Post by QPR Report on Aug 1, 2009 7:19:56 GMT
Speaking of Argentina: It will be interesting if Faurlin lives up to the hype of some on the boards; and when the facts re the Faurlin deal come out (if they ever do), what it actually is.
The Guardian/Marcela Mora y Araujo
Money men are gambling on the future of Argentina's football
Arguments over TV deals and gambling revenue mean the Argentinian league has been suspended. Can a solution be found in time for kick-off?
"The subject of gambling is all encompassing. It combines man's natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future" – Franz Rosenthal, Gambling in Islam, 1975
And then, the ball stops rolling. The unimaginable happens at last. No football.
Such is the worst-case scenario being contemplated in Argentina. The second half of the 2009 domestic tournament – the Apertura – is due to kick off on 14 August but this week the Argentinian FA resolved to suspend the entire league, from the top division to the bottom, until a solution to the cash-flow problems affecting clubs is found. The news has been wired across the world and from Mexico to east Asia the notion that Argentinian football is dead is being aired. But is this really the case?
Lack of money is neither a new phenomenon nor an exclusively Argentinian one. The background to the current crisis, in a nutshell, centres around outstanding debts some clubs owe their players – when the Clausura tournament finished the players' union, Agremiados, acting on behalf of the players, demanded the outstanding sums be paid out via a legal recourse known in Argentina as an inhibition. An "inhibited" club basically has its assets frozen: it cannot sign up or incorporate any new signings nor can it sell any players.
The decision to delay kick-off, however, must be understood in its proper political and economic context. The caveat to the suspension is that the AFA is now revving up all its engines to fight for structural changes to enable the football industry to enhance its income. From the confusing meetings and lobbying taking place in Argentina, some clear agendas can be spotted. The AFA believes it has undersold television rights and is hoping, in meetings to be held next week, to reach "a convenient and intelligent negotiation" in order to secure extra TV revenue for clubs. How the income is then divided among the clubs is also a contentious and difficult issue, but for now at least efforts are focused on increasing the total size of the pie.
Even more contentious and difficult is the issue of gambling, and specifically internet gambling. Gambling laws in Argentina are not a federal government issue – laws vary from province to province. In the more restrictive provinces, gambling still takes place, of course. But whereas according to current law each province can assign gambling permits, the main sport betting activity in the country, Prode (sport forecasting), operates under a law which grants the monopoly of sport bets to National Lotteries.
This is now a source of tension among jurisdictions, mostly because with the advent of online betting territoriality is becoming harder to implement. Put simply, you can have a permit to run a website in the province of Misiones, for example, but people from all over the country can take part. In addition, most of the domestic gambling websites are run by foreign companies, so any income derived from the activity leaves the country altogether.
Julio Grondona, the president of the AFA, has long wanted football to take a slice of the income derived from punters and is lobbying for what has become known in Argentina as the Prode "bancado". This week he has been on TV and radio pulling out all the stops – he has requested meetings with government officials and has already held some. He has spelt out the need for TV subscription mechanisms to change and is insisting, ad nauseam, that the current gambling structure is depriving the federation's coffers of the income it generates. "They use our fixtures to profit" is one of his favourite adages.
Political analysts note that this is an easier stance to take at a time when central government is weak, its popularity waning. Indeed, the Pink House (Argentina's answer to the White House) has now acknowledged that "no one wants football to stop".
Argentina is not immune to the troubles that afflict humanity. The economic crisis is global and gambling is, bizarrely, an activity that appears to be less affected by recession. As the hours pass, some of the clubs most affected by the inhibitions – Rosario, Independiente, San Lorenzo, Racing, River, Newell's and Huracán – are making headway in satisfying Agremiados' demands. Some of them have even managed to lift the inhibitions.
The tug of war between Grondona and the gambling legislators is only just starting, however. The deadline for the new financial forecasting to be in place is 11 August – that is when the AFA will review the suspension. My money is on kick-off as usual on 14 August. But not without a series of rides on the political rollercoaster which will have football fans and gamblers holding their breath.
