In an unrelated forum that has nothing to
do with sports, I was chatting with an American who thought “Soccer” was an
un-American and socialist game
However I will state the opposite to be
true and in fact the way the English structure the football leagues does more
to represent the American dream more than any American sports
The idea that opportunity for prosperity,
success and social mobility and the idea that ""life should be better
and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to
ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of
birth." is a fundamental part of how Football is run in England. Football
in England is an allegory to free enterprise, individualism and a "can
do" spirit.
So how does the pyramidal system of
football work in England?
There are 22 levels of football in England
that contains 140 leagues and more than 7000 clubs. At the top of the pyramid
is the spectacular rich grandeur of the English Premier League (EPL), the
richest and most glamorous Football league in Europe. At the bottom of the
pyramids are local park amateur teams of essentially bunch of friends getting
together of having a game of football on the weekend. Every level of football
in this pyramid are connected by promotion and relegation where the team that
wins the league (sometimes 2nd and 3rd place team) gets promoted to the next
level of the pyramid while the team that finish bottom (sometimes 2nd bottom
and 3rd bottom) gets relegated to the level below the pyramid. So essentially
the top of the English Premier League is connected via promotion and relegation
straight down to the grass roots.
So what's so great about this system and
how does it connect to the American Dream?
1. If you work hard, you can make it to the
top
By connecting the grassroots with the
superstardom of the EPL . Every single club in the pyramid, if they have the
ability and work hard enough, they can reach the top. Every single club can
dream of playing against Manchester United, Liverpool to win the English
Premier League. This is because there is a clear progression from the bottom of
the pyramid to the top of the pyramid and has a clear set path of social
mobility allowing newly form club opportunity to strike it rich.
This pyramid is clearly a representation of
the dream that many American wish for of starting a small business and making
it big.
2. The barriers of entry is low
The barrier of entry to the Football
pyramid is low. Any person who has access to a park to play football and have a
bunch of mates can create a club and join the football league. Of course, the
more money and the more fanbase and the better football ground the higher the
level they let you join the league and clubs that stat of as amateurs,
semi-professional and fully professional joins at different stages. However
even a person with modest resources can form a football club and participate in
the pyramid. This easily represents the ideal vibrant competitive marketplace
where the barrier of entry is low that allows anyone with entrepreneur ambition
to easily join.
3. No restriction of ambitions
There is no salary cap there is no wealth
distribution and there is no draft. It is merely up to each individual club to
sign whatever players and staff they can afford and the sky is the limit and
there is only small limitation (due to the recent un-American Financial Fair
Play) to what resources clubs are allowed to use. This freedom ensures that
football is played to the maximum of their ability and to ensure the
"pursuit of excellence" in sports is maximised. If you are
successful, you aren't punish for the success by having your wealth
redistributed to other teams nor will you lose players that help you succeed by
unable to pay them the increase in salary they deserve due to salary cap
constraints. Clearly this is reflective of the free enterprise that defined
America.
4. No incentives for failure
It is open secret that with leagues where
there are drafts that "rewards" teams that fail that tanking is
prevalent. NBA in the United States have been bogged by tanking allegations
with team deliberately not trying hard to maximises the chance of gaining a good
draft pick allocated by the governing body.
Is there anything more un-American than
that? This is essentially the equivalent of welfare cheat slacking off to get
welfare payments from the government and leeching of the success of other
people.
Even for sports where there is no draft.
The worst thing that could happen in finishing last is that you get to try
again the year later.
However in this football pyramid there is
absolutely no incentive to play poorly and the consequences is dire. You finish
bottom and you get relegated to the next division where you are exposed to much
less revenue. Not only is this entertaining for fans where relegation battles
are just as entertaining and tension filled as the battle for first place. The
pyramid creates a culture of ruthless competition and accountability. Bad
management will not be covered up by wealth redistribution and draft picks. The
consequences of failure ensure the highly competitive nature that ensures the
high standard of football being played in the country.
5. No regards to class, history,
circumstances of birth
Imagine if major sporting clubs with a rich
history such as Boston Celtics or the New York Yankees have a poor season due
to poor management. Due to that poor season, they get relegated and the NBA and
MLB have a season where they aren't present at all as they are stuck playing in
lower divisions.
It's unthinkable isn't it but that's the
reality that football in England face. Sheffield FC the oldest Football club in
the world is playing in the 8th division of the football pyramid. Nottingham
Forest the first English club to win back-to-back European cups has been
playing in the 2nd and 3rd division in England. Leeds United one of the biggest
clubs in England have been playing in the 2nd and 3rd division. In the past Manchester united was relegated
in the 1973/74 seasons.
This is sport at it's purist to adopt the
"let the scoreboard decide" mentality that is very much a reflection
of "let the market decides' attitude that traditional American culture
celebrates.
Of course everything doesn’t last for ever
and just as modern American society are lamenting the death of the American
dream, there are threats to the English Football pyramid with the un-American
“Financial Fair Play” that threatens to limit the ambitions of football clubs
in Europe. Nevertheless Football in
England reflects the American dream more than any other sport.
So when you think of what is
quintessentially American. Don't think about apple pie, hot dogs, Chevrolet,
baseball. Think of Soccer in England
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