By all accounts it was done with the best intentions when Uefa’s disciplinary committee decided to tack clause H on to Article 73 of its disciplinary regulations, governing “Matches to be played behind closed doors”.
They had decided on the numbers of VIPs, team delegation officials, media personnel, Uefa sponsors with complimentary tickets (unrestricted, obviously), police, security, and others needed around the stadium – groundkeepers, lighting technicians, and the like.
Then someone had the bright idea that it would be nice to allow clubs or national teams to offer free tickets to under 14s, either in schools or academies, who might otherwise not be able to attend football often.
The problem, in 2019 when the regulations were decided, was that no limit was put on the numbers.
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In September, Sparta Prague had around 10,000 young supporters in attendance for a behind closed doors Europa League game, punishment for previous racist chanting, who repeatedly booed Rangers’ Glen Kamara and held banners supporting Ondrej Kudela, the Slavia Prague defender who had been banned by Uefa for 10 games for racially abusing Kamara.
Then on Saturday, when a crowd of more than 35,000 – mainly children – were in attendance at the Puskas Arena for Hungary vs England, a game supposed to be played without fans due to racist behaviour at Euro 2020.
It was so obvious what was going to happen. So obvious that I had my smartphone ready to capture the moment: the few seconds when England’s players drop to the floor before the game commences. And, sure enough, boos rang around the stadium.
There had actually been a friendly atmosphere in the build-up. Children had lined the streets to cheer England’s coach into the stadium and there were pantomime jeers when the players came out to warm up. But the negative reaction to England taking the knee was unmistakable.
The average Premier League attendance last season was just shy of 40,000, according to sports economics and statistics website Sporting Intelligence. So while the Puskas Arena can hold 67,000, the attendance, while not officially confirmed, was not far from the average at a top-flight game.
The horns and high-pitched voices created an unusually intense atmosphere. The sound was a few octaves higher than adult chanting. But it was quite clearly not a punishment for racism.
Although England manager Gareth Southgate described it as “inherited thinking” and pointed out that’s why his players do it, he was a touch reluctant to dwell too much on the booing, wary of appearing as though he was deflecting attention away from criticism of his team’s first defeat within 90 minutes since 2020 and a disjointed performance in one the remaining few games before the World Cup.
Of course I understand the idea behind letting children in, the good intentions. But there is a big difference between arranging a day-out for some children and cramming your stadium with tens of thousands of spectators free to boo the visiting team’s anti-racism gesture.
If you want to demonstrate you are taking players’ concerns about football’s racism problem seriously, dishing out stadium bans then allowing member associations to fill their stadium via a loophole in the rules is an issue. And when things start being referred to as a loophole, it’s probably time it was closed.
Southgate feeling the heat
Gareth Southgate didn’t blame the surprise defeat to Hungary on the fatigue of his players who have had an extra fortnight and four games of competitive international fixtures bolted on to their gruelling season by Uefa.
But he did mention the weather: “We probably lacked a half-yard I would say, in terms of our real incisiveness,” Southgate said. “I think that was more the heat than the length of the season.”
It was, admittedly, pretty muggy in Budapest: clear skies with temperature around the mid-20Cs when the game kicked off.
Good job the World Cup this year is in winter!
Football’s crypto nightmare
Analysis by pro-cryptocurrency website coinjournal.net claims that “football has welcomed more crypto sponsorship deals than any other sport”. It references 12 English clubs who have struck deals with cryptocurrency firms.
And across sports, the research suggests there has been a 7,100 per cent increase in cryptocurrency sports sponsorship deals, as hundreds of millions of pounds have exchanged hands.
“Crypto and the world of sports are coming together like never before,” the report reads. “The largest crypto companies are vying with one another to gain a toehold in the lucrative global sports advertising industry. And sports franchises are more than happy to accommodate their overtures.”
Hopefully all those involved checked in on their fans, to whom they are pushing these largely unregulated and often exploitative crypto products, during the recent crash in the cryptocurrency markets. I suspect not.
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