UEFA's "home-grown players" rule - bad for Irish football?

[Irish_Praha]

Maybe this should be in world football but I want to look at it from an Irish prospective so please don't start discussing about how it will effect your British team of choice.

This is an article I read on sportinglife today that caused me some concern.

FIFA SAY YES TO 'SIX-PLUS-FIVE RULE'

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/05/30/SOCCER_FIFA_Lead.html

I already knew about FIFA’s attempt to limit the number of foreign players in the starting 11 of a club team. That would its self have implications for Irish players in England because it would increase the competition for starting places in their team.
However I wasn’t too concerned about it happening because it is against European employment laws, but later in the article a "home-grown players" rule proposed by UEFA is discussed.
This is defined as follows:

“Team members who, regardless of age or nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the National Association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.”

Such a rule does not break any laws and is much more likely to be passed.

That could have a hard hitting effect on the EL because if it is passed then players know they must move to a team in England before they are 18 and stay there for at least 3 years if they want to be considered as “home grown”. This would then in turn make it even more difficult for an EL team to hang onto a player into his early 20’s and the likes of Kevin Doyle etc. might never be seen again. Just as EL clubs were starting to hold onto their good players and get decent transfer fees.:(
It would be also interesting to know if someone goes to England at about 15 and only previously had 1 year with an underage Irish team, then at the age of 19 if it hasn’t worked out and they move back to Ireland would they be counted as a foreign player or are they still automatically seen as home grown because they were born there?

Anyway I hope neither of these rules get passed unless Irish players get some kind of exemption of course :p

[irishfan86]

There are a number of implications:

-Perhaps more players will stay in Ireland out of necessity if English clubs can't fit in any more foreign players. This could boost the strength of the domestic game.
-We will see a dropping off of players declaring for us under the parentage/grandparentage rule, as it could affect their careers.

On a more general level, I could see a group of elite European teams breaking away from FIFA/UEFA and forming their own league where they are allowed as many foreigners as they like.

The businessmen who run Europe's top clubs know that the presence of foreign players are a big part of why European football is so popular.

They will not tolerate the interference of sentimentalists.

[garyderry]

.
-We will see a dropping off of players declaring for us under the parentage/grandparentage rule, as it could affect their careers.


Well that is the daftest comment yet in relation to this.
How on earth has it anything to do with the nation you declare for?

Thats the whole point of the Uefa proposal, its the ascotiation that your train with up to the age of 21, its feck all to do with what country your eligible for?

[Supreme feet]

Simply won't happen. It defies EU law, going back to Bosman; discrimination, the right of an individual to pursue a career, and free movement within any EU member state. It will become a human rights issue; clubs and even players unions (PFA, etc) won't have it.

[elroy]

Simply won't happen. It defies EU law, going back to Bosman; discrimination, the right of an individual to pursue a career, and free movement within any EU member state. It will become a human rights issue; clubs and even players unions (PFA, etc) won't have it.

Ya agree completely this wont happen mainly due to EU law and considering all of our top players play aboard and will continue to do so i dont think it would be good from an Irish perspective anyways.

[osarusan]

Recently there has been a trend (a good trend) for players to establish themselves in the eL before heading cross-channel. This has lead to bigger transfers and some excellent performances in Europe.

Will this new plan (if implemented) change the above improvements? Will players and clubs be looking for earlier cross-channel moves?

[theworm2345]

The home grown players rule is a hell of a lot better than that other one in my opinion

[Irish_Praha]

The home grown players rule is a hell of a lot better than that other one in my opinion

In a general sense the "home grown" rule is more sensible than Blatters proposal and would result in the clubs investing more heavily in youth systems rather than buying readymade stars from the continent. However, just thinking of it in a selfish Irish point-of-view. It could hasten young Irish players movement to England, just when it was starting to become more attractive to stay longer in Ireland. With Blatters proposal it wouldnt matter when they moved because they would always be seen as foreign.

Any proposal will have to be well thought out so that there are no loop holes and to ensure that the young players are protected. Something like making it compulsary for them to go to school for somany years. So that they have something to fall back on. I can see the big clubs paying silly money for any 14 year old in Europe/Africa that looks like he could make it. Just so that he would be covered under the rules and would be tied to them.

[Schumi]

I don't think an arrangement which makes more players move to a foreign country before they're 18 is positive.

I don't see how the EU will allow this though. It's still a restriction on EU nationals' ability to work in other EU countries, even it's not strictly based on nationality.

[osarusan]

will the clubs agree to adopt it in a kind of 'gentlemans agreement'?

[mypost]

I don't see how the EU will allow this though. It's still a restriction on EU nationals' ability to work in other EU countries, even it's not strictly based on nationality.

What about players in non-EU countries?

Anything that benefits the domestic leagues has to be seen as good for the game, especially here, as we are one of the few associations worldwide, where you are banned from playing for the national team if you play in your own league.

[Schumi]

What about players in non-EU countries?I haven't seen a distinction made anywhere between EU and non-EU in the 'home grown player' idea. I can't see UEFA championing a system that differentiates between their member associations which are in the EU and those which are not.


Anything that benefits the domestic leagues has to be seen as good for the game.I agree but I'm not sure this would be good for our league. There would be an incentive for English clubs to get players over at the age of 15 so they'd count as 'home grown'. These players would then be lost to the league here.

[The Legend]

its a disaster for all countries outside of the ones with the big leagues...

[jmurphyc]

I can't see it getting passed. Yet another one of Sepp Blatter's brainfarts.

[SilkCut]

Cant possibly happen can it?? It would set a precedent for all industries and open up all EU freedom of movement laws to challenges. In any case why are FIFA so concerned didn't they coin the phrase "The world game" are they gonna change it to "The world game, but you can only play locally young man."

[mypost]

I can't see it getting passed. Yet another one of Sepp Blatter's brainfarts.

It may well be applied to players and clubs outside the EU. It is a FIFA initiative, not a UEFA one, and there's more to football than just those in the EU.

[GavinZac]

its a disaster for all countries outside of the ones with the big leagues...

Why?.

[seanfhear]

it is very difficult to see how this could be imposed for eu country players as it would be contrary to free movement of labour laws.If it did happen then very few irish players would be playing in the premiership and players that might declare for ireland would have a very difficult decision to make.When there was restrictions previously there was big pressure on some players not to declare for countries other than england ie;kevin gallen at qpr because it would have reduced the transfer value of the player.Also the idiot souness shipped out steve staunton from liverpool because they had too many non english players and was then not able to qualify liverpool for the european cup.How this man is linked with any managers job is unbelievable

[GavinZac]

it is very difficult to see how this could be imposed for eu country players as it would be contrary to free movement of labour lawsNot really. The rule says you can only play 11 players, thats hardly fair on the other guys who just want to play and make a living?

This says that 6 of those eleven have to be trained at a local club. No real difference, in employment terms. You can still pay your token brazilian over the odds you just might not be able to put him on the park.

Similar rules also exist and have been tested legally in the transfer rules, e.g. the compensation due for homegrown players.