Michel Platini, the UEFA president, has already made quite an impression since his appointment. He has already reached an agreement over disputed matters, which resulted in the G14 group disbanding, so withdrawing the threat that it would form a breakaway European league.

A European Club Association (ECA) is being established in its place and the planned make-up means that a majority of its members will almost certainly be supportive of Platini’s plans. The chairmain of the ECA, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, has stated “Football is sick”. The former Germany striker told Kicker magazine “I read a statistic which says 85% of all professional football clubs are running at a loss”.

I have had a look at the main problems that seem to be affecting world football and how we could begin to solve them, including inflated transfer fees, sky-high player wages, clubs heavily in debt and proposed rules on player quotas.

Transfer fees

Is Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka worth 80 million pounds? If a player wants to leave a club then the minimum that the player should leave for is the value of the remainder of his contract. For example, if Joe Cole is on 75,000 pounds a week, that equates to 3.6 million pounds a year. If he has 4 years remaining, his minimum value is 14.4 million pounds yet if he has two years remaining he is worth just 7.2 million pounds. These are quite realistic values that are often paid for players of this calibre. But, this minimum valuation ensures that clubs are not held to ransom.

Yet, should there be a maximum limit? For example, maybe if twice the value of the remaining contract is offered then it has to be accepted. A realistic way of implementing this would be setting a release clause in every players contract, which would be reviewed yearly. So, if players sign an extension then their release value could rise, whereas if they continue to work out their current contract then their release value would drop.

Release clause value = 2 x remaining contract value

So, relating to the previous example, if Joe Cole had a four year contract and Real Madrid offered 28.8 million pounds then the offer would have to be accepted. Whereas, if he only had two years remaining the release clause would be activated at 14.4 million pounds. Although at first glance it may seem that bigger clubs could take advantage of the smaller clubs. The smaller clubs would be able to re-invest any money from players sold into similar players as they won’t be held to ransom, as players will always be available for between one and two times their remaining contract.

Spiraling wages

It would not be possible to ‘fairly’ implement these regulation without getting to grips with the financial issues in football, particularly rising wages. Deloitte, a top business advisory firm, recommends a 55 per cent wages to turnover ratio to ensure financial stability. Only three Premiership clubs currently meet that criteria; Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham. I believe Chelsea’s ratio is around 70 per cent, 133 million pounds on wages, out of 190 million pounds turnover.

UEFA president Michel Platini has set his sights on reforming the finances of Europe’s top clubs. He has warned that Europe’s governing body is going to “fight very seriously” to restrict entry into the Champions League and Uefa Cup for clubs that are in debt. I believe it wouldn’t be right not to allow clubs entry due to debt. I will look at this in more detail later. I think that clubs should be allowed to participate as long as they demonstrate sustainability. Platini should look at implementing the 55 percent turnover ratio.

This could be phased in to ensure clubs have time to reassess their spending. I.e Season 1, no criteria for wages to turnover ratio; Season 2, maximum 65 per cent wages to turnover ratio; Season 3, 60 per cent wages to turnover ratio; Season 4, 55 per cent wages to turnover ratio. Any club that defies these regulations could be banned from playing in European competitions until they meet the criteria.

The regulations on transfer fees and wages would have to be introduced together and implemented throughout Europe by UEFA. To ensure global competitiveness, i think it would be vital that FIFA also adopted the regulations to ensure they were administered worldwide. As if European teams were restricted in terms of the wages they offer, etc, then a different league could take advantage. For example, if the Premier League, Serie A, and all European leagues restrict the amounts players can earn, then maybe the MLS could offer ‘mega-deals’ to players in order to create a super-league in America.

Levels of Debt

Back to our current world super league, the English Permiership. There is no doubt that this is currently the world’s top league, emphasised by the fact that two english teams competed in the final. UEFA president Michel Platini warned that “this success is often built on an unsustainable level of debt which, in all fairness, is distorting the level playing field in Europe”.

That warning is pertinent to the two Premiership clubs that reached the Champions League Final in Moscow with their talented, highly paid squads, and staggering levels of debt. Manchester United and Chelsea have acquired almost equal shares of a combined 1.5 billion pounds owed to creditors in contrasting styles, illustrating the random nature of takeover. Chelsea’s debt takes the form of an interest free loan from Roman Abramovich.

Whereas the Glazer family bought United in 2005 with huge borrowings, and loaded their own debts and swingeing interest payments on the club. United’s most recent accounts showed the club, who had no debts before the Glazers arrived, with borrowings now of 666 million pounds, including 152 million pounds owed to hedge funds, and interest due last year of 81 million pounds. United Investigating the debt of the two clubs would be an article in itself, but surely if an investor’s only investment in the club is debt then they shouldn’t pass the fit and proper persons test.

