Sunday, May 26, 2013
European Clubs Eye Bumper Asian Payday
The English football season has ended but there will be
little rest for the players as they contemplate adding to their air miles with
the traditional pre season tours and as usual Asia will feature heavily as
clubs target that crucial market.
After several years of enjoying the Austrian Alps Arsenal it
seems have become a fixture of the Asian football calendar in the last two
years and this year proves to be their most extensive yet.
The Gunners start their Asian jaunt with a game in Jakarta
on 14 July before flying on to Hanoi to become the first English side ever to
play a friendly in Vietnam three days later.
They follow up South East Asia by flying on to Japan for a
couple of games. in 1968 Arsenal’s first Asian tour took in Japan and this year
has extra meaning as they return for the first time in 45 years.
Their first game is against Nagoya Grampus 8 on 22 July; the
club Arsene Wenger coached before his move to North London in 1997. On 26 July
they play Urawa Reds for the Saitama Cup before returning home.
Chelsea currently hold the Europa League and the European
Champions League and as a reward for their endeavours they are being sent on
two tours; one post season and the other pre season!
They are presently in the US along with Manchester City but
come July they will be following in the footsteps of Arsenal in targeting the
screaming hoards of South East Asia.
On 17 July they are in Bangkok to play a Thailand all stars
teams, one of those cocktails that try to pull together players from different
clubs for a one off game. Four days later they are in Malaysia before arriving
in Jakarta for a game on 25 July.
Liverpool also see some merit in Bangkok during the rainy
season. They play a one off game there on 28 July on their way back from a
friendly against Melbourne Victory in Australia.
Hong Kong this year plays host to the Premier League Trophy
for the third time. Joining the token Hong Kong side, South China, will be
Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland and games will be played as double
headers on 24 and 27 July
Manchester United have a two week spin through the region
starting on July 13 in Bangkok against another of those nebulous All Star
concoctions before heading down to Sydney where they will meet an Aussie team
of All Stars!
They follow up the Sydney winter flying north to Japan where
they will play a couple of real football teams; Yokohama F Marinos and Cerezo
Osaka before ending in Hong Kong with a game against local side on 29 July.
It’s not just English clubs heading our way. Last night a
Singapore Selection, an All Star team by any other name, hosted an Atletico
Madrid side who had just defeated Real Madrid in the Cope del Ray, losing 2-0.
Barcelona’s team of all stars will also be in the region
later this summer. They have games planned in Shanghai on 4 August, Bangkok on
the seventh and finish in Kuala Lumpur three days later.
Quite how Asian football benefits from this European
munificence remains to be seen. The players jet in, get rushed through busy
airports to be greeted by adoring, screaming fans action to get a glimpse of
their heroes before moving to the hotel.
The stays are highly choreographed to minimize contact
between the players and the local culture they are visiting; interaction is
limited to a few words with the waiting staff or bellboys in the five star
hotel, comments that get translated into the usual bland ‘we love being here’
quotes wheeled out at the obligatory press conferences which they enjoy as much
as the rest of us enjoy sitting in traffic jams.
There will be the odd meet and greet where a few selected
players will sit down behind plastic tables and fans will queue up to get them
sign things and take pictures which will then be spread virally round their
social media of choice followed by an open training session, yet more photo
opportunities, and possibly a coaching clinic.
All very forced and very artificial but the clubs feel these
events create a bond with the fans and the fans, who only ever see their
adopted team on TV are happy to go along with the PR spin.
On the field things are not much better. The European teams
are not fully fit, the games are just a warm up for them ahead of the new
season and they are not fully toned. Injuries will always be at the back of
their mind and no player is going to risk missing a huge chunk of the campaign
thanks to one mistimed lunge on foreign fields in a meaningless game.
European clubs have been visiting this region for the best
part of 15 years now and you only need take a look at the local leagues to see
what type of impact they have had. But the European clubs are not concerned
with the shoddy management of football in this part of the world.
SOURCE - My Jakarta Globe column last week, not available online.
# posted by Me @ 2:50 PM 
