#20 - #BoycottGW5

 Keegan's Corner

Edition 20 and a similar drum being banged in this edition of The RoaM.

By now, those of you whom are regular readers will be all too aware of my stance on modern football, and my perception of the poisonous influence of TV within the game. So this time I'll keep it short and snappy.

There'll be no Geordie dialect as a running theme throughout this edition.

This time there needs to be absolute clarity. Our game has been... 

As fans of Club Africain in Tunisia, so aptly displayed in their friendly match with Paris Saint Germain.

Without banging on about club ownership and the conflict of interests at my beloved Newcastle United though, this time I need to delve into the persistent poisoning of the 'beautiful game'.

In recent days, the Premier League and their sponsors/broadcasting partners announced the introduction of a £14.95 Pay-Per-View service that would see fans paying for individual "non-televised" matches on top of their standard subscription service, as if that wasn't enough of a rip off in itself!

Why is it, that the cash injection from fans must come via those same very TV broadcasters that are f£$£$£$ them over and filter down?! I don't support Sky, nor do I support BT and certainly not them knob-ends at beIN. Yet, these are the companies who seemingly dictate our game. Not the fans, communities or their respective clubs?

Football is made up from those communities, from the ground up, like any good structure.

Why are fans of a club like my own (Newcastle United) still paying for season ticket subscriptions, and not being refunded, despite not being capable of attending fixtures due to COVID restrictions? Yet, they're expected to pay an average of £75 per month for the Sky subscription, plus an additional £14.95 for their PPV fixture?!

It's absolutely disgusting.

These clubs should be offering streams to their match-ticket-buyers privately. Reinvesting ticket sales into their own clubs who they wish to financially and physically support, not feeding off the eventual scraps dished down from FIFA, The FA or the Premier League. It's no wonder that the game is contracting with clubs going bust left, right and centre at a lower level. It's long down the road of becoming an elitist, self-serving entertainment business and not as we all knew it, a sport.

Just look at the clubs during COVID, furloughing Joe Blogg on his 20k a year contract for working shite hours at a weekend to sell the clubs' globalised tat. Where badges are no longer embroidered and instead mounted on a shit white patch and slapped on like some sort of generic boy-scout badge. It's alright though, at least we can sign Player X for £20million on a £50k/week contract.

Don't let the bougie bastards at the top dupe you into thinking your loyalty to your club is evidenced by a TV subscription. It's not. It's evidenced by those colours you wear, your loyalty to your home or your loyalty to a notion of how that club best represents you.

Irrespective of whether there is a U-Turn following the backlash of fans across social and mainstream media, it's time fans unite and lay down their colours to really ensure the governing bodies feel the wrath of the collective consumer.

I know - I f£$£$£$ hate that term too.

But that's how we're viewed and that's where we are at. From shit kick off times to increasing match ticket prices that are only now starting to be capped. From Joe Blogg being furloughed to Player X getting in his Ferrari. This is the leeches at the top sucking the lifeblood from football, and it's only the likes of you (the reader) and I (the writer) that are being robbed.

It's time to say "enough is enough" and fight back.

Make a start - #BoycottGW5

Ciao for now 👊