2 replies to this topic

[Don Quixote]

The BBC asks experts about possible impacts to British football clubs from the UK's impending departure from the EU.

 

http://www.bbc.com/s...otball/36620201

 

(Kind of a hazy area, but is probably fine to post, yes?)

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Interesting read, thanks for posting. Crazy fact that in the Premiership that only 30% of the players are from England. When I was down fishing in Argentina in March one of my guides was from St. Petersburg, Russia. So beyond fishing we got to talking about soccer. He used to be a pretty big fan of the St. Petersburg club and knew a fair amount of the players personally.

 

But he said the last half dozen years that he hardly follows it anymore. The reason being that the team was no longer made up of local player or even Russians. But mostly now foreign born players and he just doesn't have the connection to them that he had with the Russian players.

 

Interesting perspective and I think we are seeing this starting to impact all sports. Basically there are two types of fans. The real hard core fans of the sport and those that are fans more so of the local team. The hard core fans of the sport itself will always be fans. But the more casual fans that are interested in the "local" team are getting impacted by the world wide movement of players. At some point I wonder if they become less and less interested as their "local" team becomes less and less "local." 

[DJ MC]

Interesting read, thanks for posting. Crazy fact that in the Premiership that only 30% of the players are from England. When I was down fishing in Argentina in March one of my guides was from St. Petersburg, Russia. So beyond fishing we got to talking about soccer. He used to be a pretty big fan of the St. Petersburg club and knew a fair amount of the players personally.

 

But he said the last half dozen years that he hardly follows it anymore. The reason being that the team was no longer made up of local player or even Russians. But mostly now foreign born players and he just doesn't have the connection to them that he had with the Russian players.

 

Interesting perspective and I think we are seeing this starting to impact all sports. Basically there are two types of fans. The real hard core fans of the sport and those that are fans more so of the local team. The hard core fans of the sport itself will always be fans. But the more casual fans that are interested in the "local" team are getting impacted by the world wide movement of players. At some point I wonder if they become less and less interested as their "local" team becomes less and less "local." 

 

I don't know how much of an issue this is. I mean, pro sports teams, especially at the top levels, haven't used "local" talent pretty much from the start.

 

Take the Orioles for example. We love Cal Ripken, at least in part, because he is from the area. However, what about the rest of our greats?

 

Jim Palmer: Arizona

Frank Robinson and Eddie Murray: California

Earl Weaver: St. Louis

 

Even Baltimore icon Brooks Robinson came from Little Rock.

 

Of the guys on the current 40-man, Christian Walker is from Norristown, PA, Tyler Wilson is from Midlothian, VA, and Brad Brach is from Freehold, NJ. They are the closest players we have to "local". Machado is from Miami, Jones from San Diego, Tillman from LA, Britton and Davis from Texas. And then there are the Latino guys, and Kim.

 

I don't know if there will ever be some kind of fandom crisis based around too many players being from elsewhere.