91Èȱ¬

English football also possesses its own . Now few subjects in recent decades have generated as much heat in this country as immigration - and a lot has been made recently of the much-trumpeted points system the government is introducing - but football has long had a points system that governs the number of non-European Union footballers that come to play in England.

There is nothing, of course, that can be done about EU players wanting to come here and play, but non-EU ones must receive sufficient points from a 91Èȱ¬ Office committee to be able to ply their trade in this country. Under current rules and regulations, any non-EU footballer wishing to play here must come from a country ranked at least 70th in the and must have played in 75% of his national team's matches over the last two years. An appeal is possible, but the club attempting to sign the player has to justify that he would add something to the English game.

Under such a points system, no English club would have been able to sign as a 17-year-old back in 1994, although he had no problems going to Holland. When he went to PSV Eindhoven, he was very promising but hardly the Brazilian star he became.

It's also worth noting the composition of the committee that decides whether a non-EU footballer has totted up enough points to play in England. It boasts representatives of the Professional Footballers' Association, the Football Association and either the Premier League or the Football League, depending on the club making the application. Can you imagine such a system applying to plumbers, with the relevant union having the right to decide which non-EU workers had enough points to come here? Come to think of it, this might work a treat.

The British government makes such exemptions because football, and to an extent sport, is considered special. If further evidence was required, take the issue of football stadia. Since the , millions have been invested in upgrading grounds. Indeed, immediately after the in 1989, when 96 people were crushed to death during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, each Football League club could receive up to £2m. This money, funded by government reducing the betting tax on pools, benefitted even Manchester United.

But this government intervention is, if you like, a muddled and very British way of doing things. It certainly does not threaten the way sports are run. No wonder sports organisations in this country have reacted so violently to . Although aimed at football, it would affect many other sports, including rugby and cricket. And in keeping with how the French approach regulation generally, it would be much more far-reaching and draconian than any existing British government intervention.

The Premier League sees it as an attempt to destabilise a hugely successful British creation. There are some Premier League clubs who even believe this is a French conspiracy to bring the English, now so very dominant in European club competition, down.

Other sports like cricket and rugby, which have huge worldwide constituencies beyond Europe, see it as, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, dangerous. Yet the very nature of modern sport, and the fact that it is now part of the economic cycle, means some sort of intervention is necessary.

There is clearly need to address the debt issue in football and also the lack of transparency. The challenge is to devise regulations that ensure sports organisations have enough freedom to manage their affairs while not damaging those round them. Not only that, when things go wrong, there should be regulatory powers that can put matters right swiftly. It is not an easy balance to strike.

The fuss over the French proposal suggests it may be a long time before European football finds a solution which satisfies everyone. It is tempting to find a 'one-size-fits-all' remedy, but that could create more problems than it solves.