SPORTS NOTES - RAIDERS AREN'T LOST THEY'RE IN FOOTBALL - SEPTEMBER, 2008

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

How hypocritical can the statement be, 'The Beautiful Game'? We're talking football here as well as the games lack of ethics. It's a game which is supposed to influence youth around the world to fair play and sportsmanship. Football is a game that has gone out of control with teams raiding each other for their players at any price while disregarding ethics. - FIFA TOP 10

Sunday September 28, 2008

THE RAIDING GAME

How hypocritical can the statement be, 'The Beautiful Game'? We're talking football here as well as the games lack of ethics. It's a game which is supposed to influence youth around the world to fair play and sportsmanship.

International Football is a game that has gone out of control with teams raiding each other for their players at any price while disregarding ethics. Real Madrid's raid for Manchester United's Ronaldo this past summer though the player had four years remaining on his contract raised the bar on cutthroat business practices. Ronaldo was unsettled at Manchester United and wanted to play for Real Madrid. Rumors were frequently originating from the board of Real Madrid that they were willing to pay an unprecedented £54 million for him. Contracts be dammed. Ethics be dammed.

When Alex Ferguson asked FIFA President Sepp Blatter to intervene on behalf of Man U Blatter preferred NOT to do so. That decision raised the question, why not? Do politics come into play? Does Real Madrid have leverage with the FIFA President? Is Real Madrid's voting influences for FIFA nominations a factor? What is going on behind the scenes where fair play is thrown out the window? What does that say to the youth of the world who play the game, don't have honor just play for money and be selfish and not of good character?

The incident produced a landslide of other defections including Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham to Man U. Berbatov completed the move to Manchester United on September 1, for a fee of around £30.75 million, with Fraizer Campbell joining Tottenham on a season-long loan as part of the deal. Berbatov was offered a 25-million-pound (US$45 million) deal from Manchester City.

Robinho escaped from Real Madrid to Manchester City for a British-record 32.5 million pounds ($58.5 million). Other reports noted that he had signed a five-year contract worth $8.8 million per season which is three times what he earned at Real Madrid. His move was prompted because his feelings were hurt since Real Madrid wanted Ronaldo and it put into question how little the club thought of him. As the saying goes, Who Loves Ya (You) Baby?

Ronaldinho was said to have been offered $50.7 million by Manchester City with Thaksin Shinawatra in charge prior to him selling the club. The Brazilian opted to take less and sign with AC Milan for $33.4 million.

Last year Shinawatra was given permission to purchase Manchester City though he was a fugitive from Thai justice. The English FA reasoned that he wasn't convicted. The Thai media felt Thaksin purchased the club for a high profile and to make a profit. Well that has all come to past as he has sold the club to Abu Dhabi United Group. The deal is believed to be worth more than 200 million pounds (US$370 million). Their wealth in oil money reported to be worth US $3 billion in revenue and is believed to make Man City the richest team in international football. They also let it be known that money wasn't an issue when it comes to their seeking and purchasing players for the club in the January transfer window. Oh my… Ronaldo's name surfaced again.

Ohh… there's Thaksin's issue who retains a minority stake and remains on the board as honorary president without any administrative responsibilities but there is also a warrant out by the Thai government for his arrest.

The game has gone out of control and needs some sort of salary cap where the rich can't completely dominate the game and the have nots can't raise themselves from the ashes. The NBA (National Basketball Association) in the USA has salary cap that works. Being that football is an International sport to do so there may be some problems that need to be worked through.

Our thought is put into place a yearly cap for transfers of say $20 million for the team with the best record and up to $100 million for the team with the worst record. Man City spent $120 million for transfers this year. The cap would be adjusted on a sliding scale of X amount of millions per club for their position finished in their league with the worst record having the highest amount permitted and the club with the best record entitled to the least. To enhance the value and strength of regulated clubs they would be entitled to their allotted transfer cap though demoted. There should be an OVERALL SALARY CAP applicable to all of the clubs. It's something to think about but is most certainly is an issue that needs to be addressed.

FIFA TOP 10 - Spain reign supreme, Italy back in second

Turkey return to the top ten. Spains nearest challengers are once again world champions Italy (2nd, up 1), who have swapped places with Germany (3rd, down 1)

The latest edition of the FIFA World Ranking is once again dominated by Spain , who continue to hold on to top spot with a comfortable cushion of more than 200 points. Their nearest challengers are once again world champions Italy (2nd, up 1), who have swapped places with Germany (3rd, down 1), although the Netherlands (4th, no change) are also within touching distance of the Italians and the Germans. The line-up at the top could change dramatically over the next few weeks, however, with the European World Cup qualifiers due to take centre stage now that more than 300 of the 850+ qualifiers have already been played in the other confederations. Europe ’s total of 268 matches will account for more than 30% of the games in the entire preliminary competition for 2010.

Positions four to nine remain unchanged, although Turkey (10th, up 3) have climbed back into the top ten. After an absence of just one month, Saudi Arabia (48th, up 4) are back in the top 50. The major movers in the upper reaches, however, are Mexico (24th), whose climb of eight places sees them overtake the USA (28th, up 3) as the highest CONCACAF team.

Further down, a number of teams have made considerable progress since last month, including Gabon (62nd, up 12), Algeria (76th, up 14), Trinidad and Tobago (80th, up 12) and New Caledonia (95th, up 21), the latter having benefited from a devaluation of past results to once again replace New Zealand (111th, no change) as the highest Oceanian representatives, just as they did exactly one year ago.

The next FIFA World Ranking will be published on October 8, 2008

* Leader: Spain (1, unchanged)

* Moves into top 10: Turkey (10, plus 3)

* Moves out of top 10: Russia (12, minus 2)

* Matches played in total: 89 matches

* Most matches played: Qatar , Korea DPR, Myanmar : 6 matches each

* Biggest move by points: New Caledonia , plus 86 points

* Biggest move by ranks: New Caledonia , Kyrgyztan: plus 21 ranks each

* Biggest drop by points: Belgium , minus 107 points

* Biggest drop by ranks: Solomon Islands , minus 24 ranks

* Newly ranked teams: none

* Teams that are no longer ranked: none

FIFA TOP 10 for September, 2008

Rank -- Team -- Points

1. Spain - 1565

2. Italy - 1339

3. Germany - 1329

4. Netherlands - 1295

5. Croatia 1266

6. Brazil - 1252

7. Argentina - 1230

8. Czech Republic 1134

9. Portugal - 1120

10. Turkey - 1033

FIFA