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‘Why foreign players migrate and the effect their involvement has had on English football since the inception of the Premier League’ (Part 3)

In parts 3, 3a and 3b of this blog we come to analysing the major different views and perceptions on the issue: the three that frequently appear include the notions that foreign players are having a seriously detrimental effect on the production, development, and opportunities available to indigenous talent: which is therefore having a negative effect on the performance and development of the national side (Maguire & Pearton, 2000). Finally, the migratory patterns that resonate towards the core of football have heralded a process of systematic ‘deskilling’ of ‘donor’ clubs, leagues, and nations such as Africa. These sentiments are strongly held in England, but are also echoed in other countries such as Italy, as former Italian U21 coach Cesare Maldini (2000) states:

“At youth level, our football is getting worse. We don’t have the players any more. The increasing number of foreigners in our game means the opportunities for the youngsters are vanishing”

However, if we refer to recent research therein lays a controversial alternative story for the former arguments. Solberg and Haugen’s (2008) research offers a useful insight behind the phenomenon of foreign player migration in football. The authors conclude in their research that despite the view point of the common English football fan and some senior figures in world football the migration of foreign players is actually having a beneficial effect on the development of indigenous players as opposed to a detrimental effect. Further advocates of this theory (Akindes et al., (2007) provide us with evidence that when African players migrate to Europe they gain further knowledge and ‘European’ football traits, thus developing them as players and individuals.

Exchange

Although, this is also a two-way process whereby at the foreign players exchange their knowledge and ‘African’ footballing traits with the indigenous players, which creates a positive learning environment for both parties. Furthermore, Elliott and Weedon (2010) support these conclusions with their own branch of research, which concerned itself with players from the English Premier Academy League. Their evidence provided additional reinforcement for Solberg and Haugen’s findings and delivers a strong basis to argue that a process of ‘feet-exchange’ rather than ‘feet-drain’ – a term which is derived from the ‘brain-drain’ early work in the 1960’s which examined the issues that ‘donor’ nations face when a highly skilled workforce migrate or relocates (Iredale & Appleyard, 2001) – is actually occurring within the Premier Academy level.

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‘Feet-exchange’ is a two-way process whereby foreign and indigenous players exchange their skills, technique and knowledge, and it offers a strong counter argument against the common views and negative perspectives, at least within the Premier Academy League level. In England the game is known for its pace and physicality (Elliott & Weedon, 2010), however, English players are seen as technically inferior to their European counterparts. Within Elliott and Weedon’s paper they include their qualitative based evidence in the form of interviews with various academy coaches and managers from the across the English Premier Academy clubs. One academy manager states that in his opinion:

“[Foreign players] are far more technically oriented . . . Technique is so important, it’s the great English drawback. Physically we’re good, tactically we’re okay, but technically we’re poor. The Dutch and the Italians totally leave us standing. The [foreign] boys we’ve got, their technique is really, really good, and there’s the challenge for the English boys, they’ve learnt that they have to work on their technique.” (Anon, 2010).

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As previously mentioned, the English game is known for its pace and physicality, and herein lies the two-way process of ‘feet-exchange’: as foreign players must adapt and learn to deal with the physicality and pace of the English game – with the aid and exchange of knowledge, sometimes achieved purely through the observation of the indigenous players – and therefore the indigenous players also learn to hone and improve their technical skills by playing with far superior technical players (Elliott & Weedon, 2010). This transfer of skills is concluded by an academy coach in Elliott & Weedon’s paper, who states that foreign players ‘raise the bar’ for the indigenous players. Taylor (2007) further adds that:

“[Foreign players] brought in training [philosophies] and lifestyle ideas that are ahead of our own. They have broken down prejudice and national stereotypes. As a group, they have set standards of attitude and behaviour that have been as good for our society as they have been for our game.”

In summary the current research in particular that carried out by Elliott and Weedon (2010) has contributed to the dispersal of the popular discourse that foreign players are stifling indigenous players’ opportunities to play and develop, at least within the English Premier Academy League. Further research needs to be conducted to conclude whether the influx of foreign players is preventing the indigenous players from graduating into the first teams or is it that we as a footballing nation are just not producing players good enough to challenge the foreign imports.

Part 3a of this blog will naturally follow on from Part 3 with the perceived negative effects that the influx of foreign player migration has had on the performances and development of the England national team. To offer evidence for or against these claims I will analyse the performances of the national team over the past three decades, the latter of which heralded the influx of the foreign player migration trend.

