Players strike tarnishes Spanish game's reputation

Sports

Players strike tarnishes Spanish game's reputation

Close

Fans divided as differences between Spanish Football Players Union and administration deepened.

21 August,2011 12:27 pm

The first players strike in nearly three decades could damage Spains status as world champions and risked alienating fans who lost the first La Liga round on Saturday (August 20).Atletico Madrid fan, Jesus, said that he supports the strike called by the Spanish Football Players Union (AFE).It seems good to me that the players go on strike because they are workers, they have their contracts and they have to be fulfilled and if they are not paid they have to claim and well, they have to earn as the rest of the workers, he said.Okay, there are privileges because they earn more than other workers but they have rights as any other worker. They have the right to go to the strike.Real Madrid fan Miguel travelled from Sevilla, in the South of Spain, to Madrid to watch his side first league match against Atletico Bilbao.I used to go to Real Madrids first match of the league. I already booked the hotel and the train and everything but the strike has ruined it, he said.Talks between the players union (AFE), which last week called the strike for the first two rounds of matches in the top two divisions, and the professional football league (LFP), which represents the 42 clubs affected, failed to prevent the action.European champions Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two richest clubs by revenue in the world, had been due to start their campaigns on Sunday night.Talks are now centred on preventing the second round of matches being halted which would create serious problems in the sporting calendar.At the heart of the dispute is the unions demand that an emergency fund be set up to cover wages that have not been paid to players at clubs that have gone into financial administration.The union says around 50 million euros ($72 million) is owed to 200 footballers from the end of last season, and the leagues proposed 40 million euro fund is not enough to cover a growing problem.Joaquin, owner of a picturesque Real Madrid fan bar, said that the strike is harming his business.