This is football, after all. In the words of the immortal Stringer Bell: "There's a game beyond the F***ing game."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/31/argentina-football-league-gambling-tv
The Guardian/Marcela Mora y Araujo
Money men are gambling on the future of Argentina's football
Arguments over TV deals and gambling revenue mean the Argentinian league has been suspended. Can a solution be found in time for kick-off?
"The subject of gambling is all encompassing. It combines man's natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future" – Franz Rosenthal, Gambling in Islam, 1975
And then, the ball stops rolling. The unimaginable happens at last. No football.
Such is the worst-case scenario being contemplated in Argentina. The second half of the 2009 domestic tournament – the Apertura – is due to kick off on 14 August but this week the Argentinian FA resolved to suspend the entire league, from the top division to the bottom, until a solution to the cash-flow problems affecting clubs is found. The news has been wired across the world and from Mexico to east Asia the notion that Argentinian football is dead is being aired. But is this really the case?
Lack of money is neither a new phenomenon nor an exclusively Argentinian one. The background to the current crisis, in a nutshell, centres around outstanding debts some clubs owe their players – when the Clausura tournament finished the players' union, Agremiados, acting on behalf of the players, demanded the outstanding sums be paid out via a legal recourse known in Argentina as an inhibition. An "inhibited" club basically has its assets frozen: it cannot sign up or incorporate any new signings nor can it sell any players.
The decision to delay kick-off, however, must be understood in its proper political and economic context. The caveat to the suspension is that the AFA is now revving up all its engines to fight for structural changes to enable the football industry to enhance its income. From the confusing meetings and lobbying taking place in Argentina, some clear agendas can be spotted. The AFA believes it has undersold television rights and is hoping, in meetings to be held next week, to reach "a convenient and intelligent negotiation" in order to secure extra TV revenue for clubs. How the income is then divided among the clubs is also a contentious and difficult issue, but for now at least efforts are focused on increasing the total size of the pie.
Even more contentious and difficult is the issue of gambling, and specifically internet gambling. Gambling laws in Argentina are not a federal government issue – laws vary from province to province. In the more restrictive provinces, gambling still takes place, of course. But whereas according to current law each province can assign gambling permits, the main sport betting activity in the country, Prode (sport forecasting), operates under a law which grants the monopoly of sport bets to National Lotteries.
This is now a source of tension among jurisdictions, mostly because with the advent of online betting territoriality is becoming harder to implement. Put simply, you can have a permit to run a website in the province of Misiones, for example, but people from all over the country can take part. In addition, most of the domestic gambling websites are run by foreign companies, so any income derived from the activity leaves the country altogether.
Julio Grondona, the president of the AFA, has long wanted football to take a slice of the income derived from punters and is lobbying for what has become known in Argentina as the Prode "bancado". This week he has been on TV and radio pulling out all the stops – he has requested meetings with government officials and has already held some. He has spelt out the need for TV subscription mechanisms to change and is insisting, ad nauseam, that the current gambling structure is depriving the federation's coffers of the income it generates. "They use our fixtures to profit" is one of his favourite adages.
Political analysts note that this is an easier stance to take at a time when central government is weak, its popularity waning. Indeed, the Pink House (Argentina's answer to the White House) has now acknowledged that "no one wants football to stop".
Argentina is not immune to the troubles that afflict humanity. The economic crisis is global and gambling is, bizarrely, an activity that appears to be less affected by recession. As the hours pass, some of the clubs most affected by the inhibitions – Rosario, Independiente, San Lorenzo, Racing, River, Newell's and Huracán – are making headway in satisfying Agremiados' demands. Some of them have even managed to lift the inhibitions.
The tug of war between Grondona and the gambling legislators is only just starting, however. The deadline for the new financial forecasting to be in place is 11 August – that is when the AFA will review the suspension. My money is on kick-off as usual on 14 August. But not without a series of rides on the political rollercoaster which will have football fans and gamblers holding their breath.
This is football, after all. In the words of the immortal Stringer Bell: "There's a game beyond the F***ing game."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/31/argentina-football-league-gambling-tv