World Poverty Soluiton

This has absolutely nothing to do with soccer, but because this is a blog for you, yes you Mr. Lytle, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to go off topic for one post.

Now, due to the title, it may look like I am about to give a scientific equation that if done correctly will distribute wealth all across the world in a healthy manner to ensure that there is no one too poor to survive.  I'm sorry, but that is not the case.   If it were, poverty would have been solved many years ago. The truth of the matter is that poverty is not a simple thing to solve.  There are so many factors that one can look at, but one of the biggest and most important is education.  This does not only mean education to children within each poor but to the rest of the world as well. 

First, lets look at education within each country.  In the poorest nations in the world, education is the lowest, leaving the future generations with no means (education) to push their economy higher in the future years.  If the economy in a country is really bad, then the government will not be able to fund schools to properly educate the future generations.  And this continues to go in circles because if there is no education for future generations, the future government will not have the economy, therefore the funds, to finance schools for their children. The question then arises, how do these countries get these funds? The way they get them is by outside help, but this help is something that must be monitored very carefully. Let me explain.
The way poverty is treated today is like a disease, but a terminal disease that can never be healed.  People give out of the kindness of their hearts, hoping that it will make a difference, but knowing that in the long run it won't matter very much.  When people today talk about helping out the people in a poor country, they might have good intentions but instead of helping the people, they are actually hurting the country as a whole.  For example, when people organize clothing drives, they truly do want to clothe poor kids that may not have very much, but if people would simply look at what it does to the economy instead of the individual person, I believe things such as clothing drives would cease to exist.  When people give free clothes, for example, it brings happiness to the ones that receive, but to the small business owner trying to sell clothes for a living is much more than unhappy, he is very possible left without a job or at least less profit. Over time, things like this add up, causing the economy to decline and leaving the people even more poor than before: quite the opposite affect of what was originally intended.  For this reason I say outside help should be closely monitored.
The only way for a country's economy to grow is on its own, not through things like clothe drive or free charity, but to do this it needs something to stimulate it.  In order to properly do this, through education, countries should seek small loans from more prosperous countries for the sole purpose of expanding the education system.  Once this happens, the country can very slowly pay back the loan and in the process, the new generation of children are becoming more and more educated.  Over time, the country's own people will begin to found businesses and corporations inside the country and by the country which will, in turn, boost the economy.  This process will take years and will not be easy or straightforward, but it is what will help decrease poverty, in the long run, drastically and permanently.  

Racism in the beautiful game

Racism. It's an issue that's been around for centuries.  It has caused wars all over the world all throughout history.  One would think though that by this time, the twenty first century, it would be resolved enough to be left out of sporing events such as European football.  Unfortunately this is not the case, and in games all across the country, players are continually being mocked and taunted for the color of there skin.  This is a problem that needs to be changed but unfortunately matters are being left to the players to defend themselves when not much is done but FIFA or the clubs themselves.  
Just one year ago, at a club whose players have constantly been abused, an incident occurred where the opposing team's fans would shout monkey chants whenever a player with darker skin would receive the ball. In the twenty third minute of the game, a player named Kevin Prince Boateng received the ball and immediately heard monkey chants from the stands behind him.  Without hesitation, Boateng picked up the ball, punted it into the stands, took off his jersey, and walked off the pitch.  Although the officials on the field and even the players from the other team urged him to disregard the chants, but he did not head a single word and continued off to the dressing room, but he did not go alone.  His whole team followed without question and abandoned the game.  This is just one event of many that happen on a regular base throughout each season.  The most sad part of this event was it was the most action taken against racism, up until a couple of days ago, in the sport for years. It was not done by FIFA, UEFA, the club, AC Milan, or anyone else, it was done by the player who was being abused.  
Another incident arose just two days ago on Sunday, the twenty seventh of April, where a banana was thrown at a player from FC Barcelona while taking a set piece.  His reaction, however, was legendary.  Dani Alves chose a different approach the action from Boateng, and instead of abandoning the game, he simply picked up the banana, pealed it, and ate it.  Alves showed the fan that not only would he not allow this gesture to affect him, but also that he would not let it go unnoticed.  In an interview after the game, when asked about it, the Brazilian international said that humor was the best way to combat racism.  He went as far to say, “I don’t know who threw the banana but I want to thank him. It gave me the energy to put two more crosses in for our goals” and added that the most effective way to retaliate against something negative is with something positive, in this case the comical action of picking the banana up and taking a few bites.  Alves was immediately back by his girlfriend, teammates, and players from all over the world by posting photos of themselves eating bananas on social media sites with the hashtag, #weareallmonkeys.
Racism is something that players are having to deal with almost on a daily basis and must be stopped.  Players like these are playing huge parts in the fight, but more needs to be done. Simple comments from FIFA saying that they are issuing a zero tolerance policy against racism every couple of years and not properly enforcing them are not enough. In just the past few years countless of these proclamations have been announced but still nothing seems to change.  I, along with millions of others, would hope that FIFA  and other governing bodies begin to enforce laws and set more strict punishments on racism in order for something to change. Football is a beautiful game, but problems like this should not be tolerated.


