News of Carlos Tevez perhaps becoming the highest paid footballer on the planet by earning nearly $40 million with Shanghai Shenhua ($1.25 per second) was unfathomable. That kind of total, when dissected and attempted to be understood, is like standing on the beach and trying to fathom all the individual grains of sand or staring up at the night sky and quantifying your place in the universe.
It’s amusing for a moment, but then your hurled into a void of unquantifiable sums and the exercise becomes more terrifying than enlightening. The latest rumors from the Chinese Super League are equally bewildering but in a completely different manner.
We’re not talking large sums (although they’d most certainly be involved), but an even more improbable question relating to value.
Namely, what’s the value in luring the world’s best referee, Mark Clattenburg, to your league?
Tongue tattoo next up for Mark Clattenburg pic.twitter.com/7JrdN20qp2
— Kemlyn Road Stand (@KemlynRoadStand) August 3, 2016
If enlightenment lies within realizing there is no division between what you think you are and what you think you perceive, it must be said that Mark Clattenburg has become a personal god of refereeing.
Clattenburg is a great ref. Clattenburg knows he is a great ref. He managed this year’s FA Cup final, Champions League final and Euro final admirably.
Mark Clattenburg's tattoos. Photo: @93rdmin | Twitter
The 41-year-old from County Durham, England has now become first sought after arbitrator of rule enforcement in sport. The CSL is using exorbitant amounts of cash to build the quality/star power of their league, and now it’s using that money to forge a reputation for sportsmanship.
Perhaps the one episode missing from Netflix’s Black Mirror series is a look at the CSL in 50 years time.
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