Has the art gone out of Football???

In days gone by they used to talk about the "art of football" -  referring to the artistry of a particular footballer or the combined skills of a team. Watching a team when they are really in sync with each other, in a match where enough space is allowed for both sides to show off their abilities (individual and group) can be a sight to behold. Certainly the balletic qualities of a good Brazilian team are as artistic as dance can be and the ball handling skills of some players is something to marvel at. So in that sense we could  talk about footballers as being artists, at least as much as you could talk about any other top sportsperson or team being an artist(s). However, "artist" is a word often misused when "skilled" would be more appropriate, after all how often do you call a rugby player an artist or a weightlifter or a basketball player.  Great footballers of the past undoubtedly had sizeable and measurable egos but I wonder if they were quite as inflated as to think of themselves as artists (did Pele think of himself as such - I doubt it).  If footballers are to be called anything it is perhaps 'artistes' in the old fashioned sense of the word as used in the theatre.

Some people in the wonderful world of football have been calling players artists in the  attempt to maintain/create an exclusive status for footballers in relation to employment laws in the European Community. Actually clubs are more worried that they will lose valuable income if transfer fees are abolished while some players see themselves as  "slaves" to the system as it already is. Looking at the music business many will remember the court case George Michael felt was necessary to free him from a claustrophobic contract he had with Sony Music, while TAFKAP (Prince to you and me) was often seen in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek to indicate his feelings about the contractual relationship he enjoyed with Warner Bros. Is it really the case that if footballers become 'artists' they will be free?

What we are really talking about is a select group of players who, together with their agents, are out to exploit the market for their product to the maximum. Whatever you call them  - sportsmen, artists or employees -  we, the ticket buying public, are primarily interested in a good game of football and seeing our team win. Everyone is happy to see players earn a decent amount of money for their work, some might find that the money  asked for/by some players goes way beyond this. This is an area for heated discussion which is likely to dominate much of the press surrounding the sport in the coming years. What do you think about it? Write to us at FootballNL and tell us.