The two players acts can be seen in these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrKbz9FuV34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6b7bU3DMiA

The Transfer Market

In my previous post, we looked at how national governments get involved in world football, where does economics come into play in the sport? Simply put, the answer is the transfer market.  If you do not know what this is, it is a time in the summer and in the winter when the market opens for clubs to buy, sell, and loan players to other clubs.  But how does a club decide on the price of a player? This is the question that we are going to look further into.
In football, there is no price floor or price ceiling regulating the price of players, the cost simply depends on how much the manager is willing to pay for them. The tricky part is that there is no cost calculator, or statistic analyzer that values players based on the numbers they make on the pitch. Club managers have to look at a variety of different factors prior to purchasing a player.  Some of these factors include squad status, age, adaptability, image rights, and many others.
Take squad status for example. If one manager, Clarence Seedorf, the manager of AC Milan wishes to buy Thiago Silva from Paris Saint Germain,  he will have to pay much more than if he should choose to buy Marc Bartra from FC Barcelona simply because his squad status is much higher than that of the later.  Silva is not only a starter, but is the captain of the team, therefore his value to PSG is much greater than Bartra is to Barca, who is not even a regular first team starter, and will therefore have to pay a much greater sum of money to allow the club to release him.
A second factor managers look at when valuing players is age.  In most cases, young players are valued and a much higher price than those in a higher age bracket because they have much more potential.  If a player is within the ages of 16-20 and is already recognized around the world, many managers will want to have him in their squad and so his estimate value will go up.  In economic terms, demand goes up, price goes up.  On the other hand, even if a player was once world class, managers will think twice before looking to purchase him if he is passed the pique of his career.  Although he may still be far greater than many players, in a few years time, he will no longer be able to perform even close to the same level, and his price will decrease causing the club to lose money on him.
Adaptability is another huge trait managers look for. Obviously with young players who have not played in multiple leagues it is much harder to gauge, but with a little more experienced players adaptability is key.  If a player is only capable of playing in one position, with a certain style of play, his value to the interested manager will decrease because he does not offer as much as the player with the same position who is able to play other roles in various styles of play.
Finally, managers look at image rights.  Unfortunately, transfers are not always about the performance of the player, but the image they bring to the club and the sales they will make.  For example, Fernando Torres was sold to Chelsea form Liverpool in 2011 for a total of 50 million pounds even though he seemed to be passed his pique. Although many Chelsea fans would say the transfer was a horrible mistake, when looked at from an economic perspective, it was quite beneficial to the club.  Torres is known as a jersey seller.  A study was done on this specific transfer and upon researching, it was found that in the first few months the huge figure of 50 million was already paid off from jersey sales alone.  Even though Torres has never earned a regular spot in the starting 11 at Chelsea, from a business standpoint, Carlo Ancelotti, the club's manager at the time, did not make a mistake in signing Torres, but in fact it was a huge success.
In conclusion, there is not a concrete system in valuing soccer players, but instead their worth or price is decided by manager's demand of them based on the several factors above.

Government vs. FIFA

Contrary to what many believe, governments are far more involved in world soccer than is apparent.  There are positives and negatives to this involvement, but the main problem comes when each government goes against the rules and regulations of FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. It's a strange concept because one would think that governments would have the final say over FIFA, but because countries care so much about being represented in international competitions, they generally submit to the rules of FIFA.  One example of this was after the 2010 world cup in South Africa.  Because the players of the Nigerian national team did so poorly, the government placed a ban on the national team for two years, breaking the rules of FIFA.  The Nigerian government were told that if they went through with the threat they would be expelled from world football (soccer) at all levels.  When they heard this, the Nigerian government immediately lifted the two year ban, giving into the requirements of FIFA. So although governments can choose to do what they want with their sports teams, they choose to give in to what organizations and federations want so that they will not lose the privilege to be represented on the international level.
Another example of how government gets involved with world football also took place in the 2010 FIFA world cup.  North Korea, being a closed country, would not only refuse to allow fans to support the national team in South Africa, but the games would not even be aired on television for supporters at home.  Then the problem came that it would be a disgrace to not have live fans at the tournament.  To solve this, the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, hired roughly fifty Chinese actors to pretend to cheer on the North Korean squad.  Although this looked absurd from stands, at least the people were represented in some way.  However, this was not the only action the government would take in respect to the country's squad.  In one of the beginning games of the tournament, North Korea played against Brazil, one of the favorites to win everything that year.  After a long, tough game, the final score was 2-1 with North Korea only losing by one goal. The dictator was so proud of his team that he decided to heir their next game, against Portugal, on live television for the nation to watch.  That game they lost by an embarrassing 6-1 score line to which the dictator did not respond well.  Never again was another game played on television and upon return to their country, the players were punished through hard manual labor.  This, once again, shows how things can make a turn for the worst when the government gets involved in world football.

Intro to me

Hey, my name is Eman Ayala and I have recently been given an assignment to start this blog, so here's some basic information to get to know me.  I am currently a senior in high school in Lima, Peru.  I have lived in Peru my whole life because my parents have been missionaries here for the past twenty years.  Once I graduate I plan on going to college in the US and studying exercise science.  Along with that, I would also eventually love to learn more about coaching and managing sports teams, specifically soccer teams. I have always loved and played soccer so learning more about it just comes naturally to me.