References:

Andreff, W. (2009). The economic effect of ‘Muscle-Drain’ in sport. In: Walters G and Rossi G (eds) Labour Market Migration in European Football: Key Issues and Challenges. London: Birkbeck Sports Business Centre, pp. 9–31.

Anon. (2010). In Elliott and Weedon’s (2010). Foreign players in the premier academy league: ‘Feet-drain’ or ‘feet-exchange’? International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(1): 61–75.

Blatter, S. (2003). In Darby, P., G. Akindes, and M. Kirwin (2007). Football academies and the migration of African football labour to Europe. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 31(2): 143–161.

Blatter, S. (2008). Football Gives Hope. Available from: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/president/news/newsid=741873/index.html [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Brooking, T. (2007). English football under threat. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6975955.stm [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Darby, P., G. Akindes, and M. Kirwin. (2007). Football academies and the migration of African football labour to Europe. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 31(2): 143–161.

Del Bosque, V. (2012). Spain Coach Vicente Del Bosque Insists Foreign Premier League Players Are Not Damaging The English National Team. Available from: http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/477/euro-2012/2010/09/22/2131418/spain-coach-vicente-del-bosque-insists-foreign-premier [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Elliott, R. (2012). New Europe, new chances? The migration of professional footballers to Poland’s Ekstraklasa. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 0(0) 1–16

Elliott, R. and J. Harris. (2011). Crossing the Atlantic from football to soccer: Preliminary observations on the migrations of English players and the internationalization of major league soccer. WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labour and Society 14(4): 555–568.

Elliott, R., and G. Weedon. (2010) Foreign players in the premier academy league: ‘Feet-drain’ or ‘feet-exchange’? International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(1): 61–75.

European Commission (2008) Press Release IP/08/807. Brussels: European Commission.

Ferguson, A. (2007). Ferguson calls for a cap on foreign players. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/nov/06/newsstory.arsenal [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Fischer, P. A., M. Reiner, and T. Straubhaar.(1997). Interdependencies between development and migration. In: Hammar T, Brochmann G, Tamas K and Faist T (eds) International Migration, Immobility and Development: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford: Berg, 91–132.

Iredale, R., and R. Appleyard. (2001) Introduction to the special issue on the international migration of the highly skilled. International Migration 39(5): 3–6

Klein, A. (1989). Baseball as underdevelopment: Dominic resistance, and baseball. Dialectical Anthropology 13: 301–321.

Klein, A. (1991a). Sport and culture as contested terrain: Americanisation in the Caribbean. Sociology of Sport Journal 8(1): 79–85.

Klein A (1991b) Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

Klein, A. (2006). Growing the Game: Baseball and Globalization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Lanfranchi, P., and M. Taylor. (2001). Moving with the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballers. Oxford: Berg.

Magee, J., and J. Sugden. (2002). The world at their feet? Professional football and international labour migration. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 26(4): 421–437.

Maguire, J. (1999). Global Sport: Identities, Societies, Civilizations. Cambridge: Polity Press

Maguire, J. (2004). Sport Labor Migration Research Revisited. Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 28, 477-482.

Maguire, J. and R. Pearton. (2000). The impact of elite labour migration on the identification, selection and development of European soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences 18: 759–769.

Maguire, J., and D. Stead. (1998). Border crossings: Soccer labour migration and the European Union. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 33(1): 59–73.

Maguire, J., G. Jarvie, L. Mansfield, and J. Bradley. (2002). Sport Worlds: A Sociological Perspective. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Maldini, C. (2000). In Maguire, J.A., and M. Falcous: Sport and Migration: Borders, Boundaries and Crossings

Moorhouse, H. F. (1994). Blue bonnets over the border: Scotland and the migration of footballers. In: Bale J and Maguire J (eds) The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Migration in an Interdependent World. London: Frank Cass, 78–96.

Molnar, G., and J. Maguire. (2008). Hungarian footballers on the move: Issues and observations on the first migratory phase. Sport in Society 11(1): 74–89.

Poli, R. (2010). African migrants in Asian and European football: hopes and realities. Sport in Society. 13, 1001-1011.

Poli, R. (2010). Understanding globalization through football: The new international division of labour, migratory channels and transnational trade circuits. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 45, 491-506.

