Nice summary

Though point 3 is the difference between marketing and reality. For at least 15 years the most striking thing for me is the 'game management' that teams at the top (and who aspire to stay at the top) employ.

If the championship and lower leagues are rougher and more agricultural, the top divisions are wildly cynical in their fouling /play acting and manipulation of the officials.

It's one of the biggest learning curves our young uns will need to master this year.

Professional sport has suffered from this for years and the money pressures mean that is unlikely to change. It'd be lovely if it became a sport again, but really it more closely resembles pre-arranged entertainment, such are the overt and implicit biases (monetarily and culturally) embedded in the system.

Posted By: Cardiff Canary, Oct 28, 10:32:52