Either Spanish fans are more desperate than ever for a football fix over the holidays, or attitudes towards the English game have changed massively since I moved away three years ago.
I’ve been back in Spain on holiday for the last week or so and I’ve been amazed at how much respect there is for the Premier League. But is it just a brief fling while La Liga is on hold and Spanish players are providing the inspiration at Liverpool, Arsenal and elsewhere? Or will Spanish fans be hopping on Easyjets to visit Anfield and the Emirates for years to come?
When I lived here the Spanish attitude towards English football was one of, well, not quite contempt exactly, but you certainly wouldn’t find anyone looking up to it.
People would sometimes express admiration for the loyalty of the fans — actually cheering on your team when they’re losing and playing badly is an alien concept at the Bernabeu or Camp Nou — but the quality of the football? What quality?
Now everyone you talk to has an opinion about the English league, and most are enthusiastic. El Pais devoted two pages to English football on Sunday, including a long look at whether Spain should follow suit and play over the Christmas period.
Over the weekend there were at least two live games on free-to-air TV. The problem is that one of them was Man City v Liverpool on Sunday. That was the one I watched and as an advert for English football it could hardly have been worse. Liverpool’s plan A was to boot the ball forward to Torres and hope for the best, while Plan B was to boot it out wide on the left to Kewell and see what happened. The best player on the pitch was the Man City defender Richard Dunne.
So here are a couple of questions for fans in Spain and further afield. Is Spain’s love affair one to last, or will passions fade as soon as Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres and the like move on? From what I could see the quality of the football in England doesn’t seem to be appreciably better these days, though perhaps the players were just exhausted.
And what about the other big leagues? Should they follow the lead of the Premier League and programme matches through the holidays? If football is as much about entertainment as it is sport these days, surely leaving the Premier League with the spotlight to itself makes zero sense for rival leagues in Spain and Italy.
Kevin Fylan, Valencia
PHOTO: Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha (R) challenges Liverpool’s Fernando Torres (L) for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match in Manchester, northern England, December 30, 2007. REUTERS/Phil Noble
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15 comments so far
It is the same here in Italy. I can see more Premier League matches than I could in England and one channel even shows Championship games (although sadly for me Blackpool v Scunthorpe was deemed too obscure.)
- Posted by Mark MeadowsI don’t think it is the winter break that draws eyes to the Premier League, I think it is like that all the season. The fact that the quality is actually not that high adds to the excitement as there are more mistakes hence more goals and laughs..
It’s not about quality, it’s about excitement and that’s why the Premier League is gaining in popularity all around the world, obviously including Spain.
- Posted by LondonAnd I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool tried to sign Dunne over the Xmas break, he was that good.
- Posted by LondonThe Spanish are naturally interested because of the likes of Cesc, Torres, and other top Spanish players (same as the English press was all about Real Madrid when Beckham was there). They also like to see how Rafa Benitez is doing.
By the way, a couple of EPL matches a week on Spanish TV does not amount to a love affair. It does not change the fact that the level of skills on display in the EPL is still low in general.
The Spanish are not very interested in “excitement” over skills. No wonder it is show on free channels not paid TV (very few will be willing to pay to watch the “excitement” of the EPL except Arsenal and Man United are involved).
- Posted by VincentI’m going to stick my neck out and say I actually think the standard of English football has improved a lot.
That’s not denying it still has a rough-and-tumble, high adrenalin quality, which does lead to a lot of mistakes. But the quality of ball control, passing, etc. HAS improved. Whereas 20 years ago Glenn Hoddle’s reputation was largely founded on a rare ability to provide the incisive through ball, that is now commonplace.
It’s undoubtedly the influence of foreign players that has brought about these changes but, to different degrees the English players have caught on: Joe Cole being perhaps the best example. I would even say it’s clearly evident in the quality of play in the lower divisions, despite the pronounced ‘go for it’ approach which is still there. For this reason I feel the ‘foreign imports excluding the development of English lads’ argument is too one-sided, but that’s a whole other story…
- Posted by Hoxton Steve“And I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool tried to sign Dunne over the Xmas break, he was that good.”
That will be assuming Benitez has the funds and Dunne wants to leave to join a team where he could playing in one match and sitting on the bench in another.
