Homegrown Players Rule and 6+5 Rule

I’d like to take a moment to write something serious about the beautiful game. I know by now you must be used to my writing which includes alot of vulgarity and slander, but this topic here needs to be read and understood in a considerate manner.

On the 16th of May, Belgian team KSK Beveren announced they will no longer accept Ivorians on their team, after this summer’s departure of Ivorians A.Topka and A.Diabis. Doesn’t seem strange, however not too long ago KSK Beveren had no more than 15 Ivorians on their team, and frequently lined up a starting-11 full of Ivorians in competition. What’s going on here?

You guessed it: Sepp Blatter.

The increasing number of foreigners playing in diverse leagues has raised concern amidst FIFA and UEFA regulators. They cite that clubteams who accept large volumes of foreigners into their rosters are limiting the exposure of home-based players, compromising the ‘regional identity’ of the clubteam, and destroying the motivation for local youths to compete for a spot on the roster.

So in 2006/2007, UEFA, per Sepp Blatter’s directive, has proposed and approved a ‘home-grown rule’, which has nothing to do with medical marijuana’s SB420 legislation. Under this rule, should a team compete in UEFA competitions (Champs League/UEFA CUP) then they are mandated to have 25 players on their A-list, 4 of which are locally trained players (home-grown) for at least 3 years between the ages of 15 and 21.

Problem is, this caused a lot of big club teams to sortof engage in child slave trade, as they would scout aggressively for teenagers and put them under contract for peanuts. This is a trend going on right now in our beautiful game, as talent watch for young kids has been stronger than before. Luckily, this rule is mandated only on all UEFA competitions, but UEFA has asked national football associations to implement this same rule, yet the individual national football associations have the autonomy to make their own decision on it; eg. the English FA abide by it, the Polish league doesn’t.

So, to make things even worse, Blatter and his cronies devised the 6+5 rule, which basically says that for every competing team, they should have have at least 6 locally based players and maximum 5 foreigners on any given starting line-up. As you can imagine, this idea has met alot of resistance, from all sides.

So the European Parliament has stepped in, (imagine how powerful our beautiful game is over there!) and reviewed the legality of these rules. While it has expressed support over the home-grown rule, it has dejected the 6+5 rule as it, without doubt, embodies discrimination based on nationality and the EU wants no part of it.

Blatter thinks he’s greater than God himself, so he’s pushing his agenda through to the FIFA summit in Sydney later on the summer.

Ok, here’s what I think:

The home-grown rule stinks and the 6+5 rule stinks even worse. Why? Ok, the home-grown is sorta ok, but I don’t agree that at least 4 home-grown players should be on the A-list roster at any time. I think that locally based young players should look at their foreign counterparts and welcome the competition. In order for them to get better, they should up their game. If the Ivorians are alot better than the Belgians, then the Belgians should try to do better right? Also, perhaps its cheaper to employ Ivorians than contract the local Belgians. But does that stop us from reinventing ourselves to try to stay competitive in the jobmarket? Do you choose to stay unemployed because your job was outsourced to India? No, right? Exactly so, this home-grown policy is nothing but protectionist policy which serves to cater to locally based players not based on merit but based on ‘regional identity’. Like its so gdamn special that all of Real Sociedad’s players are all Basques? That may be unique, but we don’t see them contend on the highest stage, now do we? Why is the UEFA trying to maintain the tradition of club-loyalty by retaining their ‘regional identity’ in a time where (post-Bosman ruling) anyone can play anywhere anytime? What difference does it make that C.Ronaldo isn’t from Manchester? Does it make him more or less of a Mancunian since he’s from Portugal? So today he’s signifies every ideal about being a part of Manchester United and tomorrow when he signs with Real Madrid, he’s no longer from Manchester? Bullshit.

And what about this crappy 6+5 ruling? I remember long ago, this rule was only limited to 3 foreigners. Gosh, how low the quality of our beautiful game was back then. Ever tried watching an old replay of the FA Cup back in the early 90s when foreigners weren’t there? Boring and slow. Our beautiful game is eccentric and exciting because of the injection of dynamic players with sizzling styles. It just so happens that they are foreigners. Why is the EPL proclaimed to be the most exciting league in the world? Why do we all enjoy watching the enthralling games of the EPL? It’s because of the foreigners, my friends. The 6+5 rule is just discrimination, based both on race and nationality.

I hope Blatter knows that he’s stabbing himself in the back with his outrageous policies. Restricting the flow of foreigners into the most elite teams competing in the UEFA Champions League will destroy the attractiveness of the competition. Imagine a Man Utd without a C.Ronaldo. A Barca without Ronaldinho. A Real Madrid without Ruud v Nistelrooy. An AC Milan without Kaka. WTF???

To summarize this shit going on, think about your own situation. After all, football is every day work for players just like it is for us to get up every day and hit the grindstone. And depending how good we are at our jobs, we have the liberty to go and entertain any offers from prospective employers who seek to retain your quality of performance. They are also willing to pay depending on your performance. Should someone else perform better, or for cheaper, than you, then you will have to try to find a way to reinvent yourself so as to seem valuable once more to those seeking your kind of quality of performance. It’s as simple as that folks. No magic about it. This country was built on the services, free-willed and not, of foreigners. Everything great about our economy is attributed to the blood, sweat, and tears of the brave foreigners who have arrived here and excelled. They’ve made the playing field better for us. No better example of this than here in our own backyard, the Silicon Valley. How many foreigners do you have working at your company? Ever wonder why there are so many? What if state legislation puts a restriction on the number of currently employed foreigners in your company? (Not just new-coming HB-1 Visas). Think your company is still going to be as prominent as they are? Think neighborhood Joe Schmoe can come in and be a successfull development engineer? I hardly think so.

So this is what’s currently happening in European politics of our beautiful game. I’m sick of it.