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Posted July 02, 2015 16:19 · last edited July 02, 2015 16:25

This all seems an inevitable part of the growing pains of professional football in Australia.

Australia has only had a fully professional league since 2005.

The PFA has only been around since 1993.

Both are really still in their infancy.

Very much so compared to the 126 years of professional football in England and the 108 year history of the English PFA.

So, some conflict and mistakes from both parties in Australia seem inevitable.

Asking for 30% of a club's revenue to be put aside for players, for example, seems unrealistic.  

The current stand-off exists in a historical context.

Interestingly there was a major NZ connection in the early attempts to form a players' union in Australia - former All Whites goalkeeper Richard Wilson of the Road to Spain 1982 fame was the major figure behind an attempt in the mid 1980's to establish Australia's first players' union. Richard's father was a prominent trade unionist and sports administrator in Christchurch. This makes fascinating reading with the Kiwi angle involved on the Aussie player scene:

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulle...

Richard is also a good example of how a player can forge a successful career post his playing days, having established himself as a leading graphic designer, design teacher (CPIT Christchurch 1990's and in Australia) and exhibiting painter, while being actively involved in coaching football in his home town Christchurch in the 1990's (Avon United, Rangers, Woolston).

Before 2005, Australian footballers lived in the murky twilight world of "semi-professional" football (with no union to represent them until 1993) and had an indeterminate identity which was neither sanctioned as fully professional nor fully amateur.

There's still a legacy of bad feeling amongst players and former players from the pre A-League days when players had few rights and were sometimes treated appallingly by clubs and national and state administrators.

Australian clubs had inherited the "retain and tranfer system" from English football whereby a club held a player's registration indefinately until they agreed to release him - even if his contract had expired. They could also demand a transfer fee even if a player's contract had expired.

"In England....from the start of the 1893-94 season onwards, once a player was registered with a Football League club, he could not be registered with any other club, even in subsequent seasons, without the permission of the club he was registered with. It applied even if the player's annual contract with the club holding his registration was not renewed after it expired. The club were not obliged to play him and, without a contract, the player was not entitled to receive a salary. Nevertheless, if the club refused to release his registration, the player could not play for any other Football League club."

The English High Court abolished the ability of clubs to retain a player's registration against his wishes in 1963. Clubs could still demand a tranfer fee for players whose contract had expired until the Bosman Ruling in 1995.

.In Australia the PFA only over-turned the right of clubs to retain a player's registration and demand a transfer / compensation fee, even if no longer under contract, in 1995:

. http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/public-e...

Brendan Schwab, former Chairman of Aussie PFA and a leading figure today on international pro athlete bodies:

"First, we campaigned hard through the media and within the game. A Four Corners program into player related transfer corruption in Australian soccer prompted the then Australian Soccer Federation to call an independent inquiry to be chaired by the Hon Donald Stewart, a former NSW Supreme Court judge and head of the National Crime Authority. His report famously quoted Shakespeare’s The Tempest and that only a “sea change” could save Australian soccer. He found that the culture of corruption within the game started with the view that players were the property of clubs, to be bought and sold accordingly. He recommended that soccer’s compensation fee system be abolished within two years. 

Second, our legal action involved a Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, where we could meet our own costs and not be responsible for those of the Federation and the clubs. We applied for an industrial award to abolish the compensation system. On 9 June 1995, the Commission found that the system should be abolished by the end of 1996 and ordered the parties to negotiate on all terms and conditions of employment. In so finding, the Commission acknowledged the objectives behind the system (competitive balance and encouraging the training and development of young players) were objectives shared by the players. However, the system: “operates in many instances unfairly towards players, has little or anything to do with the training and development of a player…treats players as if they were the property of their club …(and impinges) on the freedom to choose one’s employer…The system in its present form should be abolished…” 

Third, we organised the players. By being willing to negotiate, we secured a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement for all NSL players that addressed all aspects of their employment. 

Fourth, we campaigned hard politically. A Senate Committee had stronger reservations about the compensation fee system than even Stewart and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and recommended the system’s immediate abolition...."

