Rarely does a round of matches go by without something extraordinary happening to captivate a global TV audience estimated to reach 1.46 billion fans a week.
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Manchester United crushed Arsenal 8-2 at Old Trafford in August and few of the watching millions could have imagined that the champions would be humiliated by their neighbours on the same pitch just a few weeks later.
Neither would they have thought that title-challengers Chelsea, odds-on to win at promoted Queens Park Rangers, would have two players sent off in eight minutes and lose 1-0 to a penalty scored by Iceland’s Heidar Helguson.
Add in Newcastle United extending their unlikely unbeaten run with a win over Wigan Athletic, doubles from Dutchmen Rafael van der Vaart for Tottenham Hotspur and Robin van Persie for Arsenal, Everton’s two stoppage-time goals to seal a 3-1 win at Fulham and Norwich City’s outstanding 1-1 draw at Liverpool and it is easy to see why the Premier League is so absorbing.
A report issued last week by media consultants Sport+Markt said that 70 per cent of the world’s estimated 2.08 billion football fans now regularly watch Premier League matches, far in excess of either the Spanish or Italian League’s despite the appeal of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan or AC Milan.
The report adds that games in the “EPL” as it is marketed overseas, were watched in more than 643 million homes around the world last year, up 11 per cent from 580 million in 2009.
Massive growth in interest in China and the United States have had an impact and the Premier League is now the most watched in the world.
NO SURPRISE
That comes as no surprise to Robert Prosinecki, the former Croatia international who won the European Cup with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and reached the 1998 World Cup semi-finals with Croatia.
He also had a brief stint with Portsmouth which gave him a deeper understanding of the English game. Now the coach of Red Star, he told Reuters why he believes the League has global appeal.
“England is the cradle of football and what makes the Premier League so special is not just the quality of its teams, but also the football culture, tradition and infrastructure. Of course, it has also helped that so many top players have gone to the Premier League, attracted by its quality as much as the wealth of its clubs.
“It is uniquely entertaining for fans worldwide and it’s therefore not surprising it’s so popular.
“I watched the Manchester derby on television and the atmosphere was truly spectacular,” he added.
Footballer Rohan Ricketts, currently with League of Ireland leaders Shamrock Rovers, played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and also had spells at Arsenal, Coventry City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Queens Park Rangers and Barnsley
He then embarked on a nomadic career playing in Canada, Hungary, Moldova and Germany before moving to Ireland.
“Much of it is to do with the money that goes into the production of the broadcasting,” Ricketts told Reuters, explaining that the networks ensure the product looks good on TV.
“When you couple that with an intense, high tempo, back-and- forth type of style of play it’s hard not to be drawn into it.
“It’s non-stop. I don’t think it’s the best football-wise, but for entertainment it wins hands down. To top it all off the fans are mental.”
VAST EXPERIENCE
Stephen Constantine is another Englishman with vast experience of working overseas after coaching the Nepal, India, Malawi and Sudan national teams and now mainly watches matches from Cyprus where he coaches top-division side Nea Salamis.
Constantine told Reuters that one of the key elements in the Premier League’s popularity was its unpredictability.
“One of the main factors in its appeal is that in England in any game at any time anything can happen, as we have seen with the recent results—and hundreds of previous examples.
“Every year the so-called bigger teams can get beaten in the Cup or League.
“The consistently high attendances and the atmosphere at all the games is also a factor and of course when you see some of the best players in the world plying their trade in the Premier League then why would you want to watch anything else?
“La Liga is good but there are only two teams ever going to win that and although in England United have been dominant it has been very, very close.”
His view was shared by Paul Barber, a former English FA executive and now chief executive officer of Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS.
“Even from 5,000 miles away, the Premier League loses nothing of its incredible drama and excitement,” he told Reuters.
“Yet again, this weekend’s events prove this League is anything but predictable and remains the competition that every league in the world, regardless of their sport, looks to as the leading product on every measure.”
However, Constantine, does issue a word of caution.
“The downside of all this is the national team have more pressure to do well in major competitions,” he said. “When they only have a pool of English players to choose from, that’s when they don’t seem to have enough.”
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