John
- Posted by JohnSTSoccerNet Live
[…] Before I’m off to have my dinner, here is one unrelating Champions League article. Or rather, an opinion. We all know of the footballing relations between England and Spain (given with like David Beckham used to play at Real Madrid and former Valencia coach Rafael Benitez now at Liverpool and almost having a mini Spanish-speaking contingent). But Reuters Soccer Blog is asking about Spain’s love affair with English football: How long will it last?. […]
- Posted by ο ΚΟΚΟΚΟ θα κερδίσει την Τσέλση « Ημίχρονα και ακριβή σκορI totally agree with ο ΚΟΚΟΚΟ θα κερδίσει την Τσέλση « Ημίχρονα και ακριβή σκορ [I hope that’s polite! :)] if his point was my reply was pretty much off-subject. Nevertheless I was hoping it might spark an interesting exchange of views!
My hunch is Premier football does bring a degree of action/engagement which is lacking in Italian and Spanish football (I think the smaller pitches help), but whether this will lead to a longevity of interest for fans from those countries, I’m completely unqualified to judge.
- Posted by Hoxton SteveUnless the money falls out of the Premier League, there are probably going to be more top Spanish players like Fernando Torres heading to England.
So it’s possible that Spanish interest will only increase in the next few years.
- Posted by darylHoxton Steve, I think you’re right that the quality of English football (especially the individual skill of the players) has incresaed greatly in the last 20 years. What’s less clear is whether the quality has gone up much in the last few years. I suppose it’s a gradual thing so maybe we don’t notice.
- Posted by kevin fylanWhat struck me watching the Liverpool v Man City game was that top teams still give the ball away all the time. You don’t see teams in Spain do that quite so much.
Spanish fans seem to have got hooked on English football despite the fact that the quality is probably still a bit lower than in their own league. Obviously the excitement and the crowds have a lot to do with that but I suspect the armchair fans in Spain will get bored as soon as Torres, Cesc, Alonso and co come back home.
And by the way, English football was the top item in the sports section of the main TVE news bulletin at 9pm last night.
[…] Before I’m off to have my dinner, here is one unrelating Champions League article. Or rather, an opinion. We all know of the footballing relations between England and Spain (given with like David Beckham used to play at Real Madrid and former Valencia coach Rafael Benitez now at Liverpool and almost having a mini Spanish-speaking contingent). But Reuters Soccer Blog is asking about Spain’s love affair with English football: How long will it last?. […]
- Posted by Το Παπαγαλάκι » Olympiakos ChelseaLet me take up time to join the debate. I don ‘t understand when people attempt to down play or rather grade the EPL as substandard. In the last ten years how many times did English team not make it to at least the quarter finals of European competitions. Of course, English teams in the last 16’s, 8’s and 4’s are commonplace in European competitions. People are clued to English soccer the more nowadays because of its improved qualities.
- Posted by Gabriel B.F. ShermanPeople are clued the more to EPL nowadays because of its improved qualities. This is evident in the number of English teams that reach the last 16’s, 8’s, 4’s or finals in European competitions. I guess Spanish fans have realized that the game of soccer is a whole mass of book and he who watches his own domestic league reads only a page; thus missing the excitement found in other leagues.
- Posted by Gabriel B.F. ShermanThe day after the recent “Super Sunday” in the Premier League, Marca’s influential columnist Roberto Palomar wrote this about English football:
“In the English ‘Super’ League they played two ‘Super’ games: Liverpool v Manchester United and Arsenal v Chelsea. Well both were ‘Super’ boring. There is a great deal of mythology surrounding English football, but there is little of note apart from Arsenal. The English are better organised than us and more serious, but in terms of football their league is a lead balloon.”
Talk to any Spaniard and although there is a mixture of admiration and bewilderment at the support given by English fans and the atmosphere at the stadiums nearly all of them would say La Liga is streets ahead in terms of quality.
- Posted by SimonSimon, I guess that means you think I’m exaggertaing a little when I call it a love affair…
You’re probably right. I’m still amazed at just how much interest there is, though. And while I’m sure you’re right in saying most Spanish people think the Premier League is way behind in quality terms, I do think there is more repsect for it than there was. Maybe it’s just been creeping up gradually.
- Posted by Kevin Fylan