Football: European Super League

Lord Grade of Yarmouth Excerpts

Tuesday 20th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

It will be up to the football authorities in the first instance to determine how to deal with this proposal but, as I have made clear, they have our full backing.

[Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Con) [V]]

My forecast on the outcome of the Super League proposal will be some resolution through the courts, not the legislatures. The last time the courts were involved in football governance we ended up with the Bosman ruling, which just created more and more millionaire players and their agents, which was hardly in the public interest. Do this Government accept that they may well be powerless to intervene when my learned friends on both sides of the channel start to challenge the cartels that run football on behalf of the Super League?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I hope that my noble friend’s prediction about a resolution in the courts is wrong, because that implies a long and drawn-out process. As I have said, the Government are exploring all options to prevent this proposal, and we will continue to work with the football authorities and our counterparts across Europe to achieve this.