PA MediaThe Scottish Football Association (SFA) and the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) have been reported to the UK’s competition watchdog after being accused of breaching the human rights of children.
Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner, along with campaign group RealGrassroots, has filed a complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to force the footballing bodies to change the rules that govern young players.
The SFA and SPFL are accused of exploiting children with harsh rules that restrict their ability to move between club academies.
The commissioner said this violates UK competition law and amounts to the “economic exploitation of children, which breaches their human rights”.
It wants at least four rules changed, including the cap on how many players one club can recruit from another club; the ability for clubs to unilaterally extend the “registration period” where players are locked into their current club; the setting of “implausibly high fees” that new clubs have to pay to bring in a player from another academy; and the ban on players and their parents from approaching other clubs about a move.
The SFA said it has made “significant progress” to protect young footballers in recent years.
But its critics say the current rules amount to an “anti-competitive, no-poach deal” where clubs agree not to compete to recruit new players.
The Children’s Commissioner and RealGrassroots said this means young people are “held hostage” by their clubs.
Nick Hobbs, head of advice and investigations at the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, said: “The rights of child footballers have been a deep concern for the office for many years now – it’s an issue that has spanned the work of three children’s commissioners, and the Scottish Parliament has made its views very clear on what is required of the SFA.
“Going to the CMA was not a decision we took lightly; there was simply no other choice.
“We have tried to work with the SFA over many years, and they have been consistently reluctant to resolve this.”
Mr Hobbs said past promises by the SFA have not been delivered and it has ignored recommendations from MSPs about changing its rules.
He went on: “They have made the odd concession but have persistently sought to kick the can down the road, so we have taken the only option we could.
“The CMA is the only body with the authority and the legal powers to make the SFA and SPFL change the rules.
“The current rules give child footballers less protection, and less control over their own lives, than adult professionals.
“There is a massive power imbalance between them and the clubs they sign for which can amount to economic exploitation – this is a fundamental breach of their human rights.”
PA MediaWilliam Smith, co-founder of RealGrassroots, said the rules for young footballers are “profoundly unjust”.
He added: “The clubs treat children as commodities that their current clubs own.
“Young players have no freedom to move to the best club for them, and if their current club treats them badly, they have no ability to do anything about it.
“This puts real strain on children and their families who make great sacrifices for the chance to secure a professional contract.
“The SFA and SPFL have ignored everyone’s concerns, while they continue to damage Scottish football.
“Politicians are prepared to spend millions of pounds debating these issues without doing anything to protect our game and our children.
“At some point, someone has to take responsibility and say ‘no more’.”
PA MediaA spokesperson for the SFA said: “The Scottish FA has consulted extensively on the subject of improving youth football in Scotland in the nearly 15 years since a petition was first raised to the Scottish Parliament.
“Following extensive engagement and evidence sharing, we were pleased that the report published in 2020 by the Public Petitions Committee acknowledged the significant progress made to protect children and young people involved in our game.
“Since the publication of the report, we have continued to evolve our policies and procedures in line with the Fifa statutes.
“Indeed, we have successfully amended the process of reimbursement of training costs based on input from the Children’s Commissioner, ensuring training compensation is only due when the player signs their first professional contract.”
The SPFL has been approached for comment.
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