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Dougie Freedman, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand: the hypocrisy in football

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The last couple of weeks in the English game have highlighted the hypocrisy and contradictions in “modern football”, that pejorative term which has oft been quoted when discussing the negative aspects of the world’s most popular sport.

Football is a business. Clubs are generally now run in the same way as any other business; Manchester United’s recent floatation on the New York Stock Exchange is an example of this. The recent episode experienced by those connected to Crystal Palace Football Club is another. A number of different views and accounts of Dougie Freedman’s departure to Bolton have been heard, some critical of Freedman and others critical of the Palace board. No matter which account is believed or which is the truth, the root cause for the switch is business.

If Freedman made the decision, it is down to the security of a longer term contract not offered by Palace in addition to the increased salary as he has a family to support first and foremost. If it was the board it could have come down to a few options around money, compensation and the cost versus sustainability argument that has been the key facet of the consortium’s approach since they took over. Either way it comes down to a matter of business.

In the same breath as being told football is a business, there are high profile examples which do not appear to follow general business practice. I am of course referring to the recent and ongoing racism debate. This piece does not intend to detail the arguments as this has been tackled by a vast number of pundits, journalists, bloggers and fans. The crucial points to come from this are that the punishments, from a business perspective, do not reflect the standard procedure.

It is common practice in a business to terminate the contract of anyone found guilty, after a disciplinary hearing or tribunal, of making a discriminatory remark or insult against someone’s ethnicity or race. John Terry was found guilty after an independent FA hearing, and was also disciplined by his club. He was fined, given a four match domestic ban and allowed to keep the Chelsea captaincy. This does not seem to match.

Importantly, I do not want to just jump on the Terry bandwagon. Rio Ferdinand was found guilty of improper conduct relating to a social network post that used a discriminatory term based on someone’s race. He received a fine.

And outside of England, two Serbian under 21 internationals were banned from competing for their national side for one year. This was for their role in a brawl after a match that saw some England players the subject of racial abuse.

Considering they were knocked out from qualifying for the under-21 Euro 2013 tournament by England as a result of the game in which the offences took place, it begs the question of how many games they will actually miss in that year.

The aim here is not to call for these players to be sacked but to highlight the inconsistencies that spread across the levels of the professional game. A decision such as a transfer, a player’s salary or a managerial sacking is put down to good business; football after all is a business as they say. But in other instances suddenly the game is different from a business, therefore different rules and disciplinary procedures apply. The idea of an employer/employee relationship and contracts are the hallmark of the business world, but fans are led to believe football is different despite this.

Now may be the time, with everything that is going on, to finally stop the inconsistencies and contradictions that blight the sport and in turn make it difficult to morally administer.  If football is a business, which a vast number of fans have accepted is now the case, it should be time to bring all procedures in line with a standard business. The game should not then be allowed to hide behind a “we’re different” approach when anything contentious arises. It should be either one or the other.

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