SHOTS FIRED IN ELF-EFA STANDOFF
The owner of one of the European League of Football teams calling for improvements to ‘ongoing structural and organisational deficiencies’ within the competition has admitted that a breakaway league remains a possibility.
Speaking to Germany’s Rheinische Post, Rhein Fire co-owner Martin Wagner insisted that discussion with ELF management remained the first objective of the recently-launched European Football Alliance, but stressed that, theoretically at least, an alternative competition could be within the rebel organisation’s remit.
“The ELF sometimes acts, not in the interest of the teams, but in its own interest,” Wagner explained. “It is very clear to our members that we do not want to continue like this.”
While revealing that there had been some talks between the EFA’s predecessor and the league early in the offseason, in which ‘nothing really happened’ according to Wagner, the reconstituted team ‘union’ is hoping that further conversations can be had before the end of the current campaign.
“By the [ELF Championship] final, it should actually be clear how things will continue next year and on what basis,” Wagner stated, referring to the culmination of the ELF’s fifth season, in Stuttgart, on 7th September. “Either we solve many of the problems before the final, or we’ll have to go into alternative mode.”
Wagner did not expand on the meaning of ‘alternative mode’ but emphasised that changes had to be made to ensure the unity of football at the highest level in Europe: “We want to continue playing football, [but] we don’t want to play under this umbrella any more. What follows from this is actually relatively simple.”.
The EFA broke cover just over a week ago, expressing disquiet over the current level of competition within the current ELF setup and, perhaps more importantly, a reported lack of transparency with regard to business and financial operations. The ‘new’ group has grown out of the Franchise Football Association (FFA), which first raised its head above the parapet prior to the ELF Championship game last September, in a move which Wagner explains as ‘primarily for legal reasons’.
The German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) records the European Football Alliance being registered as a trademark on 3rd July, with multiple goods and services listed, including marketing, merchandising and communications.
“The motives are essentially the same, but the new name is primarily for legal reasons as the FFA was more of a ‘project name’,” Wagner, whose name appears on the patent office registration, confirmed. “It’s initially a community of interests, but it also pays for things like consultants, a brand or a press spokesperson. And, yes, theoretically, you could even build your own league out of it.”
The eight members of the EFA were also a part of its predecessor, along with former ELF participants Barcelona and Milan, and the Fehérvár Enthroners, who are currently on the outside of the EFA but potentially looking in as they attempt to put at least one in the win column in a season that has suggested progress without the results to show for it.
As such, the eight — with the Madrid Bravos, Paris Musketeers, Tirol Raiders, Vienna Vikings, Prague Lions, Wroclaw Panthers and Frankfurt Galaxy standing alongside Rhein — have the potential to cleave the ELF in half which, in all honesty, is probably the outcome nobody who cares about the future of football in Europe wants — including those teams themselves.