Dear Editor,
I refer your editorial on Thursday, December 20th, ‘Street Warriors’. The information contained therein is very poetic about street football. I would have highly appreciated a clear distinction between non-commercialized street football and heavily commercialized street football.
There is no doubt that non-commercialized street football at the level of the street or the neighbourhood is undoubtedly a time for much needed relaxation and a brief period of enjoyment and euphoria in depressed communities, where there is usually a dearth of sports facilities. Further, a study on the effects of street football on men’s health published by the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health on June 19, 2017, concluded that non-commercial street football could boost fitness and health in socially deprived men.
There is another side to this story: it is heavily commercialized street football. Editor, I would appreciate it if your usual high journalistic standards could produce a follow-up editorial on the challenges that heavily commercialized street football poses to football administration, organised football, security and football and more.
Yours faithfully,
Ronald Austin Jr