jul.15.2008
By Andrew Warshaw
www.telegraph.co.uk
The six most popular team sports in Europe, led by football and rugby union, last night urged the European Union to relax its inflexible employment law - or risk player-power and freedom of movement spiralling out of control. In what was regarded as one of the most significant developments since the Bosman ruling of 1990, Uefa boss Michel Platini handed European ministers a confidential 10-page document highlighting the "deep uncertainty" felt throughout the Continent about rules being bent because of EU intransigence.
The draft, a copy of which has been leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, urges Brussels to declare its "unanimous support" for a string of radical measures which, the six-sport grouping insists, are vital to safeguard the integrity of competition. They include: a minimum number of home-grown players per club; limiting live TV broadcasts to boost stadium attendances; a licensing system designed to punish clubs for deliberately falling into debt after buying players with borrowed money; improved regulation of agents; second profession education for academy kids in case they don't make the grade.
The greatest priority, however, is an exemption from European law in order to promote youth development and outlaw the pilfering of under-18 stars. "Clubs have a duty to invest in the local training of players," said the document, drawn up by European federations representing football, rugby union, handball, basketball, ice hockey and volleyball. "They are not merely businesses. Concrete proposals must be developed [to prevent] the trafficking or exploitation of young players. Otherwise the risk is that more and more young players move abroad too early in their life."
Uefa believe outlawing transfers of under-age teenage players, one of Platini's key objectives, is long overdue. "It will stop Premier League clubs - and those in other major leagues - poaching players from academies willy-nilly," said Uefa spokesman William Gaillard.
Other senior Uefa officials went even further. "We want to have the right to introduce rules that bring some stability for teenagers to stay with the club that has trained them," said one high-ranking source. "At the moment, all you have is a free-for-all with agents hanging around outside academies across Europe, all in the name of free movement. It's a jungle and needs to be regulated properly.
"Some of these players are no more than children yet to get round the rules, agents say they want to move them abroad to learn the language, or invent jobs for their parents."
If the document is approved, says Gaillard, there will be far greater monitoring of club finances to prevent mismanagement and building up debts without sufficient assets.
Although Uefa and the other signatories are fiercely opposed to Fifa president Sepp Blatter's six-plus-five idea on foreign player restrictions, the joint initiative calls for the principle of home-grown quotas to be endorsed. This coming season, all clubs competing in the Champions League and Uefa Cup must have at least eight locally trained players, a system which, crucially, is not based on nationality and is already implemented voluntarily in eight national leagues including Germany and Italy but not, significantly, the Premier League.
Uefa believe strict restraint of trade rules must be relaxed for football, rugby and other team sports. "This is D-day, if you like," said the source. "We have to get a proper definition of where sport ends and business begins. The EU have been too scared to make a ruling on this, preferring to let the courts make decisions, which is a chaotic way of developing policy. We don't think sport should be treated like selling shoes or baked beans. This is the EU's chance to finally connect with the public and tell us what we can and can't do."
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, who has just lost 16-year-old John Bostock to Spurs for £700,000, gave a cautious welcome to the new initiative. "What Michel Platini is trying to do is fantastic. I'm all in favour of players having to sign their first pro contract with their home club because it encourages youth development," he said. "I have just lost a gem and I wonder why I should bother to run an academy. But can you change the law of the land to make football an exception? In any other walk of life, people have the right to move around."
Darren Bailey, head of legal and legislative affairs at the International Rugby Board, said it was essential to regulate the influx of foreign players in his sport too. " Our principal concern is to make sure players can perform in their own territories," he said. "In England and France there are so many overseas players. I've heard about the argument that says players hone their skills abroad but not if it's disproportionate to the domestic leagues."
Banned transfers
With this proposal clubs will not be allowed to sign players younger than 18. Here are just some deals that would have been stopped:
Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona to Arsenal) 2003
Theo Walcott (Southampton to Arsenal) 2006
Gareth Bale (Southampton to Tottenham) 2007
Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff to Arsenal) 2008
John Bostock (C Palace to Tottenham) 2008