• by IPS Correspondents (mexico city)
• Tuesday, November 15, 1994
• Inter Press Service

MEXICO CITY, Nov 15 (IPS) - As any seasoned coach potato will agree, the worst thing that can happen to a TV viewer watching an exciting football game is when the action dives way to commercials - just when a player is about to score.

Frustrating, indeed. But in Mexico such disruptions are now more a regular experience for millions of football aficionados than the odd happening.

Some experts even blame commercialism for the lack of international successes that has plagued this football-crazy country for years.

"In Mexico," says contractor Luis Bellini, "Football players fill the same role as soap opera stars, and the TV broadcasts have nothing to do with the logic of the sport."

In addition to the flood of commercials, the TV viewer in Mexico has his view of the game blocked by the cameras' almost obsessive focus on the logos and ads around the field and on the players' shirts.

Main beneficiary of this phenomenon is Televisa, the Mexican- based transnational network that owns four first division teams and several second division teams. Televisa controls the rights for most football broadcasts.

On the international level Mexico rarely raises itself on the football field to above a mediocre performance. In 1993 the Mexican team became second in the American Cup, after losing in the final game to Argentina in what was broadly considered the best football performance in Mexico's history.

But in July this year, Mexico placed only 13th out of 24 countries in the World Cup in the United States as the national team returned to its familiar meagre showing.

Lack of organisation, low public attendance at matches, and an excessive number of foreign and older players are other problems that hamper the sport.

The Mexican Football Federation recently expanded the number of foreign players permitted on a team to five, a move which sparked harsh criticism from local players and sports experts.

Sports commentator Juan Ramon Fernandez said the measure is "an irrational attack on the future outlook of Mexican football, as it closes the way to national players for the sake of a materialistic business and short-term profits."

According to coach Diego Malta, "there is contempt for what is Mexican, and managers are authoritarian and anti-democratic... the result of a dehumanised system." (MORE)

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© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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