News emerged last week that the newly incorporated reincarnation of the Glasgow football club Rangers would be starting the new season in the fourth flight of the Scottish football league system. If you are not aware of the background, Rangers (one of the two big clubs that play north of the border) went into administration after failing to pay (amongst others) the taxman.
On the face of it, this appears to be a victory for the Corinthian spirit in days when it seems more common that profit and business take precedent over the “true meaning” of sport. The decision, taken by the rest of the 39 clubs that play in the four Scottish leagues, may well lead to financial hardship for many as, without Rangers playing alongside Celtic in the Scottish Premier league, TV money could disappear, as well as crowds in the grounds without the two Glasgow roadshows doing their annual tours.
I’ve written before about the gaming theory concept of the Prisoners’ Dilemma – a theoretical construct where personal greed can outweigh collective good. All too often it seems to me that we see this being played out in modern life, where decisions made for the benefit of the individual or the organisation end up leading everyone to a worse outcome longer term. The decision by the Scottish football authorities, whilst undoubtedly harsh on the Rangers fans, does seem to be a bit of a shining light; that, or everyone outside of Ibrox really hates Rangers…
mmitII 
I’ll suppress my inner Glaswegian and not fully comment. Game Theory is a very interesting way to look at what has gone on. I’ve described it as “turkeys voting for Christmas” but your approach is a wee bit more elegant.
Incredibly enough, large amounts of people are still clamouring for more punishment, despite the fact that it’s already unprecedented and the courts have even intervened to prevent some of the draconian retrospective measures the authorities were seeking to inact.
To borrow from our German friends – the prevailing zeitgeist in Scottish Football is almost exclusively schadenfreude.