What football can tell us about society’s evolution
The BBC has a vizualisation of the evolution of premier league players’ birthplace over the past decade. Twenty years during which workers movements have been liberalized after the famous Bosman Ruling ended the quotas restricting the number of non-nationals on teams. What we see here through the lens of sport is the general trend towards globalization of the workforce, where talent gathers in places it can better be leveraged regardless of political or geographical constraints.
Where the Premier League’s players come from (1988)
And in 2009
Arsenal in 1988
And in 2009
Manchester United in 1988
And in 2009
During those years, the English Premier League became the most powerful in the world, and reached multiple continents by capitalizing on foreign stars attracting viewers in their country of origin. Why not think about the lessons that can be drawn here, at a moment where borders are being closed to emigrants because of the crisis.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Interesting and once again nice animation from the BBC… I do not mean to be nitpicking but we are actually talking about 20 years (and not 10) for the datas, the first measurement happend in 1989 (and not 1998)… does not change the outcome, and at the end it is still the Bosman ruling that has allowed the “globalisation” of soccer in 10+ years!
August 20th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Thx for noticing!
August 29th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
[…] Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » What football can tell us about society’s evolution liftlab.com/think/laurent/2009/08/17/what-football-can-tell-us-about-societys-evolution – view page – cached The BBC has a vizualisation of the evolution of premier league players’ birthplace over the past decade. Twenty years during which workers movements have been liberalized after the famous Bosman Ruling ended the quotas restricting the number of non-nationals on teams. What we see here through the lens of sport is the general trend towards globalization of the workforce, where talent gathers in places it can better be leveraged regardless of political or geographical constraints. — From the page […]