Poli R., L. Ravenel, and R. Besson. (2011). Annual Review of the European Football Players’ Labour Market. Neuchâtel: Professional Football Players Observatory.

Soldberg, H.A., and K.K. Haugen. (2008). The international trade of players in European club football: consequences for national teams. International Trade of Players. Unknown, 79-93

Stead, D., and J. Maguire. (2000). Rite de passage or passage to riches? The motivation and objectives of Nordic/Scandinavian players in English League soccer. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 24(1): 36–60.

Storey, D. (2011). Football, place and migration: foreign footballers in the FA Premier League. Geography. 96, 86-94.

Storey, D. (2011). Sport and Geography. Teaching Geography. Unknown, 67-69.

Taylor, M. (2006). Global players? Football, migration and globalisation: 1930-2000. Historical Social Research 31(1): 7–30.

Taylor, G. (2007). Meltdown: The Nationality of Premier League Players and the Future of English Football. London: Professional Footballers’ Association.

Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-Diversity in Britain. Available from: from http://www.academon.com/research-paper/super-diversity-in-britain-96649/

[last accessed January 04, 2013]

Posted in Football and Science

‘Why foreign players migrate and the effect their involvement has had on English football since the inception of the Premier League’ (Part 2)

Jul 30

Posted by Jamie Powell

Following on from part one of this blog we’ll take a look at some of the reasons and explanations for this dramatic intensification of foreign player migration to Europe, and particularly to England.

Elite labour migration is now an established component of global sports (Maguire & Pearton, 2000), however national and transcontinental migration of highly skilled workers is not a new phenomenon (Lanfranchi & Taylor, 2001), and has become a prominent feature in global sports (Maguire, 1999; Maguire et al., 2000) such as association football. Migration in football is as old as the game itself (Taylor, 2006), and these migratory patterns have been identified as far back as the late 19^th century in which heralded the inception of the Football League. However, these migrations were largely undergone by other British players from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (Moorhouse, 1994). International recruitment of foreign players to England became more prominent during the post-war period, with an influx of migrants from the Commonwealth nations such as Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and the U.S, all of which shared lingual, colonial, or trading relations with England (McGovern, 2002).

Fast forward to the inaugural season of the Premier League in 1992/93 and further research shows us that during the past 20 years we have seen a dramatic intensification in the migration of foreign players to England (Elliott, 2012; Poli et al., 2011), of whom, have been described as one of the most ‘ubiquitous’ factors towards the continuing globalisation of the game within the 21^st century (Elliott, 2012). In-fact on the first day of the 1992/93 Premier League season there were only 11 foreign players in the starting line-ups for Premier League clubs. Since then this number has grown exponentially, and by the 2001/02 season foreign players were the new majority. The Images that follow give a great indication of just how diverse our footballing culture has become in England over the past two decades.

There are a number of reasons that have been established for this dramatic intensification of foreign player migration to England, and they are not just limited to economic factors (Elliott & Harris, 2011). With the reinstatement of British clubs into European competitions following a ban in the late 1980’s, and the establishment of the prestigious Champions League cup competition (Maguire & Pearton, 2000), complete with its subsequent high levels of economic reward for both clubs and players we begin to see the ‘pull’ factors at work. Furthermore, the Marc Bosman European court case in December of 1995 resulted in the abandonment of quota systems allowing a greater level of freedom of contractual movement for foreign players within EU countries (Taylor, 2006), as it was proven to be in direct violation of Article 39 of the EC Treaty (now Article 45) of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union law.

Another prominent feature of the migration followed the Taylor Report in 1990 which resulted in British football becoming a much safer environment resulting in foreign players beginning to show increased interests in migrating to England to ply their trade – which was in stark contrast to the 1980’s where British football was on its knees dying a hooligans death – and is arguably due to a dramatic influx of revenue made available through new media and sponsorship deals (Magee & Sugden, 2002) that Premier League clubs now enjoy as a result of their alliance with BskyB (Maguire & Pearton, 2000). Consequently, this had also lead to the dramatically increased and inflated salaries that professional footballers now demand. The previous has become a popular explanation amongst some academics who believe it the principle reason for migration, and describe it as the ‘mercenary’ (Maguire, 1996) desire to secure the lucrative financial rewards offered by clubs (Andreff, 2009). This desire for financial reward is, however, a more appropriate singular suggestion for migration outside of the sporting context, as highly skilled workers often migrate in order to exploit the positive wage disparities available abroad (Fischer et al., 1997).

The ‘mercenary’ desire may undoubtedly influence some players’ decision to migrate; however, it cannot be described as the only antecedent that influences these choices. Research has shown us that the practice of players ‘following the money’ (Maguire & Pearton, 2000) is part of a broader set of processes that incorporate political, historical, cultural, and geographical patterns.

There has also been a wealth of research (Elliott, 2012; Maguire and Stead, 1998; Molnar and Maguire, 2008; Stead and Maguire, 2000) that further examines the motives for the migration of foreign players, including their need to seek professional sporting experiences, coupled with the desire to test one’s ability at the highest levels – something that they cannot always achieve at the currently level offered to them in their native land. On the other hand, some players migrate only to where it is easier to become culturally assimilated, which perhaps explains why the British rarely move abroad. However, the majority of players who migrate aim to gravitate towards the core in football e.g. the Premier League or one of the other ‘top 5’ leagues in Europe.

Conversely, there are also many ‘push’ factors which force migration, including civil wars such as the many that disrupted Yugoslavia between 1991-1999. This initiated the movements abroad of many players from Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Serbia (Maguire & Pearton, 2000) to Germany which is now why we see the Budesliga overflowing with Eastern European talent. Furthermore, the over-production of indigenous talent can often result in a serious lack of playing opportunities for indigenous players, thereby forcing them to leave to find pastures new to earn a living. Finally, in some cases even being expelled from a particular league or even being exiled from the country it-self has forced some players to find a new country to ply their trade (Elliott, 2012).

In summary we can see that there is a wide variety of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that are not just limited to the huge sums of financial reward that have contributed to the mass migration of foreign players to European shores, but in some cases extreme events such as civil war are the catalyst. I believe it is important to understand and highlight the relationship that BskyB broadcasting has had on English football and migration since the Premier Leagues inaugural season. A tremendous amount of wealth has come from the relationship, and still there seems to be no plateau in the broadcasting rights fees. For the next three years BskyB and BT have paid the Premier League an incredible £3.018billion for the domestic TV rights, a remarkable 70% increase over the previous deal of £1.782billion, which is allowing Premier League club the license to dominate the foreign transfer markets, but although frequent are the calls for quotas systems and limitations to foreign player involvement, all in the name of ‘preserving English football’ of course. We must surely ask ourselves would we have the weekly spectacle we have enjoyed for the past two decades without the influx of these talented footballers?

In part 3 of this blog I will further analyse and address the aforementioned perceived negative effects that foreign players have had on the development of indigenous talent in this country, and will attempt to uncover whether these perceptions actually hold any truth.

References

Anon. (2010). In Elliott and Weedon’s (2010). Foreign players in the premier academy league: ‘Feet-drain’ or ‘feet-exchange’? International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(1): 61–75.

Blatter, S. (2003). In Darby, P., G. Akindes, and M. Kirwin (2007). Football academies and the migration of African football labour to Europe. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 31(2): 143–161.

Blatter, S. (2008). Football Gives Hope. Available from: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/president/news/newsid=741873/index.html [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Brooking, T. (2007). English football under threat. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6975955.stm [last accessed January 04, 2013

Darby, P., G. Akindes, and M. Kirwin. (2007). Football academies and the migration of African football labour to Europe. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 31(2): 143–161.

Elliott, R. (2012). New Europe, new chances? The migration of professional footballers to Poland’s Ekstraklasa. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 0(0) 1–16

Elliott, R., and G. Weedon. (2010) Foreign players in the premier academy league: ‘Feet-drain’ or ‘feet-exchange’? International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(1): 61–75.

European Commission (2008) Press Release IP/08/807. Brussels: European Commission.

Ferguson, A. (2007). Ferguson calls for a cap on foreign players. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/nov/06/newsstory.arsenal [last accessed January 04, 2013)

Fischer, P. A., M. Reiner, and T. Straubhaar. (1997). Interdependencies between development and migration. In: Hammar T, Brochmann G, Tamas K and Faist T (eds) International Migration, Immobility and Development: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford: Berg, 91–132.

Iredale, R., and R. Appleyard. (2001) Introduction to the special issue on the international migration of the highly skilled. International Migration 39(5): 3–6.