The
Republic of Ireland assistant manager and former Manchester United
football star, Roy Keane, his tongue buried in his cheek, says his
former colleague David Beckham would be worth one billion pounds in
the current football transfer market. He put the same price on Ruud Van
Nistelroy and topped the shopping list with a two billion price tag
on Ryan Giggs.
He
said: “It’s mind-boggling, the figures that are out there –
especially for the average players. If ever there was a time to be a
professional player it’s now. Average players are going for
£35million. … that’s the market place at the moment … ”
‘Mind-boggling’
is a good word. Other words applied to the transfer market are ‘crazy’, ‘ludicrous’ and ‘mad’. Some
people have applied the word ‘broken’ to the market.
Roy
Keane also expressed surprise that Paris Saint Germain paid £200
million for Brazil and Barcelona star, Neymar. Roy Keane says it’s
not the players fault that these fees are being paid by clubs.
Is
the notion of ‘fault’ applicable to this market?
If
it is, then another word can be added to the descriptions of the
market and that is ‘sinful’, as in: The transfer market for
professional football players is sinful.
Religious
figures, who are knowledgeable on matters of sin, might consider
bringing the word to bear on the commercial trade in the skills,
physiques and temperaments of soccer players.
Roy
Keane’s balloon puncturing remarks may prompt religious leaders to
consider the question: when does a market become sinful?
On
page 899, deep in the glossary of the Roman Catholic Catechism, sin
is defined as:
An offence against God as well as a
fault against reason, truth, and right conscience. Sin is a deliberate thought, word, deed,
or omission contrary to the eternal law of God.
Other
definitions exist, but, on the basis of this one, the transfer market
does not appear to be a sin, as it is not an offence against God or a
fault against reason, truth and right conscience. Does this mean that
no market can be sinful? The definition, however, does not include
either offence or fault against humanity, which the transfer market
certainly is, as noted by the many people who apply the word
‘scandalous’ to its activities.
Is
the word ‘sin’ too old-fashioned for modern day markets, where
the response to such pricing seems to be a shrug of the shoulders in a
gesture of fatalistic acceptance? Are there no firebrand messiahs out
there who would turn over and scatter the money tables and put the
run on the dealers?
Any
one for the sport of commodity and hedge-fund trading?
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