Tag Archives: sport
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Football crazy, Brexit mad?
As all eyes are fixed on the footballing world, the lingering questions over what Brexit will mean for our local football teams loom large.
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Undermining financial fair play and infringing on fair competition
The 2012 financial fair play (FFP) agreement between the Commission and UEFA was designed to create a level playing field to enable European football clubs to compete fairly with one another.
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Sport and dimension of identity
One identity can have multiple dimensions.
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Football, facts and apps
I spoke to EU Reporter about the interplay between Euro 2016 football, the EU referendum and how to distinguish facts from fiction in the campaign.
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Leave European football, take control?
We have surrendered control of football to UEFA and FIFA — a conspiracy of foreigners imposing their diktats on us. It has always been a problem that matches are overseen by unelected referees, clearly biased against us, whom we can’t remove during the match itself. But things are going from bad to worse. We no […]
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Remembering Heysel
Thirty years ago today, I was in Block Z of the Heysel stadium, while 39 people died just a few metres away from me. The memory of this has haunted me ever since. It was also a sobering lesson of how public authorities can try to absolve themselves of any blame, something sadly witnessed again […]
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Love football, but not at any cost
It’s no secret that the preparations for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 have been appalling for those working to build the stadiums. The conditions for migrant workers from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are working on building projects for the event, are dramatic to say the least. Many international organisations, […]
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Financial fair play regulations
Question Is the Commission aware that applying competition law in the strict economic sense to football clubs can undermine competition in the sporting sense? Is it willing to approve schemes to equalise the resources of football clubs (such as UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations) which have the effect of attenuating the concentration of wealth and […]
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Sanctions imposed by international sports federations in respect of non-authorised sporting events
Question The International Skating Union (ISU) threatens to ban its athletes for life if they participate in speed skating events that are not authorised by the federation. In various other sports, international federations similarly restrict the economic opportunities of European athletes. Aside from the specificities of the ISU ban, how does the Commission view the […]
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England and world cups — a lifetime of heartbreak
I’m old enough to remember watching (as a very young boy) England’s victory in the 1966 World Cup final. At the time, I thought it was in the natural order of things that England should be world champions. I was fully expecting us to continue this domination of world football. I was already puzzled that […]
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World Cup woes
As excitement builds for the 2014 World Cup that’s starting in a few days, it’s a real shame that the preparations have been marred by increasing rumours that something went seriously amiss in the process for awarding the 2022 tournament to Qatar. If it turns out the vote, or preparations for it, were fraudulent, of […]
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Orgreave Truth & Justice
A packed, lively, powerful and emotional event at the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign fundraiser in Rotherham. The organisers, led by Emma Wallis, did a brilliant job. Having supported the Hillsborough families in their struggle for truth about the behaviour (and subsequent cover-up) of the very same police force in that same decade, I was […]
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Skipton, York, Barnsley
Morning in Skipton at an open public meeting at the Herriot Hotel, where I had great support from the Labour members of the audience. But I hope I even convinced the Tories there to support Labour in the European elections. Pro-European Tories are distressed at the eurosceptic obsession of their party, and they know that […]