6 + 5 = illegal

FIFA, well Sepp Blatter at least, has been widely publicising their/his “6 + 5″ rule, aiming to ensure that at least six players in every clubs squad are from the club’s own country. Vladimir Spidla, Europe’s commissioner for equal opportunities, has ‘given the red card to the 6 + 5 rule’. The 6 + 5 rule is directly discriminatory and therefore incompatible with the EU law.

It seems that it will be impossible to implement this rule [sigh of relief] due to the EU’s trade laws regarding free movement of labour within member states. It also seems slightly odd that they are pushing for this in particular, considering the “home-grown players” rule that has been successfully proposed by UEFA. Maybe it’s because these regulations have yet to be applied to the major domestic leagues, only the Champions League and some smaller domestic leagues.

UEFA defines “home-grown players” as those who, regardless of age or nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21″. The commission has approved the Uefa arrangement because it contains no player conditions based on nationality. “

Compared with the intentions announced by Fifa to impose the so-called 6 + 5 rule which is directly discriminatory and therefore incompatible with the EU law, the ‘home-grown players’ rule proposed by Uefa seems to be proportionate and to comply with the principle of free movement of workers”.

An independent study has been carried out on the “home-grown player” rule under which clubs in the Champions League and the Uefa Cup would have to have a minimum number of “home-grown players” in their squads. The European Commission said the underlying objectives of the UEFA scheme, to promote training for young football players, were legitimate. UEFA have phased in this ruling, starting with a minimum of four home grown players, rising to six a
nd now eight, out of the squad of twenty-five, must be home-grown players. Uefa have hit upon a formula that is practical, feasible, and effective, especially when compared to Blatter’s doomed ‘6 + 5 rule’.

Aside the fact that it would be illegal, the 6+5 rule would result in the wealthiest clubs scooping up the best British talent. It would thereby defeat one of its own objectives, which is to increase competitiveness and give smaller clubs a chance. A case in point: Manchester United have been portrayed by many of Fifa’s advocates as a shining example of how six plus five is the way to go. In the Champions League Final this year United operated with six home players. Yet a second glance revealed that four of these players (Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick) were bought for colossal sums of money, partly due to the over-inflated price that normally accompanies homegrown players. Fifa’s ruling would merely make these players even more highly valued commodities, and as such only affordable to the top clubs.

Summary

I would argue that a combination of these factors would make all players more widely available all the way through the football pyramid, increasing competitiveness. Firstly, i feel that it is vital to ensure that our football clubs are kept out of the hands of so-called investors, that end up saddling the clubs they have bought with huge amounts of debt. Secondly, introducing the wages to turnover ratio for clubs and having a set value for all players depending on their contracts (with the contracts offered being limited so as not to break the wages to turnover rule and risking major punishment). The continuation of UEFA’s home-grown rule would ensure investment in youth is maintained by the top clubs.

Most of us probably had the odd playful pillow fight when growing up, usually with our siblings and occasionally a bit of venom would sneak into the fun. But now battering each other around the head and body with a feather-filled weapon is just one of the many games played by adults participating in the worldwide craze known as Street Wars.

Although there are other games such as an extremely elaborate hide and seek and human Pacman, one of the highlights of the Street Wars craze is undoubtedly the Pillow Fight Club which originated in San Francisco. However, unlike the Fight Club movie that inspired it, the first rule of Pillow Fight Club is that you tell absolutely everyone about the Pillow Fight Club! The second rule is that you don’t hit anyone who doesn’t possess a pillow, unless they expressly invite you to clobber them.

The only other rules are designed to ensure safety, including not loading your pillow with anything other than feathers and not striking anyone with a pillow who is in possession of a camera and taking a picture. Like Fight Club the significantly safer Pillow Fight Club is designed to release pent up anger in a regulated environment, but unlike the violence of the movie no blood is spilled as the aggressive pillow whacking soon transcends into laughter and mirth.

One of the finest examples of the Pillow Fight Club in action happened in San Francisco on 14th February 2007. After receiving meeting instructions by text and over the internet over one thousand people gathered outside a major hotel in San Francisco close to the Ferry Building – all carrying over-stuffed pillows and itching to participate in the pillow fight to end all pillow fights.

Within seconds of the official start time of ‘6.00 p.m. prompt’ the participants launched into their mass battle and the air was immediately filled with feathers and raucous laughter. Officious-looking Pillow Fight Club ‘regulators’, wearing yellow hard hats and carrying clipboards ensured that participants kept to the simple rules, but happily no-one needed a reprimand.

