No. I dont think the normal rules apply. Football is like the arts. In the same way as the arts need protecting so does football I believe. Football, long before the present era , was the nations sport. It was and still is the game for everyone. It is essentially without class (although inherited by the masses). No elite institution bore it. No elite powers and connections were needed to take part. All levels could be participated in. There were no boys clubs. There were no secret society links to it. It was just what the people did and enjoyed and created meaning from.

Now football is wealthy it still needs its connection to the people. It is like art in this sense.

Art is so important that it needs funding and support as many who benefit indirectly are not connected to the wealth or status of art. A nation without creativity and expression is dead and will become a totalitarian nightmare. A nation without subsided access to arts will become inward looking and depressed and anxious.

The argument for football being special is built on its community 'ownership'. If we price people out of the game it is no longer owned by the people and it becomes a dull and fictitious crumbling monument lost to life and heart. It becomes a toy and a symbol of them and us and the celebration is lost.

Unfortunately Worcester everything you say is correct.