Football's Black Marketplace

After a week off in the sunshine - my pre-season break is now over - I've come back armed with a ranting topic.

I've been in Portugal, a country rich in football tradition and home to some of the world's great players (Eusebio, Futre, Figo, Rui Costa, Ronaldo etc). The Portuguese are mad for Ronaldo, with shirts, flags, banners etc covering stalls everywhere, almost like a 35 degree version of Warwick Road near Old Trafford. With one subtle difference. Replica shirts.

We should all remember the fairly recent court cases where Umbro, JJB, United and The FA all got their knuckles rapped for price rigging on replica kits. There are, however, very clear controls on what can be sold, how much and where. For example you won't find many cheap/knocked off replica shirts anywhere near Old Trafford, as there is an (unspoken?) uneasy truce between the clubs and vendors, where they produce t-shirts and scarves with club motifs, but no replica shirts. This means that if you want a United shirt, or England shirt, you need to go to an official retailer. The teams would be within their rights to get trading standards or the police to close down anyone violating this peace.

Portugal's version of this is that anyone with a wheelbarrow and a screen printing press in their garage can start knocking out dodgy shirts (to locals and tourists) whilst the police obviously have no interest and wander past without batting an eyelid.

I'd guess that the fact that Portugal turns a blind eye to the fakes industry probably means that the official shirt prices need to be lower than they are over here. Which begs the question, are we supporting the kit manufacturer's profits by paying over the odds in a non-competitive market.

The UK replica shirt market is one of the main features of "Rip off Britain" (The Sun says). £45 for a Home shirt is about average - even for a club like mine (Derby County) who aren't even in the Premiership. The prices are protected by law, rather than market forces, and the punter is the one who misses out rather than the two main kit manufacturers (Nike and Adidas) who control most of the top tier marketplace. The argument is that the quality needs to be controlled, but for a 17 year old on minimum wage (£3.40), a Home shirt of their choice is effectively 2 full days wages before any form of tax. Add to that the escalating cost of a matchday ticket, and you're into the realms of 4 days pay (almost a week) to see your team and wear their colours. Before you buy your food for the week!

Let me make clear that I'm not advocating the illegal production of football shirts; nasty print quality, logos that wash off and cheap shirts that shrink or discolour are not what we want, but a level of realism from the manufacturers should see the costs reduced in order to return this game to its roots. The working man's game. If he can't afford to support his team, what future do we have?