If religion is the opiate of the people, then football is its crack cocaine: highly addictive, far more titillating and, if you’re the guy dealing, you’re bound to be popular among those who are hooked. (Of course those who deal religion often are also much loved by their “customers” as well, but that’s a whole other issue and one we’ll leave to Richard Dawkins.) The point is that controlling the supply of football to the masses — which, by definition, means controlling televised football — is an extremely powerful tool. Which is why, perhaps, last week’s events in Argentina should not have come as such a surprise.

The country’s national league is poised effectively to be nationalised, after a proposed deal between the Argentine football association (AFA) and the Government led by Cristina Fernández, the nation’s president.

OK, so it’s not a “real” nationalisation, although it might as well be, because Argentine football’s main source of revenue shifts from a private company to the state.

Footballers at a number of clubs haven’t been paid in months, which is why the players’ union threatened to go on strike unless the situation was resolved before the start of the season. It was clear that the game needed a quick cash injection: what to do?

Enter Julio Grondona, head of the AFA, and the Argentine Government. The clubs were persuaded to scrap their existing TV deal with the cable network, TyC, and, instead, sell their rights to the Government.

Financially, it made sense. The state offered about £94 million a year for the next ten years, more than twice the £42 million football was getting from TyC.

The only hitch was that TyC’s deal had another five years to run, through 2014. So much for the sanctity of contracts, eh? TyC has already announced legal action, in fact, but, given the Government’s clout, many are sceptical it will succeed, leading some to call this an old-style expropriation, albeit without compensation.

Anibal Fernández, a spokesman for the Government, said that “the interest is to preserve the sport and that over 40 million people will be able to watch football for free”.

It’s an argument that resonates with those who see sports as a public good. Much like the “listed events” in this country, the idea is that some events are so important and so much part of the fabric of the nation that they must, by law, remain on free-to-air TV.

Yet this situation is a little bit different. For a start, we’re not talking about an event such as Wimbledon, the Grand National or the FA Cup Final. We’re talking about an entire league, 380 matches over the course of a season.

As we wait for details to emerge, there is one other ugly elephant in the room that will not go away. Fifa rules clearly forbid any kind of government interference in football. And this, frankly, smacks of just that. What greater interference could there be than unilaterally scrapping a contract signed in good faith to take a wad of cash from the Government while at the same time dealing a financial blow to the Government’s fiercest critics in the media? So will Fifa step in and punish AFA? Don’t hold your breath.

Grondona, 77, also happens to be a Fifa vice-president and one of the biggest power-brokers in the game.

You can bet he did his due diligence with the folks in Zurich before agreeing such a move. Tastelessness aside, it might be wise to remind Mr Grondona who was in charge of the AFA when TyC signed its exclusive contract a few years ago. It was none other than Grondona himself, the man who has been running the Argentine game for more than 30 years.

What’s the upshot of this de facto nationalisation of football?

Taxpayers, who are footing the bill, will suffer. People who don’t want to watch eight straight hours of football on weekends will suffer. Club attendances will suffer with so much free football on television. TyC and its 1,000 or so employees will suffer.

The credibility of the Argentine free market and the ability of its courts to enforce contracts will suffer, making other commercial broadcasters think twice before investing in Argentina’s domestic TV rights.

Who benefits? Clubs themselves, at least in the short term. The present Government, possibly. And, of course, Grondona himself, who is now owed a big favour by the powers-that-be.

And another thing...

Dutch league continues to serve up goals galore

Dutch football may have taken a hit in terms of quality over the past few years, but if goals and open, attacking football is your benchmark, the Eredivisie remains the league of choice.

In 15 of the past 18 seasons, the Dutch league has served up more goals per game than any other in Europe.

This season should be no different, if yesterday’s match between PSV Eindhoven and Ajax is anything to go by.

It finished 4-3 to PSV, under their new coach, Fred Rutten, but it could just as easily have been 6-6.

The pop psychological explanation of why there are so many goals in the Netherlands has to do with fans demanding attacking football and players and managers going out of their way to provide it.

But that theory is rather unsatisfying: if that is all it takes, why wouldn’t games finish 10-8?

Surely the answer is more complex. I just have no idea what it is.