Super League week: Football fans gave us an insight into what is ahead of us — a revolution against elites
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the total wealth of the world’s billionaires has increased by more than five trillion dollars (Trillion is like a million, just with 12 zeros, instead of six).
“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” Winston Churchill once famously said.
On the other side, the poor have got poorer. A division between the upper-class and the working class is as big as ever.
Since there are some billionaires in the world of football, it would be really strange if football royals didn’t try to take advantage of the situation as well. In order to jump on the trillion train, 12 of the richest football clubs in Europe announced a breakaway project called Super League, which would see the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus playing in a close format competition and earning billions, taking all the money in the game for themselves while endangering smaller clubs which have been struggling regardless.
Although football has been becoming a game for the rich for a while, the Super League would accelerate that process and blatantly create a two-tier football environment — the fans that would consent to the drastic change in order to watch the best players and the fans whose connection with local clubs is so strong that they would rather stop supporting football than watching the Super League. Again, it’s about the upper class and the working class.
The Super League proposal came in a time when society was being divided between those who see the benefits of lockdown and those who see the curse of lockdown. The most common topic of recent weeks has been COVID passports which would make a division in society even bigger. Just as the Super League has the potential of creating a two-tier football environment, COVID passports have the potential of creating a two-tier society. The working class has been hit by lockdown more than others, and it seems that the working class is the one that is particularly opposed to COVID passports.
COVID passports are planned to be tested on football venues. The owners of the Super League clubs understand that things like COVID passports would a priori eliminate working class fans, so the Super League would only be a logical continuation of events. They don’t need the working class. The Super League is a league for the rich. They know society is in the middle of the dividing process, so it made sense to announce the Super League at this moment.
However, what they did not expect is a strong backlash from fans. From the working class.
The Super League project was halted 48 hours after it was announced. Although there was no single stakeholder, including media, government and unions, in favour of the Super League, it seems that fans proved to be the leading force behind the cancellation of the Super League.
The main role played Chelsea fans who blocked the entrance of the players’ coach into the stadium on Tuesday night. Seeing the angry crowd outside Stamford Bridge, the club announced they would withdraw from the Super League. From that moment onwards, the Super League started falling apart like a house of cards.
“We saved football,” Chelsea fans were shouting.
The atmosphere outside Stamford Bridge was wild. It was nothing like the last time I was there and saw the football leftovers.
Fans stood up against elites and won… A battle… The war is far from over… And they are not winning it. Protests against the owners of the clubs have been taking place all around the country.
Football mirrors whatever happens in society. And vice versa — society mirrors whatever happens in football. If football fans have stood up against the ruling people, against the kings of football, then ordinary people will stand up soon against the governments and all those elites that are gaining power at the expense of the poor.
Actually, we will not need to wait too long. A huge anti-lockdown protest took place on Saturday in London. Tens of thousands marched to protest against the COVID passports, which are primarily an invention of big tech companies rather than pharmaceutical companies. Will workers of all lands unite, as my good friend Karl Marx says, and stand up against elites? If it is to be judged by football, then yes. And football is life, so…
P.S. Last year I predicted the Super League would emerge soon. You can find here last year’s visionary article.
