FUB handling more than 50 player disputes
The Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) says it is handling more than 50 cases of player disputes, mostly arising from unpaid dues. FUB secretary-general, Kgosana Masaseng said most of the cases have been pending before the Botswana Football Association (BFA) National Dispute Resolution Chamber (NDRC).
“Issues being reported are largely to do with player movements. Players’ contracts are arbitrarily terminated. There are also cases where some players are denied free movement on account of some teams asking for development fees and or training compensation,” he said.
“As usual, we still have reports of unfulfilled contracts even after renegotiations to accommodate the current crisis that hit football,” Masaseng added.
The union is inundated with complaints ranging from unpaid dues to unfair dismissal. “For now we are waiting on players to bring additional information. This will add to the 48 cases that have previously been reported to the BFA NDRC. The ones already reported are for overdue payables.
This time about eight players came with the ones to do with unilateral termination of contracts, whilst two are for players who are not being released yet they don’t have running contracts with their last employers,” he said.
Player disputes have become commonplace in local football. Most local clubs fail to regularly shell players dues and without any football activity in the last 18 months, most players are left in the lurch. FUB once indicated at least 10 of the
16 Premier League clubs were in contempt. Players are still eagerly awaiting the return of football.
No concrete date has been set for the resumption of football activities, but an October return has been hinted. The league was halted in March last year as part of efforts to blunt the spread of COVID-19. Despite several efforts to get the league into action, there has been little movement on the ground. This, amid reports the Botswana Football League needs at least P15 million to breathe back to life, with sponsors reluctant to commit to a comatose product.