ANAS Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has written to Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), urging her to investigate “exploitative practices” in youth football in this country.
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and youth organisation Real Grassroots lodged complaints about the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) with the CMA back in December in what was the latest development in a long-running campaign.
Their legal representatives Gunnercooke alleged that four of the governing bodies’ rules – the no-poach, no-approach, unilateral extension and development contribution rules - breached United Kingdom competition law.
The CMA, who announced that they would be cutting their staff numbers by almost 100 in January due to a budgetary overspend last year, have since informed the complainants they will not be launching a formal investigation.
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Gunnercooke competition law partner Alex Waksman said, “The CMA has expressed concerns about the resources that would be involved in investigating the case in the immediate future given the other matters that the CMA has open.
“We have responded with an explanation of why this case should be prioritised and why we do not believe this would be an unduly resource-heavy matter. We remain optimistic about this case being taken on.”
Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader and MSP for Glasgow (Region), has also contacted CMA chief executive Cardell and urged her to review the case after holding talks with Willie Smith, the Hillwood Boys Club founder who set up Real Grassroots due to concerns about the state of youth football in Scotland, and Gunnercooke.
He wrote, “I recently met with the founder of Real Grassroots, Willie Smith, and his legal representatives, Gunnercooke, to discuss their complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) against the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
“The Real Grassroots’ complaint relates to exploitative practices in youth football in Scotland, which they and their legal representatives consider to be clear breaches of UK competition law.
“I would be grateful if the CMA’s decision to not proceed with the Real Grassroots’ complaint can now be reconsidered, with a view to this matter being fully investigated and bringing about an end to exploitative practices in youth football in Scotland.”
The Public Petitions Committee at Holyrood recommended “very strongly” that multi-year registrations for children under the age of 16 should be abolished back in 2020.
But young players aged 15 to 17 who are at an elite Club Academy Scotland (CAS) club still sign a two year registration which can only be terminated if both they and the club agree to it.
The 11 elite CAS clubs are Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Hearts, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Rangers, Queen's Park and St Mirren.
Clubs insist the rules prevent larger academies from raiding smaller academies and taking away players they have spent time and money developing over a number of years and also give kids long-term stability.
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But the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and Real Grassroots are adamant these rules amount to economic exploitation of children and mean that clubs can "hold youth players hostage".
An SFA spokesperson said, “We have been in dialogue with the CMA and will continue to monitor our policies and procedures in line with FIFA regulations.”
Speaking back in December when the complaints were lodged with the CMA, an SFA spokesperson said: "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 were approached for comment.
