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| Italian Soccer's Revolutionary Decade |
| Soccer fans in 'The Boot' discover that Marx was not completely wrong |
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Raffaele Mastrolonardo (raffo)  |
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Published 2005-06-16 15:01 (KST) |
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Karl Marx was right after all. Capitalism corrodes all traditions, no matter how ancient and revered they are. It does not care about the sacredness of the institutions it turns upside down, contaminating them with the logic of "callous cash payment," as the philosopher stated in "The Communist Manifesto."
Italians might well agree. After all, in the last 10 years they saw the rituals of the country's most cherished and practiced religion drowning "in the icy water of egotistical calculation," as Marx would have put it. We are talking about soccer, obviously.
In this revolutionary decade "all that is holy [was] profaned," and in place of the calm reproduction of the old rituals, one finds endless upheavals bewildering not only fans but even prominent social scholars. In 1990 sociologist Alessandro Dal Lago dedicated the introduction of his book on soccer to the continuity of the phenomenon from the early beginnings to our age. Ten years later he had turned to self-criticism.
In those years he admitted in his book "Descrizione di Una Battaglia: I Rituali del Calcio" (Description of a Battle: The Rituals of Soccer) that "soccer was conquered by the devastating logic of television market" and "the very same organizational (and to some extent technical) structure of the game has been radically transformed, due to the intrusion of television market."
Imported in the last decade of the 19th century, thanks to a group of British businessmen living in Genova, the religion of soccer in Italy counts today 36 million of believers. So many are the Italians who call themselves tifosi (fans) of a soccer team -- 60 percent of the population of the "Boot" (source: Cirm Eurotop). Soccer occupies 41 percent of the 2,000 hours televisions dedicate to sports each year. And Italy is the only country in Europe with three national newspapers totally dedicated to sports covering mostly soccer.
This mass of followers has seen the institution it worships changing a lot in the last few years, just like 19th century men and women saw their society turned apart. Then and now, every departure from hundred-year-old practices is attributed to capital.
It seems a lot longer, but it is only 10 years since Italian soccer games ceased to begin all at the same time. Until 1993 the ritual was celebrated with the punctuality and synchronism typical of sacred ceremonies: Each game of the four professional tournaments started at the very same moment the day dedicated to God -- Sunday.
Capital, embodied in a small pay television channel, performed the miracle (or the blasphemous act, depending on the point of view): A game of Serie B, the Italian second division, was anticipated on Saturday and a game of Serie A, the main championship, was postponed to Sunday night. This little modification to the ritual was worth 23 million euro. The path of change was thus open; three years later two Serie A matches were anticipated on Saturday.
In the meantime, satellite TV had paid 110 million euro for the right to broadcast each game. In 2000-2001 this figure climbed to 516 million, while inequality among the teams rose. In 2003 Juventus FC, Italy's most prestigious team, cashed 54 million euro from TV contracts. Siena, got nine times less: 6 million (Source: Il Sole 24 Ore, January 7, 2004).
Due to the invasive entry of television into Italian soccer the stadium has lost its status as the main temple for the religious practice. Italian soccer domes, once the most crowded in Europe, have been steadily losing attendance. The average crowd at a Serie A game declined from 38,872 in 1984-85 to 29,883 in 1993-94, and to a meager 25,482 in 2002-03.
The numbers stamped on the team jerseys was yet another victim of the "unconscionable freedom of Trade" chanted by Karl Marx. They had been the same since the Genoa Football and Cricket Club in 1897 won the first scudetto (championship title) in the history of Italian soccer. Just like in rugby the numbers were the same for every team indicating, from one to 11, a precise role and position on the field for each player.
The god to which the tradition was sacrificed is called merchandising. Following the example of British soccer, Italian teams found out they could make money by assigning a number to each player at the beginning of the season and then selling jerseys with that number and the name of the player stamped on them.
