| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
The Lord Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I was not quite sure what to expect in this debate, but I did not anticipate two supporters of Forfar Athletic contributing to it.
One of the great thinkers of the early Church, Tertullian, faced with the increasing hostility of the Greco-Roman world towards the emerging Church, once famously declared:
Yet the Church came to see that it could not stand apart from the culture and society in which it was set, despite the rising tide of persecution. A few generations later, Athens and Jerusalem concluded a concordat which in due course became a major shaping influence on European civilisation, and that in turn gave birth to football.
I would not want to say that football is now a greater shaping influence on our country than the Christian faith. I am told that the weekly audience for "Songs of Praise" is still greater than that for "Match of the Day".
However, we have seen in recent years a tendency for religious imagery to gather here and there around what is sometimes slightly euphemistically called "the game". One recalls Bill Shankly's famous remark about football. Asked whether it was as important as life and death, he said that it was much more important than that. One thinks, indeed, of the contemporary news of the rather tasteless casting by Madame Tussauds of David Beckham and his wife as Joseph and Mary. Some years ago Eric Cantona, the famous Manchester United player, was put in the place of the risen Christ in the famous painting of "The Resurrection" by Piero della Francesca. That was a little before his two-footed tackle on a supporter who taunted him, which rather changed his image.
I am not here to knock the passion with which fans support their clubs. But I do want to ask how the passion with which the game is associated might be of even greater benefit to society at large than has already been expressed—for example, by the noble Lord, Lord Lyell. I declare a lifelong commitment to West Bromwich Albion, and, indeed, as they prop up the Premiership, a belief that the age of miracles has not yet passed.
Perhaps one or two other noble Lords will recall Jeff Astle's left foot strike just outside the penalty area which enabled West Brom to win the FA cup in 1968,
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1383
when I was "nowt but a lad". He, of course, is best remembered for missing an open goal against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup final at a rather critical juncture in the game. He died a couple of years ago, partly, apparently, from the injuries he sustained from repeatedly heading the ball—often, I am glad to say, into the back of the net. In retirement, Jeff Astle was a window cleaner. His van bore the emblem, "Jeff Astle, Window cleaner—Never misses the corners".
So, for a lifetime's love of the game, what are my hopes for the future, apart from a miracle for West Brom this season? Let me briefly mention three. First, football today illustrates one of the wider features of our society, where freedom, choice and opportunity tend to magnify the distance between winners and losers. That is true if you look at teams, clubs or the overall finances of the game or individual players. The money available from television since the advent of satellite television has tended to go mainly to a few clubs at the top. I entirely endorse the comment that a greater proportion should be fed down into other areas of the game, not least to support the amateur game.
Perhaps you cannot ultimately buck the market, but I believe that the circumstances of the game today call for more ways to be found for the top clubs and top players to be seen to support the game at lower levels and at the grass roots and, indeed, to support the society which accords them so much success in the first place.
Today we rightly have concerns about teenage health and obesity. We are aware of the widespread reduction in physical education in schools, which seems to be very hard to reverse, and the loss of school playing fields. In a different area, I was astonished a year or so ago when visiting a young offender institution near my diocese to discover that healthy young men aged 18 to 21 had only limited or non-existent opportunities to play sport. How short-sighted so much of our penal policy appears to be.
The professional clubs could make a huge contribution to social needs today beyond the commendable efforts which already exist and to which reference has been made. The greater wealth of the professional clubs should enable them to do more and to soften the effect of the great disparities of wealth which the modern world encourages.
The recent report from the all-party group reveals that 52 per cent of clubs have formal links with schools and 38 per cent of players' contracts require them to participate in such links. I should like to see higher percentages and for links to be made with places of greater social need in our society, including the young offender institutions, to which I have referred.
Secondly, I should like the clubs and players and those responsible for regulating the game to be even more attentive to the way in which standards of behaviour by players on and off the field have a big impact upon young people, in particular, who are so influenced by role models. Those who have watched the game over the years have seen the gradual emergence of the "professional foul" or the feigned injury and attempts by forwards illicitly to win a
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1384
penalty kick. These things are recognised, and attempts have been made to curb them. The yellow and red card system has reduced some of the worst foul play, but there is still far too much.
Perhaps I may comment that the England captain's action earlier in the year in deliberately fouling an opponent in order to get booked so that he could serve his suspension when he knew that he would be off injured seemed to me to be taken too lightly by the football authorities.
The difference in penalty between a yellow card and a red card seems to me to be too stark a discipline for referees to exercise. Is there not a case in football for 10 or 15 minutes in a "sin bin" as an additional option for referees? That might be a useful alternative to the nuclear option of a red card.
Young players at the top clubs today are given huge amounts of money and the trappings of a celebrity lifestyle. Is enough done to help them to understand the responsibilities which should go with such rewards? I think there is a particular onus here on the clubs to do more, but perhaps in conjunction with the football authorities and the players' union.
