Association football could learn a lot from American football ... I'm not talking about what happens on the field ... altho' it's a toss up which is the more boring, wimps with armour, or wimps who go to ground in agony if someone farts in their general direction ... but in terms of how the game is organized. Soccer could well do with salary caps and a draft system. Take the EPL ... please take it and flush it. It has nothing to do with real football. It's all about which team has the most money with which to buy the best players. Back in the day when Burnley ... yes, Burnley ... won the first division title, any team could beat any other team on any given day; it wasn't just a question of which foreign billionaire was prepared to part with the most cash. Great teams with long illustrious histories have disappeared from contention: Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Notts Forest, yes, even Blackburn Rovers. (I won't even approach the question of the negative effect all this has on England's national team.) How many of the overpaid pussies in the EPL will run a fish and chip shop after their playing days are over? John Connelly did. I guess when you are pulling in a hundred thousand quid a week you already have a retirement plan.
And it's no wonder that football is popular the world over. Any kid can pick up and develop the skills. Let's look at hockey
You need ice time, skates, pads, helmets with face guards (compulsory) ... and if your lad or your lass shows promise as a goalie ... the equipment costs, ouch
Same with American football ... and remember there is much more physical contact in the game, especially on the line, and the blocking. Even poor kids in third world countries can make a ball and find an open space where they can kick it around. I suppose most of you can come up with the names of great players who, as kids, didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to dump it out of, so I won't bother.