In 2001, Serie A teams collected 16 million euro from the sales of teams' shirts and gadgets. But the potential market is far bigger. The revenues sucked out by the illegal commerce of these products amount to 18 million euro. And even if the numbers are beginning to look interesting, Italian soccer can certainly do better. In the United Kingdom, for example, revenues from merchandising amount to 147 million euro.
No more synchronicity, no more of the usual numbers on the jerseys. Nothing but money and changes as it happens wherever capitalism can spread with no barriers. For years indeed some restraints coming from traditions had worked. The Italian soccer players market was limited to two distinct periods: the big one, between June and July, and the small one, for a few days in October.
The consequent partition of the season was to become conventional. Teams were set up in July and trained throughout August to be ready for the beginning of the tournament in September. Minor changes were possible in October, but teams could not hire players from other teams playing in the same division.
In the mid-1990s, however, soccer companies wanted the chance to adjust things and find solutions for unforeseeable events: Players turning out to be less effective than thought or being sidelined by unexpected injuries. The summer players market was thus extended until the end of August, only to be open again for the entire month of January.
The results of this liberalization and of the famous Bosman Case -- a legal decision made by the European Court of Justice in 1996 that made transfer fees for out-of-contract players illegal -- was an increase in the number of hired players.
In 1995 players under contract in Serie A were 393; in 2001 they grew to 712 (Source: Corriere della Sera July 15, 2002). In the season 1989-90 Serie A teams used in the entire tournament on average 2,077 players. Ten years later, in 2000-01, the average was 2,733 (Source: "Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio," 1986, 2003). In the meantime, expenditures for players' wages climbed from 417 million euro in 1997-98 to 807 million in 2003 (Source: Il Sole 24 Ore, January 7, 2004).
During this revolutionary decade the law accompanied and sped up the transformation that had already been taking place. Law 586/1996 authorized sports companies to make profits: They could get involved in activities related to sports and received permission to distribute dividends to shareholders.
A few years later SS Lazio, AS Roma and Juventus FC went public. By changing the legal status of the teams, soccer companies were transformed into money machines. In 2003 FC Juventus reported revenues of 218 million euro, AC Milan 204, FC Internazionale 164, AS Rome 139 and SS Lazio 101.
At the same time, however, Italian soccer became a debt machine as well. In 2003 FC Juventus reported a gross debt of 166 million euro, AC Milan 174, AS Roma 340 and SS Lazio 472. Overall the whole Serie A reports 1.15 billion in revenues and 1.74 billion in debt (Source: Il Sole 24 Ore, January 7, 2004).
These sorry estimates would be much bigger if it were not for the so-called "saving soccer" law voted on last February by the Italian parliament. The bill allows soccer companies to spread over 10 years the burdens coming from the depreciation of players' value. Without the help of the government, 2003's 350 million net loss for the five top teams would have amounted to 1.3 billion euro (Il Sole 24 Ore, January 7, 2003).
The Italian soccer industry is in a dramatic financial position. Even more dramatic since the same law that benefited teams so much is under the scrutiny of the European Commission. The "saving soccer" law is accused of being a form of state subsidies, contrary to European norms. Italy could eventually be forced to abrogate it.
Karl Marx was right after all. Capitalism despises all traditions, no matter how ancient and revered they are. The Boot's soccer comes out of the revolutionary decade as the country's 12th industrial sector and a totally different institution from the one it has been for almost a century. No more synchronicity and rigorous punctuality of the ritual. More people watching television and less people going to the stadium. Twisted schedules, hypertrophic teams, strange numbers on the jerseys, huge debts and many teams on the verge of collapsing.
The speed of all these changes is quite shocking if compared to the relative calmness of the previous era. But this pace would have not shocked Marx who knew the revolutionary character of capitalism. And quite loved it. He always preferred the iconoclastic spirit of the bourgeoisie over the hypocritical character of old institutions.
Marx indeed applauded capitalism for having "pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors'" leaving "no other nexus between people than naked self-interest." Italian soccer fans now know he was right at least about this. It remains to see if they share his enthusiasm.
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| Thumbnail credit: Lega Calcio |
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©2005 OhmyNews
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