It also quotes English Law which is different to Scottish Law. It doesn't matter whether it's a FA Rule or a FIFA rule. What matters is the EU Law which gives players the right to actively seek alternative employers in the last 6 months of their contracts.
Find me a case where a player has (confirmed) agreed to move between 2 English clubs before the end of the season then.
I've found it in the FA rule book clear as daylight. A player can not speak to another club, same as another club can not approach another clubs player until either the player has rejected a contract, or the club has told the player in writing they will not be offered one after the season has finished. Or unless the current employers give permission for the player to seek employment with a new club beforehand. So no one can approach Cairney in January without our permission. On or after 1st April of the year in which an agreement or any renewal of it expires, a Player under written contract may enter into a new agreement with and again be registered for the Club. (ii) Until the existing agreement or any renewal of it has terminated: (A) a Player may not enter into any agreement with any other Club in membership with The Association, or an Affiliated Association, or of any other national football association; and (B) the Player may not be approached by any other Club, or Club Official of any other Club, or any person with a view to inducing the Player to leave the Club for which the Player is registered, except with the written permission of that Club. (iii) If, by the time specified for such notice to be served, the Player has not received notice exercising an option or offering a further re-engagement under paragraph C1(j) of this Rule, the Player is free to make such enquiries or approaches as thought fit to secure employment when the agreement or renewal of it terminates. The end.
There have been many English to English club Bosman transfers, how would you find out when the dels were confirmed. By discriminating to which clubs players could negotiate with the FA would be in breach of the Bosman ruling. The Bosman Ruling A decade had passed without football being affected by any new legislation until the Bosman ruling [2]. Jean-Marc Bosman football player in the Jupiter league in Belgium for RFC Liege wanted to move to France and play for Dunkerque however using the cross-border transfer ruling Liege wanted a payment, Dunkerque were not willing to pay the sum of money RFC Liege wanted so the deal fail through and subsequently Bosman was relegated from the first team causing his wages to decrease. Bosman took court action against the European Football authorities, RFC Liege and the Belgian Football authorities; he argued that payment of transfer fees for free agents conflicted with EU citizen's right to free movement within employment. The case took five years to be settled as each ruling was appealed; finally it reached the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. Bosman sued on grounds of restraint of trade and argued that FIFAs Article 17 breached this and was in fact illegal. The court ruled in favour of Bosman as the system, as it was constituted, placed a restraint on freedom of movement of workers and was prohibited by Article 39 of the EU treaty of Rome [3]. As a result the European Union demanded that regulations concerning players' transfers and limitations on foreign players be amended almost immediately [4]. This ruling meant Bosman and every other EU footballer were free to negotiate deals to any other EU based team after their current contracts expired, they were also allowed to sign pre-contract deals with other clubs if they had six months remaining on their current deals. This ruling also stopped UEFA imposing quotas on how many foreign players are allowed to play in a team at any one time. At the time UEFA were imposing a quota on their European Cup competitions that only allowed three non nationals in a team on match days. However these quotas were not fully outlawed, it could not be used to restrict the amount of non EU players on a match day team. Read more: The bosman ruling | Law Teacher http://www.lawteacher.net/sports-law/essays/the-bosman-ruling.php#ixzz2h2xqezrF Follow us: @lawteachernet on Twitter | LawTeacherNet on Facebook
Mr Hat is correct, when it's two clubs playing in the English League setup the player can have talks in the last month of their contract. It's not illegal because the rule is the result of the clubs being part of a private member's club where one of the conditions of entry is that you agree you won't talk to employees of other members until that point unless you have permission. Us last season with Boyd for example, we were given permission by P'boro as the loan deal we were doing was effectively buying him. It was only done as a loan because we were outside the transfer window. The key is in who would be punished. Before Bosman the players would be prevented from signing by the old club refusing to release their registration, now it's the clubs agreeing to it it is the club signing the player that would be punished for tapping them up.
Ben, read the two extracts from the FA rule book that I posted, they are linked. Or the the FA rule book yourself. You can recite FIFA's Bosman Rule a hundred times over, it doesn't alter the fact that the English FA has its own stricter ruling.
The Football League & PL conform to the Football League rules, Assuming what Ric is saying is right then it will be in the Football League rules, as we are members of the PL & Football League. The members club isn't more strict in terms of the law, if right, it's actually restrictive & discriminatory.
Assuming that is the case, I'm pretty sure a player could challenge it like Bosman did. Everybody thought he didnt have a chance when he went to court. As I said Im no expert but I cant see how this is not restricting trade amongst companies in the same country. Probably just nobody has ever been bothered to challenge it.
The rules are on the FA website, I'd have thought the FA would be the one who sets and enforces them as well. Either way those are the rules. And BCC the rules state that no player under the English FA's jurisdiction may be approached about a pre contract by any club from any national association unless the rules have been conformed by. So it's not restricting trade between companies in the same country as no club in the world can legally approach a player under contract in England without the employers permission unless they're in the final month of their contract: "(A) a Player may not enter into any agreement with any other Club in membership with The Association, or an Affiliated Association, or of any other national football association; and (B) the Player may not be approached by any other Club, or Club Official of any other Club, or any person with a view to inducing the Player to leave the Club for which the Player is registered, except with the written permission of that Club."
On football manager you can sign a foreign bowman on Jan 1st. Can only sign a uk bowman much later. It's either 3 months or just a month before expiry. Rules are pretty accurate on the game
I didn't mention this earlier because it was irrelevant to the discussion but this paragraph from the FA Rules reads as if any new contract agreement made out of the transfer window doesn't kick in until April. Can anyone shed any light on this? "On or after 1st April of the year in which an agreement or any renewal of it expires, a Player under written contract may enter into a new agreement with and again be registered for the Club."
You could argue that almost any rule the authorities have about the running of clubs and competitions restricts trade. I run a business, you run a business. Legally we can approach each other's employees to offer them jobs. We agree between ourselves that we won't do that. Can one of our employees go to court to overturn our agreement?