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Big Pete 65 edited July 02, 2015 16:25

This all seems an inevitable part of the growing pains of professional football in Australia.

Australia has only had a fully professional league since 2005.

The PFA has only been around since 1993.

Both are really still in their infancy.

Very much so compared to the 126 years of professional football in England and the 108 year history of the English PFA.

So, some conflict and mistakes from both parties in Australia seem inevitable.

Asking for 30% of a club's revenue to be put aside for players, for example, seems unrealistic.  

The current stand-off exists in a historical context.

Interestingly there was a major NZ connection in the early attempts to form a players' union in Australia - former All Whites goalkeeper Richard Wilson of the Road to Spain 1982 fame was the major figure behind an attempt in the mid 1980's to establish Australia's first players' union. Richard's father was a prominent trade unionist and sports administrator in Christchurch. This makes fascinating reading with the Kiwi angle involved on the Aussie player scene:

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulle...

Richard is also a good example of how a player can forge a successful career post his playing days, having established himself as a leading graphic designer, design teacher (CPIT Christchurch 1990's and in Australia) and exhibiting painter, while being actively involved in coaching football in his home town Christchurch in the 1990's (Avon United, Rangers, Woolston).

Before 2005, Australian footballers lived in the murky twilight world of "semi-professional" football (with no union to represent them until 1993) and had an indeterminate identity which was neither sanctioned as fully professional nor fully amateur.

There's still a legacy of bad feeling amongst players and former players from the pre A-League days when players had few rights and were sometimes treated appallingly by clubs and national and state administrators.

Australian clubs had inherited the "retain and tranfer system" from English football whereby a club held a player's registration indefinately until they agreed to release him - even if his contract had expired. They could also demand a transfer fee even if a player's contract had expired.

"In England....from the start of the 1893-94 season onwards, once a player was registered with a Football League club, he could not be registered with any other club, even in subsequent seasons, without the permission of the club he was registered with. It applied even if the player's annual contract with the club holding his registration was not renewed after it expired. The club were not obliged to play him and, without a contract, the player was not entitled to receive a salary. Nevertheless, if the club refused to release his registration, the player could not play for any other Football League club."

The English High Court abolished the ability of clubs to retain a player's registration against his wishes in 1963. Clubs could still demand a tranfer fee for players whose contract had expired until the Bosman Ruling in 1995.

.In Australia the PFA only over-turned the right of clubs to retain a player's registration and demand a transfer / compensation fee, even if no longer under contract, in 1995:

. http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/public-e...

Brendan Schwab, former Chairman of Aussie PFA and a leading figure today on international pro athlete bodies:

"First, we campaigned hard through the media and within the game. A Four Corners program into player related transfer corruption in Australian soccer prompted the then Australian Soccer Federation to call an independent inquiry to be chaired by the Hon Donald Stewart, a former NSW Supreme Court judge and head of the National Crime Authority. His report famously quoted Shakespeare’s The Tempest and that only a “sea change” could save Australian soccer. He found that the culture of corruption within the game started with the view that players were the property of clubs, to be bought and sold accordingly. He recommended that soccer’s compensation fee system be abolished within two years. Second, our legal action involved a Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, where we could meet our own costs and not be responsible for those of the Federation and the clubs. We applied for an industrial award to abolish the compensation system. On 9 June 1995, the Commission found that the system should be abolished by the end of 1996 and ordered the parties to negotiate on all terms and conditions of employment. In so finding, the Commission acknowledged the objectives behind the system (competitive balance and encouraging the training and development of young players) were objectives shared by the players. However, the system: “operates in many instances unfairly towards players, has little or anything to do with the training and development of a player…treats players as if they were the property of their club …(and impinges) on the freedom to choose one’s employer…The system in its present form should be abolished…” Third, we organised the players. By being willing to negotiate, we secured a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement for all NSL players that addressed all aspects of their employment. Fourth, we campaigned hard politically. A Senate Committee had stronger reservations about the compensation fee system than even Stewart and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and recommended the system’s immediate abolition...."

