Post on 18-Dec-2014
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Table of Contents
Title Page No.
Introduction 2
Background 3
Research Questions 5
Hypothesis 6
Methodology 7
Data Presentation and Analysis 8
Summary of Research Findings 14
Recommendations 15
Conclusion 16
Works Cited 17
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Introduction
Football is the most popular sport in the world. In recent years, its popularity in
Bangladesh has gone through the roof. To be more precise, it’s actually the popularity of
English football that has gone through the roof. Almost everyone follows the English
Premier League regularly and pretty much anyone can name the players of the England
national team.
A major part of the reason for the rise in popularity of English football has been the
excellent performances of English clubs in the European Champions League (Europe’s
premier club competition). Clubs from England have won the Champions League twice
in the last five years, and England has also been represented in the final in each of those
five years. Impressively, over the last two years English clubs has had three out of the
four semi-final spots, while last year both the clubs in the final were from England.
However, despite all the support and fan following the England national team has not
been nearly as successful as the English clubs over the years.
My research will try and find out why and how the rising popularity of the English
Premier League has done nothing to improve the fortunes of the England national team.
This is fast becoming a hot topic of discussion among football fans. It would seem to be
quite unfathomable as to why a national team would struggle despite there being a very
successful domestic league in place.
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Background
The English Premier League is the domestic football league in England. It is by far the
most popular domestic football league in the world. Even though many would argue that
the Spanish League or the Italian Serie A is better, there certainly is no questioning the
fact that the English Premier League is miles ahead when it comes to popularity. If there
was a definite way to rank these leagues in terms of quality, the English Premier League
might very well have topped that table too.
An English Premier League spokesman told CNN’s Greg Duke, in an article: “(English)
Premier League matches are played into 600 million homes around the world, with an
estimated audience of four billion viewers.” It is not the most popular league without
reason. In addition to having very successful teams, some of the most talented and best
paid players in the world ply their trade in this league. Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres,
Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Carlos Tevez are just a few out of a
plethora of world-class stars who play in the English Premier League. In Manchester
United and Liverpool, they have the two of the most well supported teams in club
football. In fact, most football lovers here in Bangladesh would claim to be die-hard fans
of Manchester fans. Quite a few of the clubs are owned by mega-rich foreign investors,
which make sure that they can easily afford to buy quality players from wherever they
desire. All of this makes the English Premier League a very lucrative attraction for
sponsors, who flock by the dozens from all over the world to get a piece of the action. In
that same article Greg Duke also says, “Despite the worldwide economic downturn it
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seems there is one commodity that remains as valuable as ever. With media companies
around the world paying record sums for broadcasting rights, the English Premier League
- with its array of world-class players - continues to prove hugely marketable.”
Things with the England national team, however, are very different. It would only be
logical to think that a strong English Premier League would make for a strong England
national team, but that is not the case. England are currently ranked 7th in the world by
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association, world football’s governing
body). They have won the World Cup only once, back in 1966. Even then they had the
advantage of playing at home. It is quite baffling as to how the inventors of the “beautiful
game” have managed to win the World Cup only once. Despite that they are regarded as
one of the heavyweights of world football. More recently, we have become accustomed
to watching sub-standard performances from England in major international tournaments.
Even last year they failed to qualify for the European Championships. When they do
manage to qualify, they seem to have barely made it. Yet they go into every one of these
tournaments being touted as one the favorites to lift the trophy.
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Research Questions
1. What makes the England national team and the English Premier League so
popular amongst the general public?
2. Why have English clubs performed so well in the European Champions League
recently?
3. Why has the England national team performed poorly in recent international
tournaments?
4. How does the England national team and the English Premier League compare
with other national teams and their domestic leagues?
5. What are the ways in which English football can improve?
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Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that under all the hype and popularity of English football, there just is
not good enough local talent in England for it to succeed in the long term. In essence
there’s not much “English” about the English Premier League at all. Most of the big clubs
are filled with foreign players that the wealthy owners helped them buy. I believe, if it
were not for the combination of these foreign players and owners, teams like Manchester
United, Chelsea, and Liverpool would not have performed so well in the European
Champions League in recent times. As a result of so many foreign players playing in the
league, local English players are not getting enough opportunities to shine and thus their
skills remain underdeveloped. Therefore not enough good English players are stepping up
to the England national team.
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Methodology
For my primary data collection, I conducted a survey by distributing questionnaires
among football fans. This survey was aimed at finding out what people’s opinions were
on English football and how it compared to my hypothesis. I would also have liked to
interview a few football experts. However that has not been possible not been possible
simply because there are not very many experts on English football going around in
Bangladesh.
As for my secondary research, I looked at articles from the online versions of different
British newspapers. In the absence of an interview of a football expert, this would not be
a very bad substitute. Some of the articles I covered not only had expert opinions but also
had interviews from different football pundits and legends.
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Data Presentation and Analysis
The following covers the questions asked in my questionnaire and the
answers I received:-
1. What is your favorite football club?
2. What is your favorite international football team?
3. What do you think is the best domestic football league in the world?
These three questions were asked in order to establish where the allegiances of my
surveyed population lay. I had suggested earlier that the English Premier League and the
England national team were very popular, and these three questions would prove if I was
correct.
The answers I got from the first question were exactly as I had expected. About 71% of
the surveyed population named English teams as their favorite clubs while the rest named
either Spanish or Italian clubs. Interestingly, exactly half the surveyed population named
Manchester United as their favorite team.
