[Comment] Commission paper can protect unique nature of sports
RICHARD CORBETT
26.07.2007 @ 09:36 CET
The recent release of the European Commission's much anticipated White Paper on Sport provoked the usual hysterical reaction from the British anti-EU press, with the Daily Telegraph complaining that it is part of a 'Brussels' plot to take over football.
The reality of the reports' content was somewhat different. The White Paper follows the lead set by last year's influential Independent Review of European Football and deals with many issues that have been dominating world sport including doping, crowd racism, player agents and TV rights.
Although sport is not mentioned in the EU treaties, issues such as the sale of TV rights, squad sizes, player contracts are all subject to the fields of, for example, company, competition and employment law. The question, therefore, is how to make EU law take account of the specificities of sport.
There is much in the White Paper to welcome. In particular, it extends a cautious hand to the UEFA proposals on quotas for home-grown players, which would ensure that clubs allocate resources to their youth teams rather than simply buying all their players on the transfer market.
However, any indirect discrimination on the grounds of nationality resulting from these rules would have to be outweighed by the benefits of training and development of talented young players.
The Commission's stance on combating violence and racism in football grounds was particularly encouraging. The report recommends new legal instruments and other EU-wide standards to prevent public disorder at sporting events, a positive step particularly after the racist abuse that scarred England's game against Spain in 2004 and more recently against Croatia last autumn.
The report recognises that currently law enforcement authorities in many EU member states cannot deal with the violence and has stated that particular importance will be given to police training on crowd management and hooliganism.
The shocking scenes of police brutality in Manchester United's Champions League fixture in Rome and Lille highlighted the disparity both in crowd control methods and the way supporters in different countries react to these methods. This proposal of greater police training should help create a greater understanding and trust between supporters and police.
Doping is another issue that is highlighted, and the decision to recommend that trade in doping substances be treated in the same manner as trade in illegal drugs throughout the EU sends out a clear message that doping will not be tolerated in European sport.
Despite concerted lobbying from the G14 clubs demanding the right for clubs to sell TV rights individually, the Commission report states that joint television rights can be vital to the redistribution of income as well as being a tool for "achieving greater solidarity within sports." This acceptance of collective sales, which could otherwise fall foul of competition law, will come as a huge boost to smaller clubs.
An unrestricted free-for-all with clubs touting their media rights individually, as happens in Spain where Real Madrid and Barcelona's TV deals alone account for over 50% of the total TV revenue, would undoubtedly increase the financial gap between the 'big four' and the rest of the Premier League.
It particularly mentions the malpractice of agents in terms of corruption and exploitation of under-age players, something that has been highlighted in the UK by the Stevens report and recent BBC Panorama documentary.
The regulation of players' agents is an area where the Commission can take action and, indeed, plans to carry out an impact assessment to provide a clear overview of the activities of players' agents in the EU and if necessary will initiate regulation at EU level.
None of this may be ground-breaking, but the Commission's recommendations should be welcomed by those who want law-makers at national and EU level, where necessary, to allow a benevolent interpretation of legislation in order to protect the special nature of sport.
Richard Corbett is a UK Labour member of the European Parliament
