While on the whole I prefer cricket to football, it’s fair to say I like watching the odd football match, either in person or on TV. However, I really do not like some of the cultural aspects now associated with professional football: I find it arrogant and yobbish. In particular I really don’t like the obscene amounts of money now involved with the sport. The fact that men are being payed millions of pounds to kick a ball around a field, at a time when other people with sensible, practical jobs are struggling to pay for meals, seems ludicrous. My objections have just grown even stronger upon hearing this news that “Premier League football clubs may have avoided paying £250m in tax over a three-year period, financial experts have estimated. It follows analysis looking at how football agents are often paid to represent both players and clubs in negotiations, including transfers.” I find that frankly galling. Football and footballers, especially at the professional level, has become too self-important: there seems to be an attitude that only it matters, and that the status of our chosen football team is the only thing anyone should care about. To a certain extent broadcasters like Sky are to blame for creating this culture, as it was such companies which ploughed vast sums of cash into the sport, turning it into a business. That these absurdly wealthy clubs are now trying to avoid paying tax really pushes things over the threshold: it is surely time we got to grips with the ridiculous amounts of money now involved with football.