The answers from my second question did not even come close to my expectations. I had
expected England would be the most popular answer by far, but it was actually one of the
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least popular answers. Argentina and Brazil were the most popular answers with about
28% and 23% respectively.
The answers from the third question were very much up to my expectations. A whopping
76% of the surveyed population said the English Premier League was, according to them,
the best domestic football league. The rest said that it is the Spanish La Liga that is the
best domestic league.
4. Why do you think the England national team has performed poorly in recent
international tournaments?
As demonstrated by the chart above, the surveyed population thinks that the main reason
for the poor performances of the England national team is poor management. A third of
the population agreed with my hypothesis that there are not enough talented English
players. Interestingly, about 14% of the population even suggested that bad luck may
have had something to do with the poor performances.
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5. Why do you think English teams have done well in the Champions League in
recent years?
As we can see quite clearly in the chart, a massive portion of the surveyed population
believes that it was the talent of the players that has enabled English clubs to be
successful in the European Champions League.
6. Do you think that there are enough young and talented English players in the
English Premier League?
A resounding ‘yes’ seems to be the reply I got when I asked this question. Only about
24% of the population thought that there are not enough young and talented English
players in the English Premier League.
7. Do you think that English clubs would be as successful in Europe had it not been
for their wealthy owners?
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About 57% of the surveyed population felt that English clubs would not have been
successful in Europe had it not been for their wealthy foreign owners. So I guess opinion
about this particular question is somewhat split down the middle.
8. What do you think has been the effect on young English players as a result of so
many foreign players coming in?
About 62% of the population felt that foreign players had improved the quality of local
English players through more competition. 24% said that foreign players had decreased
the quality of local players due to the fact that they are now getting fewer opportunities,
while 14% felt that foreign players had made no difference. I found this particular answer
a bit perplexing in the sense that if foreign players had indeed improved the quality of
local English players, would the England national team not have started performing
better?
9. How do you think would it be possible to improve the quality of up and coming
local English players?
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This question was asked to find out what the surveyed population felt was the best way to
improve the quality of up and coming local English players. As expected, people came up
with varied ways to solve the problem.
10. Do you think the England team has what it takes to win the upcoming FIFA
World Cup in 2010?
Of all the people in the survey, only two people said that they felt the England team has it
in them to win the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
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The following is some of the information found from my secondary
sources:-
England manager, Fabio Capello, has a tough task ahead in trying to get his team
to win the upcoming World Cup in 2010. The team desperately lacks strength in
depth and there are not enough new players coming through to challenge the
already established players.
Dutch legend, Johan Cruyff says that English clubs have become too reliant on
foreign stars since there are very few Englishmen playing in these teams. As a
result not enough good young English players are coming through to the England
team.
English clubs could take a lesson from current winners of the European
Champions League, Barcelona. A few months back Barcelona won the
competition (beating Manchester United) with no fewer than seven home-grown
players in their starting eleven.
English clubs would struggle if UEFA passed the ‘6+5 rule’. If this rule were to
be passed it would mean that for every five international players there would need
to be six domestic-based players in the team.
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Summary of Research Findings
My primary research tells me that there is in fact sufficient local talent in England. The
success of English clubs is very much based on the talent of its players and not other
factors. It also says that the English national team also has talented players and that their
failures may be attributed to other reasons. According to the survey, the influx of so
many foreign players in the English Premier League is indeed a blessing and not a curse
for English football.
Results from my primary and secondary research are contradicting each other for the
most part. Primary research findings disagreed with most of my hypothesis with only a
few exceptions. In some cases, their overwhelming disagreement with my hypothesis has
landed me flat on my face. The secondary research findings, however, agreed with most
of my hypothesis.
The reason for which I thought that people so greatly disagreed with my hypothesis is
because their opinion were, to put it lightly, somewhat biased. As displayed by the
answers from questions 1 and 3 in the survey, most of the people are fans of English
football, and as such would not have a low opinion of it.
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Recommendations
English football may be going through a golden period right now, but this could very well
come crashing down if they do not get their act together and look at long-term solutions. I
believe young English players need better training academies that will help them hone
their skills. In addition to that, these young players should be given the opportunity to
play and thus improve on those skills. I have no qualms with bringing in foreign players,
so long as the local players are given sufficient opportunities.
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Conclusion
This research has given me the opportunity to look at English football in a different light
to what is usually seen. Amidst all the glitz and glamour of English football, some of the
issues discussed in my research can easily be overlooked. While my research isn’t exactly
solving the problems, I hope that it will at least bring some awareness among us football
fans.
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Works Cited
1. Beckles, K. (2009, July 12). ‘Home-grown rule affecting English football.
Retrived August 8, 2009, from http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2009/07/home-
grown-rule-english-football.
2. CNN. (2009, July 30). English Premier League remains export gold. Retrieved
August 8, 2009, from
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/07/10/premier.league.finance.influen
ce/index.html.
3. Draper, R. (2009, May 24). Guardiola’s Barcelona are kings of the home-grown
league. The Daily Mail. Retrieved August 8, 2009, from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html.
4. Hansen, A. (2009, June 8). Fabio Capello beset by dearth of English talent.
Telegraph. Retrieved August 8, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
5. Shakran, K. (2008, April 12). The English Premier League and Its Effect on the
English National Team. Retrived August 8, 2009, from
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/17424-the-english-premier-league-and-its-
effect-on-the-english-national-team.
6. Telegraph staff. (2009, May 19). Premier League too reliant on foreign stars, says
Johan Cruyff. Telegraph. Retrieved August 8, 2009, from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
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