Big Pete 65 edited July 02, 2015 16:22

This all seems an inevitable part of the growing pains of professional football in Australia.

Australia has only had a fully professional league since 2005.

The PFA has only been around since 1993.

Both are really still in their infancy.

Very much so compared to the 126 years of professional football in England and the 108 year history of the English PFA.

So, some conflict and mistakes from both parties in Australia seem inevitable.

Asking for 30% of a club's revenue to be put aside for players, for example, seems unrealistic.  

The current stand-off exists in a historical context.

Interestingly there was a major NZ connection in the early attempts to form a players' union in Australia - former All Whites goalkeeper Richard Wilson of the Road to Spain 1982 fame was the major figure behind an attempt in the mid 1980's to establish Australia's first players' union. Richard's father was a prominent trade unionist and sports administrator in Christchurch. This makes fascinating reading with the Kiwi angle involved on the Aussie player scene:

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulle...

Richard is also a successful example of how a player can forge a successful career post his playing days, having established himself as a leading graphic designer, design teacher (CPIT Christchurch 1990's and in Australia) and exhibiting painter, while being actively involved in coaching in his home town Christchurch in the 1990's (Avon United, Rangers, Woolston).

Before 2005, Australian footballers lived in the murky twilight world of "semi-professional" football (with no union to represent them until 1993) and had an indeterminate identity which was neither sanctioned as fully professional nor fully amateur.

There's still a legacy of bad feeling amongst players and former players from the pre A-League days when players had few rights and were sometimes treated appallingly by clubs and national and state administrators.

Australian clubs had inherited the "retain and tranfer system" from English football whereby a club held a player's registration indefinately until they agreed to release him - even if his contract had expired. They could also demand a transfer fee even if a player's contract had expired.

"In England....from the start of the 1893-94 season onwards, once a player was registered with a Football League club, he could not be registered with any other club, even in subsequent seasons, without the permission of the club he was registered with. It applied even if the player's annual contract with the club holding his registration was not renewed after it expired. The club were not obliged to play him and, without a contract, the player was not entitled to receive a salary. Nevertheless, if the club refused to release his registration, the player could not play for any other Football League club."

The English High Court abolished the ability of clubs to retain a player's registration against his wishes in 1963. Clubs could still demand a tranfer fee for players whose contract had expired until the Bosman Ruling in 1995.

.In Australia the PFA only over-turned the right of clubs to retain a player's registration and demand a transfer / compensation fee, even if no longer under contract, in 1995:

. http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/public-e...

Brendan Schwab, former Chairman of Aussie PFA and a leading figure today on international pro athlete bodies:

"First, we campaigned hard through the media and within the game. A Four Corners program into player related transfer corruption in Australian soccer prompted the then Australian Soccer Federation to call an independent inquiry to be chaired by the Hon Donald Stewart, a former NSW Supreme Court judge and head of the National Crime Authority. His report famously quoted Shakespeare’s The Tempest and that only a “sea change” could save Australian soccer. He found that the culture of corruption within the game started with the view that players were the property of clubs, to be bought and sold accordingly. He recommended that soccer’s compensation fee system be abolished within two years. Second, our legal action involved a Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, where we could meet our own costs and not be responsible for those of the Federation and the clubs. We applied for an industrial award to abolish the compensation system. On 9 June 1995, the Commission found that the system should be abolished by the end of 1996 and ordered the parties to negotiate on all terms and conditions of employment. In so finding, the Commission acknowledged the objectives behind the system (competitive balance and encouraging the training and development of young players) were objectives shared by the players. However, the system: “operates in many instances unfairly towards players, has little or anything to do with the training and development of a player…treats players as if they were the property of their club …(and impinges) on the freedom to choose one’s employer…The system in its present form should be abolished…” Third, we organised the players. By being willing to negotiate, we secured a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement for all NSL players that addressed all aspects of their employment. Fourth, we campaigned hard politically. A Senate Committee had stronger reservations about the compensation fee system than even Stewart and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and recommended the system’s immediate abolition...."