly 220,000 emergency food parcels between April 2020 and March 2021.
We had three days of the European Super League being the top story, with politicians, public figures, and footballers all making passionate statements. Meanwhile, across the UK the Trussell Trust network have given out a record 2.5 million emergency food parcels in the last year. Just under a million of these went to children. This is a 128% rise compared to this time five years ago.
We know that minorities continue to disproportionately experience poverty and violence, so when we see shocking statistics like those mentioned, we know exactly who it is that is suffering. We deserve a Government that will summon the same outrage and passion for those suffering on their watch as they do for our football clubs.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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