The Premier League today gave the illusion that they are working their way towards the "6+5"
rule. Unfortunately for those of us who believe the rule would better European football, the
Premier League does not seem to be taking the issue of domestic talent seriously. Let us look at
the new rule:
The rule that was announced today states that from next year on every team must name a squad of
25 players, of which 8 must be home grown.
The ink was barely dry on their one record breaking contract to snag Kaka when Real Madrid
turned around and destroyed their own previous transfer record and purchased Christiano Ronaldo
from Man U for £80m. No need to link to a specific article, it's all over the news, hell, it made
NPR this morning.
EPL chief Scudamore has been a busy little boy this week, rattling sabers, and proposing all
sorts of wondrous rule changes. Changes that he thinks will save English football for Englishmen,
stamp out debt, prevent another Leeds United style collapse, prevent unseemly characters from
taking over clubs, and even had time to hail the Respect Campaign as an overwhelming success (link
works best in Internet Explorer, ugh).
Bit of a different format today, owing to the deluge of news that always happens on a Friday so
let's get stuck in, shall we?
Injury Update
Eduardo and Silvestre are both out for Saturday. Dudu is being rumored to be out for the rest of
the season with his groin strain while Silvestre will be a late test for Tuesday.
For those of you who follow my Google Reader shares (link there on the left to my page and an RSS
Feed on the right of the blog) you'll already know that we've got a lot of stupidity to get through
today. But before we get to the stupidity, I just want to say that [...]
So I got a very thoughtful reply to a year-old post I made on the 6+5 rule "FIFA Approves Blatter's
Rule: Or When 6+5=0". You can read the post for yourself, but the gist of it is that I think 6-5
rule sucks and is an affront to free trade, capitalism and economics.
If you consider yourself a political junkie on top of being an EPL newshound, then we certainly
have quite the interview for you today. With FIFA's proposed ‘6+5' rule to place limits on the
number of foreign-born players in domestic club teams rearing its ugly head in the press once again
in recent weeks, we here [.
FIFA recently approved the "6+5 rule" in a 155-5 vote among member nations. The
rule would mandate that clubs field at least six players from the nation in which they play.
By targeting wealthy clubs, particularly English ones, buying foreign players, FIFA feels they
would revive national teams and achieve greater parity.
FIFA met this week and took some important votes on several key issues. The one that could have the
most impact on the game as we know it is the "6+5 Rule," which would require that six of
the eleven players in any club's starting lineup be eligible to play for the country's [...]
Ugh... remember that lady behind me on the flight back from London? The one who was coughing her
lungs up mere inches away from my face? Well, I think I got her cold. I feel miserable today, worse
than yesterday by far and yet I absolutely must go in to work today. It's not fair [...]
Of all the problems plaguing modern football the biggest, and the first that I would change, is
international football. No more World Cup, no more Euro Cup, no more Under 19, Under 16, Under 3,
nationalistic pointlessness, I'd get rid of it all. It just seems like a holdover from when
Europeans used to kill [.
