Richard MichaelForget right or wrong - Will foreign quotas happen?
'But it is against the law', they say. European legislation has long been the trump card to the perennial debate over limiting foreign players. A Fifa congress will convene later this week to discuss quotas as Sepp Blatter, like a desperate exiting premier, attempts to secure his legacy. Forget right or wrong - could it actually happen?
Consensus states that the law is clear cut and impermeable. But it is anything but introvertable, and there could their be leaks in the legislative wall. There are concessions already. Football as with most sports is based on an alien concept to the rest of the working world - the transfer system. Players are bought and sold on the market as commodities rather than employees, and only at the end of a contract or in its final few years can a 'move' be guaranteed. This is an exception to the laws on freedom of movement guaranteed under the Maastricht Treaty.
The transfer window, which states that players can only move between clubs at a certain stage of the season, further exaggerates these discrepancies between European ideals and football's reality. In Scotland teams are required to have a designated number of young Scottish players in their match day squads - so that would be a quota system then (deciding who should be employed based on nationality rather than ability).
Whatsmore these exceptions are recognised in law. The latest EU constitution - the treaty of Belgium signed in December - guarantees for the first time the unique nature of sport, the 'specificity of sport', allowing exceptions in certain circumstances. But it is a map rather than a trodden path. These exceptions exist because they have no objectors, they are tolerated and yet to be thrown to the court house wolves.
But quotas in the domestic leagues is another matter. This time the Premier league, the clubs and the owners will stamp their feet and hire the most obscene lawyers to ensure their pursuit of global domination is not compromised by second rate nationals imposed upon them. This issue is no skirmish, it is the war they will not lose.
But as a Fifa official has suggested, along with compromising there are other avenues to be explored. They could also contest the bureaucrats of Brussels over European competition laws and create alliances with sports like basketball (who also rebel).
But as ever the fate of things lies delicately in the hands of the lawyers.
Consensus states that the law is clear cut and impermeable. But it is anything but introvertable, and there could their be leaks in the legislative wall. There are concessions already. Football as with most sports is based on an alien concept to the rest of the working world - the transfer system. Players are bought and sold on the market as commodities rather than employees, and only at the end of a contract or in its final few years can a 'move' be guaranteed. This is an exception to the laws on freedom of movement guaranteed under the Maastricht Treaty.
The transfer window, which states that players can only move between clubs at a certain stage of the season, further exaggerates these discrepancies between European ideals and football's reality. In Scotland teams are required to have a designated number of young Scottish players in their match day squads - so that would be a quota system then (deciding who should be employed based on nationality rather than ability).
Whatsmore these exceptions are recognised in law. The latest EU constitution - the treaty of Belgium signed in December - guarantees for the first time the unique nature of sport, the 'specificity of sport', allowing exceptions in certain circumstances. But it is a map rather than a trodden path. These exceptions exist because they have no objectors, they are tolerated and yet to be thrown to the court house wolves.
But quotas in the domestic leagues is another matter. This time the Premier league, the clubs and the owners will stamp their feet and hire the most obscene lawyers to ensure their pursuit of global domination is not compromised by second rate nationals imposed upon them. This issue is no skirmish, it is the war they will not lose.
But as a Fifa official has suggested, along with compromising there are other avenues to be explored. They could also contest the bureaucrats of Brussels over European competition laws and create alliances with sports like basketball (who also rebel).
But as ever the fate of things lies delicately in the hands of the lawyers.
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