How Commercialization Affected for Professional Football - Essay Example

The league on its own has become extremely popular with players from across the world and these players are not just drawn by the money in the game but also the prestige and recognition that the game can give. There has also been a decline in the respect between clubs and fans, with frequent incidents of rude behavior. Taking into consideration all the constraints and areas of strength of the English Premier League, it is imperative to formulate long-term policies to ensure that the immense popularity of the League does not plummet.   

The English Premier League kicked off at a time when British soccer was facing increasing difficulties in coping with the changing paradigms of professionalism. England’s success in the 1966 FIFA World Cup managed to restore some pride among the British football fanatics who have been ardently following the First Division football league for many years then (North American Society for Sport History). It was the single most major soccer tournament in which the country’s top clubs used to compete for the apex title. However, the decades of the 1970s and the 1980s witnessed England entering into a rather novice phase marked by a lack of commercial enterprising on the part of sponsors and top brass of soccer administrators. European football in general followed a downward curve during these two decades (King 59). Several key factors were responsible for this lean period in the history of English soccer. These factors ranged from societal issues to lack of technical adroitness. However, the Premier Soccer League teemed with the very best from the global arena, and players from all continents signed for various clubs featuring in the League (Storey 108), thus turning English club football into an action-packed display of power and dynamism. 

1. 1 Background

1.1.1 History of English Football

The charm of English soccer ebbed away following the series of poor performances by the national soccer team in FIFA World Cups after their historic win over West Germany in the 1966 version of the premier title. The administrators and players alike needed to bring people back to where they could relate themselves to. However, due to a pervasive sense of hopelessness prevailing among the average followers of the sport, the task was not an easy one. Moreover, hooliganism was on the rise in the 1980s both on English soil and outside (Dunning and Malcolm 101). In fact, English football had earned a notorious distinction of promoting hooliganism across Europe and to other soccer playing countries (Bloom and Willard 306). Political reasons also came into contention in this regard, as some of the earlier events in the annals of world history were believed to have contributed to the imperialistic aggression displayed by English football fans (Chesner and Hahn 168). It was in the 1980s when the problem of vandalism, on and off the soccer field, increased beyond the level of tolerance, as English fans were involved in atrocious activities numerous times, that the game was brought to shame and disrepute.

Another issue that plagued English soccer during the 1970s and especially the following decade was its lack of selling propositions to the global market. The club merchandises usually wore a dull and unattractive look with marked shortage of sponsorship. The advent of paid television in the mid-1980s resulted in the manifold increase of the popularity of football and brought a lot of money into the football industry.