Guest Blog: Ezeaku Amobi
“The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. Alvin Toffler.
Dear friends, this is the first piece I am letting out after hanging my boot to face the game not as a direct football player but now as a writer on matters relating to the beautiful game and also as a lawyer whose major interest is on this game – Football. Indeed I feel so delighted to be back to the fold after my last “Open Letter to Mr.
Stephen Keshi” on the 28th day of December 2013 just few days before the CHAN tournament in Madiba’s land in the early days of 2014.
Donal McCarthy in his piece Man and Ball published on the 6th day of August, 2014 opined that the attachment of the “word” saga to protracted football transfers is an odd twist of language. To him, the word’s origin is in ancient tales from Northern Europe of mortal heroes struggling against the elements, the enemy and the odds to become “worthy men”. The settings and plots can vary but one constant remains; the central character is always relatable, human, one of us.
The writer intends to look at the legal framework on player’s transfer while also dimming the headlight on the central character, human, when the juicy tale of transfers commence.
We shall set sail by defining useful terms such as “club” and “player”.
The FIFA Statute 2014 defines a “club” as a member of an Association (that is a member of FIFA) or of a league recognized by an Association that enters at least one team in a competition. The same Statute defines a “player” as any football player licensed by an Association. Article 2 (1) of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players states however that “players participating in organized football are either amateur or professionals”.
By Article 2 (2) of the Regulation “a professional is a player who has a written contract with a club and is paid more for his footballing activity than the expenses he effectively incurs. All other players are considered to be amateurs”.
The Laws governing the game of Football establish set codes and conducts as well as the objectives of FIFA.
Article 2 ( e ) of the FIFA Statute states that the objectives of FIFA amongst others is to promote integrity, ethics and fair-play with a view to preventing all methods or practices, such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardize the integrity of matches, competitions, players, officials and members or give rise to abuse of Association Football.
By the foregoing Article it is clear that integrity, ethics and fair-play are fundamental attributes which must be present at all material times towards the enhancement and promotion of the beautiful game. Little wonder the world’s football governing body frowns seriously at any act that tends to demean its integrity.
The game of football in the world and in Nigeria especially is under increasing threat from transfer brouhahas, the effects of which reverberate nationally, regionally and globally. Crucially for FIFA the threat which this brings along is damaging the integrity and credibility of football at various levels. This should not be so if all parties involved in the transfer of a player or players take into consideration the damaging effect of the bad and sharp practices employed to facilitate to their advantage the transfer of such a player or players.
Interestingly, the introduction of the ultimate source of information, FIFA Transfer Matching System (TMS) on the football transfer market becomes handy. With the TMS in place, FIFA works to increase transparency and integrity within the football community and enforces the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. The TMS is a web-based regulatory system used by all two hundred and nine Member Associations and over six thousand football clubs to manage international transfers of professional male footballers within the scope of eleven-a-side football. This system enables users to gain a complete picture of domestic transfers, communicate more efficiently with each other to speed up the approval process and store official documents safely for easy referral and increased adherence to their own domestic regulations. The usage of the TMS is open to clubs and it is therefore believed that in the exercise of due diligence by clubs, some scandalous player’s transfer sagas could be averted.
Continue in part (2)- to be published on Friday,February 13,2015.
EZEAKU AMOBI is a lawyer, writer, footballer whose major interest is the protection of the rights of sports men and women.
Send your comments to amobi.ezeaku@yahoo.com
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