Finally, I say a word about referees. They generally do a pretty good job by my judgment, but they currently have a near impossible task. I have already referred to the rather meagre and uneven range of sanctions which are available to them on the pitch. We have seen how modern technology has begun to assist referees and umpires with marginal decisions in cricket and rugby. Given all that hangs upon critical incidents in football games involving the referee, is there no place for providing referees with some technical help with a limited number of critical incidents during a professional game? No doubt careful thought has already been given to that but, at present, too many games turn on controversial decisions by the referee. That does the game no good at all. Perhaps each team could be allowed a limited number of appeals per game against decisions to award a penalty or to allow a goal.
Let me draw to a conclusion. The late Cardinal Hume was an ardent supporter of Newcastle United, a club that my daughter, who was born in the north-east, supports with equal fervour. Indeed, on arrival at Newcastle University last September, her first port of call was the supporters club, where she obtained a part-time job that she still has. When Newcastle was in the FA Cup Final some years ago, Cardinal Hume was asked whether he had any advice for the team. "Yes", said the cardinal, "to win". Winning is important, not least for West Brom at present, but it is not everything, and the manner of the broader conduct of the game is vital to its continued success.
Lord Pendry: My Lords, I must begin by congratulating my noble friend Lord Faulkner of Worcester on securing the debate. I fully recognise why he sought to initiate it, as he has been responsible for spearheading many of the changes for good in our national game in the past, in his capacity as deputy
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1385
chairman of the Football Trust. At the same time, I understand his frustration at the lack of progress made by football authorities, despite his efforts.
For my part, I must declare my interest before embarking on my remarks; namely, that I am the current president and former chairman of the Football Foundation, which is, as noble Lords will know, a partnership between government, the Football Association and the Premier League that funds a transformation of the grassroots game and which, in the past four years, has established itself as the largest sports charity. As the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said recently:
"Football is our National game. It reaches out to the most disadvantaged. The Football Foundation has provided new and better facilities for kids up and down the country. I am delighted to announce that what started as an experiment is about to become part of the fabric of local sport".
I recognise the issue highlighted by my noble friend Lord Faulkner: financial problems face even some of the top Premier League clubs but, even more so, some of the clubs in the lower leagues, as I am only too aware from supporting Derby County in the Championship and Stalybridge Celtic in the Nationwide North. Legitimate concerns have already been expressed about the leadership of the game and the direction of football's governance in the future. We must ensure that sound corporate governance and sustainable financial decision making are to the fore.
There is a real sense that the game is at times lurching from one crisis to another, whether as a result of the indiscipline of players; the impact of agents; or, indeed, the action of those who should know better in the boardrooms of clubs and governing bodies. Those issues are important, and we must continue to work with those in charge of the game to ensure that they are addressed appropriately.
However, the picture is not all doom and gloom. As my noble friend Lord Faulkner has already made clear in his balanced approach to the problems facing football, steps have already been taken by the Premier League and the Football League to generate higher standards of governance by member clubs. The introduction of fit and proper person tests, enhanced directors' reports and a directors' declaration of shareholdings are all to be commended and enhance the standards of accountability to new levels above and beyond what is required by UK company law.
Annual directors' reports also oblige clubs to set out to the appropriate football authorities a statement of their transactions, including payments to agents or third parties, as well as at the end of each accounting period. Those measures are further backed up by an independent auditor's report and add a new dimension of transparency to the game. Although we must always hold those running football to account when we believe that they are falling short of their responsibilities, we also have a duty to praise and publicise actions that demonstrate football's ongoing commitment to sound corporate governance and sustainable financial decision making.
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1386
Those are important steps along the way of improving the state of football. Of course, they are not enough in themselves. Indeed, the issues that have been raised during this debate deserve more than two and a half hours of consideration. Perhaps that will happen following the lead set by my noble friend Lord Faulkner today.
In addition to board-level developments, things are also going right in our national game at grassroots level. It will not surprise the House if I refer in particular to the Football Foundation. The Premier League, the FA and the Government have delivered the biggest funding package in the history of sport, which, in turn, has led to the largest redistribution of wealth to the grassroots of the game. In such a short time, the foundation and its non-charitable arm, the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, have already provided funding in excess of £200 million for 1,800 projects. That, in turn, has attracted additional inward investment into the sport of more than £225 million.
Success indeed breeds success. Barclays Bank plc recently announced its intention to inject a huge £30 million into a three-year partnership with the foundation and Groundwork called "Barclays Spaces for Sports", which will regenerate urban sporting areas. That is the single biggest investment ever in grassroots sport by a British company.
The foundation believes that everyone should have access to modern sporting facilities in the immediate area, not necessarily with a view to becoming an elite sportsman or woman, but simply to gain the benefit that sport can offer. The FA informs me that more than 7 million adults and 5 million children regularly play football. In the past three years, there has been a 31 per cent rise in mini-soccer for under-10s; a 27 per cent rise in youth soccer; and, as I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, will be pleased to know, a 53 per cent increase in the number of women playing the game.
In the light of that trend, I, like my noble friend Lord Faulkner, welcome Brian Barwick to his new position as chief executive of the FA. I call on him to secure the faith of those who passionately believe in the importance of our national game and to build on the capacity of the FA to run football as it should be run, with stability and integrity.
So, for all its many faults—there are many—in my view, the national game is improving, slowly but positively, and all of us who care about the game must give recognition and support to the areas in which football is working well.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |