There used to be a saying that when you chose a team, you chose that team for life. It would appear that the phrase today has become outdated.
It is a fact that today the youth follow individual players rather than the team. Hence why the value of some players is so high. If a new club signs that player then their followers will move with them. They will buy the merchandise with that player’s name and number on it, and there is an almost instant return on the club’s investment.
The number of followers on social media is now becoming less relevant as businesses and potential sponsors are wising up to the fact these can be purchased, along with the fact that the number of followers means little unless the person being followed has the power to influence those followers. As an example, brand consultancy firm Future Brand predicted that David Beckham’s transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid would see in Asia the English Premier League club lose five million fans overnight. The TV stations in Asia were savvy to his appeal and the impact his move would have and many rushed to sign broadcast deals with the Spanish League.
David Beckham was a prime example of a player with influence. When he joined Real Madrid in his first televised interview he appeared wearing a club track suit top, a piece of merchandise that had not been selling well. Within 48 hours of him wearing it on television the club had sold in excess of 4000 tops.
This is one player, but the same applies to many others in football such as Ronaldo and Messi. In other sports like the NFL and the NBL the same is true of their star players.
This is the commercial reality of modern day sport. Money talks. It talks not only to the players themselves, but also to the clubs that they play for. Many realising that there comes a time when it is good business to sell your best or most popular player. Then lurking in the background are the player managers who are looking to sustain their income and take their cut of many of these deals. For some that is their only income, so understandably every new deal is important to them. Fo those starting out in the game it is important to remember that those agents who are not dependent on their players’ for an income are frequently the ones who will make the best decisions for their players’ career.
What is interesting is that the players mentioned have to a great degree been loyal to the clubs that they played for. They may have moved from one big club to another, with the exception of Messi, but all have then served those clubs well and for a reasonable period of time. Others however are constantly looking for the next move.
One has to ask if these players as role models set a bad example when it comes to loyalty? Of course loyalty is a two-edged sword, the player may want to stay, but the coach or the club may not want them to stay. Or as is often the case today cannot afford for them to stay.
Yet surely the problem is not so much with the modern player but with society, where loyalty has become a thing of the past. Fans have the chance to gain access to information on the big clubs in the English Premier League, La Liga and Serie A almost at will. They have access to the games online, can receive news updates and are across almost all that is going on at the big clubs.
By having access to view these games the average fan is far more educated as to what is good football and what isn’t. Some will claim that fans today are more tactically aware than those of yesteryear simply due to the accessibility of their sport.
The problem this creates is it makes it harder for the lower division clubs in those countries to keep and attract fans from their local area. Fans who would have traditionally followed their local club. The same is true for competitions such as the A-League.
Regrettably many of these clubs fail to appreciate how lucky they are to have such a loyal band of fans who still stick with their team through thick and thin. These fans are the epitome of loyalty. Sure they may air their grievances at times, but they feel that they have a right to, as they feel emotionally attached to what they see as “their club.”
It is questionable whether the modern day fan who follows a player rather than a club could ever experience such a feeling. Where many clubs have fallen over in recent times is that those running the clubs underestimate the value of the fans and view their sponsors purely as corporate clients.
Yet many a sponsor often has a link to the club, and has only become involved because of that link. It could be its location, childhood memories, or what the club stands for, its values or a star player. In a sporting landscape overflowing with egos many seem to forget that without the players who are the biggest asset, and the loyal fans, members and sponsors there is no club.
So surely this means that outside the elite side of the game teaching young players the meaning of loyalty is more important than ever?
The structure of sport in many countries now is geared almost solely towards the elite level. That is in spite the fact that 99% of those who play sport will never play at the elite level. Yet the focus in so many sports now is a road to nowhere called the ‘elite pathway.’
Already in football across Australia the National Premier League clubs are holding trials for the 2021 season. This has to stop. Having a child change club every year is not good for the game, or the child. Is it any wonder that some players in the A-League are not yet 25 years old and have played for four clubs? From a young age we have instilled in them that it is good to move clubs and each year, and they no doubt believe the promises that are made to them, even though history will show that most have been hollow promises.
There are no guarantees in life, so there should never be the guarantee of a game. That position must be earned. A child will benefit far more staying at a club, working on their game and earning a place in a the team, than simply changing clubs each year.
Why are these clubs not building a team? Why are the coaches not coaching? Why are they not teaching these players how to become better players, rather than each year trying to find better players to replace the ones they already have? Players that they no doubt hope may help deliver them success.
The fact that the clubs make everyone trial for a new season shows that they themselves have no loyalty to their players. What was wrong with the old model, where junior coaches built a team around a core group of players and over the years they helped them to develop. The coach would know what was missing from their team, the type of player they needed to improve the team as a whole. A player who may help those around him improve and achieve. The coach would then look to find such a player. They may approach the parents or the player when they felt they had found such a player, but then it was up to that player whether they wished to move or stay loyal to their existing club.
Sometimes players with ambition have to move on in order to improve, or be able to reach their potential. Most will always hold a special place in their heart for the club at which they started and the coaches that set them on their way. There will always be that loyalty. Yet from that point on many seem to forget what loyalty is.
Certainly the structures in place today do not instil such values. Many clubs themselves also do not instil loyalty. Yet as a general statement such a comment is unfair, as there are still sporting clubs in some sports that receive and inspire loyalty.
In hockey players tend to remain with a club. What is great to witness in Western Australia where the international players are drafted to clubs, in order to ensure an even competition, how many of those players once their international career is over opt to remain with that club. This is a credit to those clubs and the individuals.
When asked why they have made that decision when other clubs have come courting with incentives, nearly all to a man and a woman reveal that they stay because of how the club made them feel when they first joined. The support that they offered away from the field of play. Many went as far as to say that they felt part of a ‘family.’
These clubs clearly have things right. They still strive to compete at the highest level. They still look to develop the next great player who may go on and represent the state or even Australia, but they have created within their clubs a value that is fast disappearing from many other sports, one that is crucial to a club’s survival at every level, loyalty.
At the end of the day fans and clubs love players who are loyal.
Sadly today loyalty is looked at by many in terms of financial value but truthfully can we ever put a value on loyalty?
