English Talent Stifled?

During the coming term (subject to confirmation!) we'll be talking about the economics of sport in Contemporary Issues. One thing we'll think about is applying the economically appealing concept of competition into the context of sport.

Roy Hodgson has spoken directly into that arena today, bemoaning that English talent is being stifled because of lack of opportunity in the Premiership. I should make it clear - I'm a big fan of Hodgson and fully believe he was the right appointment back in the Spring. However, his talent lies in coaching, rather than analysing events through the lens of economics.

You'll hopefully recall the first and second theorems of welfare economics from econ101a last year - that a competitive outcome is Pareto optimal, and that a Pareto optimal outcome is also a competitive outcome. In laymans terms this says we can't do better than the competitive outcome. Restrict competition, and while you might benefit some, you'll have an overall net negative impact - you'll negatively affect others.

English players, forced to develop within the Premiership system, have about the best training imaginable - each week they play against (and alongside) the greatest players in the world (bar those that have left for Barcelona or Real Madrid). They aren't in squads because they are protected by rules telling teams how many players from particular types of countries they can field.

The most likely impact of this is that the English players that make it are of world class - the other likely consequence is that there are fewer of these players. So what Roy Hodgson faces, compared to, say, what Bobby Robson faced in the late 1980s, is a smaller pool of higher quality players. But Hodgson knows that the ones he can put in his team are familiar with playing against the best players in the world week in, week out.

Surely that's much better than having a large pool of mediocre players?