So, the final frontier has been breached.
La Liga and UEFA have an agreement that the Villarreal vs Barcelona fixture which is scheduled to take place on or around Sunday 21 December, will now be held in
Miami.
UEFA even saying that all games should be played on home soil whilst giving the game the thumbs up is laughable. Aggravating. Just plain wrong.
Frankly, it is just about the most pathetic decision that all parties could’ve made and makes a mockery of all of he PR nonsense about fans being at the heart of the game.
Most of us have long known that football clubs and leagues couldn’t really give two hoots about the spectators as long as the powers that be are getting their pockets lined.
They can dress things up however they want but that is, and has been for years now, the truth. This decision simply confirms it.
As if anyone but the richest followers of either club are going to travel half way across the world for a league game.
What about those season ticket holders from the Yellow Submarine who mark their calendars at the start of each season for the visits of Barca and Real Madrid? Those Barca supporters who have always enjoyed their visits to the Estadio de la Ceramica?
Whilst it is accepted that football as a business does have to move with the times in some respects, and there can be cogent arguments made for some traditions to be, respectfully, retired, this one really sticks in the craw.
There’s simply no going back after this.
Many could point to the NFL’s very successful move to have one or two regular season fixtures played in the UK by way of an example as to how such a switch only enhances the product.
But that’s missing the point entirely.
La Liga isn’t the NFL, its playing staff are not the Harlem Globetrotters, this is not an exhibition match and the corporate dollar should not be what authors the game of football/soccer in Spanish football moving forward.
There’s simply no going back after this abomination and it can only get worse.
There needs to be serious push back from fans of either club that puts pressure on the decision makers.
No one in their right mind should stand for this, and it could even be the one decision of Joan Laporta’s tenure which sees him ousted at the next elections.
The ‘game’s gone.’
