I'd never be a sports journalist

This evening I had a long conversation with my daughter, who is studying journalism at University.  She is really enjoying her course and the social life and is managing to juggle both admirably.  She is finding that lectures with a hangover are harder work but is zealous in her belief that you shouldn't miss sessions because of a hangover; "after all, it's self inflicted, isn't it?"  One of her main concerns is that whenever a new lecturer appears they ask what kind of journalist they want to be and she doesn't know but she does know that she'd never be a sports journalist.  Lack of co-ordination makes sport difficult for my poor children and I must apologies for those genes. The Long Suffering Husband is quite coordinated, he plays golf, tennis and shouts at the football.  Actually, the shouting at West Ham on the TV might also have contributed to her dislike of sport.  It always frightened her when he would shout, "Wasters!" at the top of his voice.

I enjoyed the Olympics, I quite like watching swimming, gymnastics and table tennis and if I was going to watch men running around on grass after a ball then I would choose rugby (more my type of physique)

But I have never managed to get excited about football.  

Today, is different.  I'm glued to the TV and irritating the Long Suffering Husband.  Transfer deadline day.  It's so exciting.  The presenters have matched their tie and dress to the words scrolling across the screen, a beautiful gold. 

There is still so much I don't understand.  When they excitedly announced that someone (whose name I forget) who is currently at West Ham had just had his claws triggered I was very confused.  

The LSH said, "Not claws, clause!" Well, that explains it all. (sarcasm is difficult to convey in print).  Then they kept saying they couldn't talk about it.  Apparently, if someone offers a certain amount for him, which is an undisclosed millions sum then they have to sell him.  Now, that brings me onto something else I don't understand.  How can it be humane to buy and sell people in today's society?  It's like the old slave auctions.  They keep saying that they have to have a medical before it's all confirmed and I keep picturing them checking their teeth, feeling their muscles and pinching their bums.  Surely, these are people who should be able to choose where they work and who they work for.  The presenters on Sky are outraged by the man who had driven to the club he wants to play for, even though the club he currently plays for told him not to talk to them. In any other walk of life, the man would be applauded for his tenacity.  He knows who he wants to work for and he goes to them but in football that's not the way it's done. Footballers aren't people.  They can't be can they?  Real people aren't paid millions of pounds a week plus bonuses if they do their job well, like score goals and real people aren't bought and sold like bags of precious gems.  Also, the same rules of work visas don't seem to apply to these footballers.  People from America, Egypt, Africa, are able to play football in England and they don't seem to have to prove that there is no one else who could do their job.

The LSH tells me that there is no alternative.  How would clubs make their money?  How would poor clubs get a return on their investment of training their players?  I suggested money laundering, TV fees, ticket sales (tickets can cost anything from £15 - £125 each) and sponsorship but that wouldn't be enough.  I suggested that the arts would be able to run with that small sum of money but it turns out I really don't understand.

I may not understand but I do think it's time to stop the slave trade.