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Class War issue 81: Economic Cleansing
£15! That's how much it costs to watch Leyton Orient in the 3rd Division. I currently reside in Germany, where my local team is ex-European Champions Borussia Dortmund. To get in to a state of the art stadium and watch a top European game costs 18 Deutschmarks. At today's exchange rate of roughly DM 3.2 to the pound, that works out at just under £6.
The truth is that for years us footie fans, 90% of whom are working class, have been treated like shit until a few corporate scum decided to jump on the football bandwagon. Now increasingly we cannot afford to support our own clubs - they have been snatched from our hands by the executive fan.
Pre-Hillsborough where in the world could you pay a tenner to get herded like sheep from the minute you left the bus, penned into a cage for two hours and with sub-standard catering and laughable toilet facilities. At one ground now probably a supermarket (Hello Reading FC) the 'toilet' amenities for the away fans were in fact a brick wall...with a trough at the bottom. Could you imagine buying a ticket for a West End show and being treated in the same manner? Don't think so!
Let's face it standards have improved 200%. But at what cost? Thanks to the various satellite and cable companies we now have the glorious game six or seven days a week. The increased ticket prices and the difficulty in obtaining tickets for some games mean the only way to be guaranteed to see your team is to subscribe to one of these companies.
With the BBC losing Match of the Day how long before we are priced out of the market, not just at the turnstile but also by satellite subscription charges? As with England's game in Finland, more and more games will become pay per view. What next after that? Will they try to charge us to listen the radio commentary? The next World Cup is next year in Japan and South Korea. Their TV companies want to charge the BBC and ITV £175 million for the rights, which they have refused to pay. So whether any of the home nations qualify or not, we might not be watching!
Back home, with the grass roots ostracised, the rich kids in their £30 seats will eventually get bored with football and jump on the next bandwagon. Then we will see empty stadia and still spiralling ticket prices so as to meet the wages of already overpaid primadonnas.
Our solution? A maximum wage. Leyton Orient Chairman Barry Hearn recently stated that Roy Keane's wages at Manchester United for one week were the same as the cost of running Leyton Orient for the year. If each club is budgeted to X amount per week, they could afford to lower ticket prices, enticing the masses back to their local football ground - the hub of the community.
Let's reclaim the game. Some clubs are already making inroads by electing supporters on to the board to liase with directors. We want a fuck of a lot more than that, but as a first step it will do!
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