Dr. Arvind Raghunathan
The quality of the players and matches played a major role in the Premier League, which is only played in a few cities in England, gaining such a large following around the world.
Photo: Getty Images
“Aguero”… Argentina’s Sergio Aguero’s goal is celebrated with jerseys running around the pitch like a madman, with Martin Taylor’s commentary ringing in his ears as the excitement reaches its peak. The stadium is buzzing, with Manchester City clinching the English Premier League 2011-12 season trophy just 8 kilometers away from Manchester United on the margin of that last-minute goal.
The English Premier League, which has given so many moments to football fans and changed the way we enjoy the game, turns 30 today. The league was started in 1992 by the first division clubs of England and the first kickoff was on 15th August. From then until today, the Premier League has set the stage for and spearheaded many of the most fundamental changes in all aspects of football. Thirty years later, the league reaches 800 million homes in 188 countries. Manchester, Liverpool and Chelsea are well known to many of us as clubs in Kerala.
The quality of the players and matches played an important role in the Premier League, which is held only in a few cities in England, gaining so many fans around the world. The best players from many parts of the globe move here, or dream of these grass fields. Premier League players have been found and nurtured into stars even from places where there are no top leagues nationally. Take the case of Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, who plays for Liverpool. Had he been playing in the Egyptian league, would he have become the player he is today, even with his individual talent? The English Premier League certainly deserves to be described as a global league, even if it has never laid claim to being a league to mold players for England, which was already a dominant force in the game of football. In the first season, the presence of foreign players was only 15 percent, while in the last season it was 57 percent. Many, including Frenchman Thierry Onty and South Korean Hyo Min Son, became adopted sons of English countries and became global idols.
Political Dimensions of History
The culture of club football was rooted in England long before the advent of the Premier League. Almost every city and town had its own clubs. It’s just that EPL gave that culture a global image. However, each club and sometimes the competition has social and economic political undertones. Therefore, trading strategies do not have to artificially add the fire of passion and emotions to this furnace. For example, the ferocity and animosity of a century of socio-economic disparity accompanies the ferocity and animosity of a century of socio-economic disparity when suburban Arsenal, a club started by gunners’ factory workers, lock horns with city rivals Tottenham Hotspur (ironically, Arsenal are now one of the league’s most expensive match-ticket sellers, after the commercialization that followed globalisation).
Vending Machine
The over-commercialization of football has always been an accusation that has dogged the Premier League. The multi-crore transfer markets alone are enough to understand the financial scale of EPL. Allegations that the players, their skills and even more so the fans’ feelings were just sold are heard at the first touch. The Premier League has also been the scene of an influx of ‘oil money’ that has been fueled by allegations of human rights abuses for some time now. Frequent protests say that such moves do not value the club’s roots and traditions, and do not answer the fans’ questions. Also relevant here is the deeper question of who are the real owners of a club, the fans who have been with the club through its ups and downs over the years or those who see the club as nothing more than a profit-making machine. The takeover of Newcastle United by a consortium said to be owned by the Saudi royal family sparked violent protests in the city. As an alternative to such moves, smaller clubs managed by fan cooperatives are now emerging.
Premier League and India
Football in India, especially the ISL, is modeled after the Premier League. But the fact that a geographically organic club football culture exists in a few places like Kolkata and Goa is a constraint. Hence, even if the Kerala Blasters vs Bengaluru FC match is presented like a United vs City derby in the Premier League using advertising tactics, it does not get the political dimensions of the decades.
Regardless, the Premier League sees India as a huge market. All the top clubs have official fan associations in India. Club social media pages for Onam and Vishu greetings in Malayalam should be seen as a part of Glocalization (Global+Local). As Sheffield United took over Kozhikode-based club Quartz two years ago, many clubs and academies in India are also tying up with the Premier League.
Looking forward
The English Premier League was and still is the laboratory of many game rules and football technology. The Premier League management understands that the coming decades will be very different from the past thirty years. The Premier League is trying to keep pace with the changes in pitch and enjoyment due to the use of technology and the growth of women’s football.
One of the lines in the commercial celebrating thirty years (https://www.premierleague.com/news/2738025) is ’30 years of stories’. Thirty years of joy, frustration, uncertainty and excitement have passed, full of experiences for every fan to tell many stories. Like any fan of football, this writer hopes that it will continue to be so.
Content Highlights: English Premier League completes 30 years of journey
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