sport news Saudi-led golf tour is not first time sport stars have defected as tennis, ... trends now

The outrage at the start of the Saudi-backed rebel golf tour has conjured up familiar emotions for fans across a range of sports.  

For this isn't the first time sport's biggest names have sided with a breakaway division, league or tournament. 

There are examples that changed the course of history for the better - think of the work of Billie Jean King and the 'Original 9' that can be credited with pushing for the creation of the WTA Tour. 

There is also the legacy of Kerry Packer on cricket having transformed the game with the World Series Cricket.

There are also emotions around the breakaways that didn't work, that didn't last and ultimately were met with such disdain that those sports have daren't tried to do it since. 

The European Super League was widely condemned across the continent by football fans furious at the 'greed' of owners keen to produce a closed-shop with no threat of relegation or fluctuating revenue. 

There was also the kiboshed United States Football League that Donald Trump tried to get rivalling the NFL in and out of the courtroom. That, ultimately, failed miserably.

So, Sportsmail has taken a look through the archives to pick out other examples of when sport's biggest names broke away... 

Premier League 

Let's start with one that actually worked - and one LIV organisers will no doubt point to as a shining example.  

In the early 1990s, English football was full of frustrations. 

First Division clubs were convinced more money could be landing in their lap and they plotted a bold breakaway from the Football League.

Attendances had been dwindling and revenue wasn't climbing at the rate many felt it could - and the Premier League was born.  

The 22 First Division clubs, buoyed by proposals to break away, resigned from the Football League on February 20, 1992. 

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon were the clubs to make their move. 

An immediate cash injection came via pay-for-TV BSkyB, a huge shift for the game at that time.  

BSkyB put a £300million offer in for the rights to the league, and the inaugural Premier League of 1992-93 got underway on August 15, 1992. 

Matches went on as they had before, albeit under a different guise and a different umbrella. The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Premier League is one of the most successful and lucrative sporting breakaways of all time.

Verdict: Success 

European Super League 

Where to start? 

On April 18, 2021, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez announced bold plans for a transformative European Super League.

A bombshell press release dropped detailing the 12 founding member teams - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Manchester United and Tottenham - for the rebel league.

Fans were told that the ESL was there to 'provide higher-quality matches and additional financial resources for the overall football pyramid'. 

It went on to say that it will also provide 'significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues'.

The plan was for a closed-shop league with no threat of relegation or promotion, just repeated games between the world's most popular teams.

Reaction to the plan was one of absolute fury from supporters, league executives and a number of players. 

UEFA, the Football Association, Premier League, the Italian Football Federation, Lega Serie A, the Royal Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga all came together in a joint statement to condemn the proposal. 

Under the original plan, the 12 founding members were planning to stay in their national leagues, as well as play each other in a new midweek European competition, effectively counter-acting the UEFA Champions League. 

'It's pure greed,' former Manchester United defender Gary Neville fumed on Sky Sports.

'There's 100-odd years of history in this country of fans who have lived and loved these clubs. Dock them all points tomorrow. Put them at the bottom of the league and take the money off them. Seriously. You have to stamp on this.'

Things escalated the following day: all 12 clubs resigned from the European Club Association (ECA).

That night a protest was held outside Elland Road prior to Leeds against Liverpool with fans rallying together to protest the revolutionary breakaway.

Meanwhile, Perez was on Spanish TV defending the plans and saying it was to be the future of football. It was already a PR disaster. 

By Tuesday, two days after the press release dropped, pressure was sky high and players, executives and directors were all feeling the heat. 

By the end of play on that Tuesday night the six English teams, one by one, pulled out and the united front that was shown on Sunday had been destroyed with fans refusing to stop protesting until they had assurances that their sides were out. 

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus continued to hold out hope of reviving it but this showed the power of football fans.  

Verdict: Failure 

World Series Cricket

The WSC was a breakaway tournament organised by media tycoon Kerry Packer and Australian television network, Nine Network, from 1977 to 1979, completely transforming the face of the sport.

With the Australian Cricket Board rejecting Nine Network's bid for exclusive television rights for Australia's Test matches in 1976, the idea was born to breakaway.  

Leading cricketers were coaxed by Packer into getting involved, with Clive Lloyd, West Indies captain at the time, chief among them.  

England captain Tony Greig, Australian captain Greg Chappell and former Australian captain Ian Chappell also all got involved in the money-spinning enterprise. 

Authorities were absolutely furious and players were banned from Test matches and first-class cricket.

Packer's new format was not even allowed to use the term 'Test match' and so referred to matches as 'Supertests'. Also, organisers weren't even allowed to utilise the official rules of cricket, the copyright of which is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club.

And so the game looked and felt different, with only 40 overs bowled in an innings. 

While the WSC itself was shortlived, its legacy can be felt to this day. In May 1979 an agreement was struck between the ACB and Packer. Packer got his TV deal - a 10-year deal at that - and the WSC would cease to exist, albeit with it's impact remaining.

In November 1978 the first day-night match at a traditional cricket ground was played between the WSC Australian and West Indian teams. Night matches are now part of the furniture in cricket.

Protective helmets and coloured dress are also both mainstays in a post-Packer supertest era, owing themselves to the breakaway.

Crucially too, Packer helped shake the authorities from their slumber and prove just how marketable cricket could be.  

Verdict: Success

Virginia Slims Circuit

Nine professional women's players, including Billie Jean King and dubbed the 'Original 9', broke away from the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) to form their circuit.

Angry over inequality in the money available to male players in comparison to female players, the nine players created the Virginia Slims Circuit in 1970.

The women had become disillusioned with the sport given men could win up to four times as much prize money at events. 

King cited Wimbledon 1968 as evidence for the need to launch a breakaway given Rod Laver won $4,800 for winning the men's singles while King received just $1,800 for winning the women's singles.

The USLTA threatened to suspend any women who planned to defect, barring them from Slams, and it proved a deterrent to many.

But the Original 9 - King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Peaches Bartkowicz, Julie Heldman, Judy Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon and Valerie Ziegenfuss - stood firm and broke away, with the help of Heldman's mother Gladys. 

Gladys Heldman was publisher of World Tennis Magazine and when she was approached by King, Casals and Richey she helped them formulate a plan to go it alone.