The fluffy ‘St. Valentine’s Day massacre’ in San Francisco involved the total annihilation of one thousand pillows, but unlike its infamous Chicago namesake there were no deaths or even minor injuries! Everyone who participated had fun, whacked and got whacked and then slipped off into the night leaving behind a scene of utter feather devastation. One happy participant totally summed up the event when she said: “No injuries, no cops and lots of fun and feathers!”

I still remember watching my dad up to his waist in a rushing Colorado stream casting flies for trout. I was too young for that kind of fishing (although at the age of six I had caught a trout off the bridge in front of our home, using a spinning reel and a worm).

It fascinated me to watch the glistening line whipping repeatedly back and forth over his head as he sought to get enough distance to put the fly where he wanted it.

The memory of the heavy strikes and the subsequent fights with lunker trout (that we ate that night) drove me to fly fishing later in life, but I took it up with certain amount of trepidation.

I have to admit I was somewhat intimidated. Fly fishing took a lot of skill, I thought. More that I felt I had.

JUST A LITTLE MORE SKILL?

Arguably, fly fishing takes just a little more skill, or “know-how”, as my dad might put it, than other forms of fishing.

Matching up your equipment is just the beginning, learning to cast takes practice, not just to get familiar with how the reel works as it spools off line, but to gain the dexterity to place the fly where it needs to go — to drop it right in front of a lunker you suspect is lying in a pool behind that big rock.

Then comes fly tying — not really necessary — but a skill that puts you miles ahead of the fisherman that buys flies off the shelf, who can’t “match the flies to hatch”, or create them “on the spot”.

More skill than you or I possess, you may ask? No, not necessarily. Not if you find and associate with the right people, those who already possess the skills, and are more than willing to impart them to you.

A SOLITARY SPORT?

At first glance, fly fishing seems a solitary sport. While you might see more than one fly fisherman wading in a stream or a lake, they appear to be pretty isolated from one another, not exactly like a bunch of golf buddies pulling a cart and shooting above par.

The fact is that that individual fly fisherman probably has a lot of “back-up” contacts and friends; you just can’t see them because they’re all part of the club he belongs to.

He as acquired many of his skills by associating with other people.

WHY JOIN A CLUB?

In our busy schedules, clubs take time away from other things we probably should be doing. In many cases, clubs are time wasters, put together by people who have an obsession with following “Robert’s Rules of Order”.

Fly fishing clubs, however, are close to a necessary item on the fisherman’s menu — that is if he also wants to include fish on that same menu.

There are many reasons for joining a club. By associating with enthusiastic fellow fisherman at a higher (and lower) experience level than your own, you can

– discover more about your equipment.

– learn how to choose rods, reels, line, and gear.

– hone your basic skills. Get tips about such things casting, fly selections and determining “where the fish are” in a variety of environmental situations.

– learn how make equipment. Maybe you’d like to make your own fly rod from a blank or discover what equipment and materials you need to tie flies.

– uncover the best places to go to catch fish. Fly fishermen will divulge these things to friends they respect.

– plan trips and vacations. A fishing trip is not a trip unless you take people you like and are as enthusiastic as you are.

– help those less experienced. It’s always good to impart what you know. It’s said that a teacher best learns his own craft by teaching others.

– experience the camaraderie that comes with getting together with like minded enthusiasts.

TYPES OF CLUBS

Fly fishing clubs can be national, regional, local, or ones that are strictly internet based. Many cater to beginners or focus on fly tying or other techniques.

Three notable National Clubs are

– Federation of Fly Fishers

– International Women Fly Fishers

– Trout Unlimited

These clubs are dedicated to education and preservation of cold water species and habitats, and are great for educational opportunities.

Regional and local fly fishing clubs such as those indigenous to your state or city may provide a little more of the camaraderie you’re looking for, as well as information that you can apply to waters you’ll find where you live.

Internet clubs may be fun to join as well. You can post to forums and get tips by internet messenger or email.

Clubs you can find in your city or neighborhood may be the best for getting the kind of “hands on” experience you’re looking for. Check with your local bait and tackle shops for information on what’s available, and if you can’t find one, start one. Those same bait and tackle shops will jump at the chance of posting fliers for you and recommending their customers.

NO LONGER ALONE

Each type of club caters to a different need, and you might find it beneficial to join more than one. By doing so, you’ll find you’re not alone.

Even if you’re out in the stream by yourself, you’re surrounded by your friends in the club. When you see that fish rise, when it slams into your fly, your ears will ring with their enthusiastic support –

“Now, don’t horse him in, give him his head!”

“Keep your line tight.”

“Okay, now he’s tired, you can start bringing him in.”

“Keep your rod tip up.”

And finally,

“ALL RIGHT, NICE ONE! HOW BIG IS HE? I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT”

No, with your new-found club friends, you’re definitely no longer alone.