The story behind the scenes

A legal view

With questions around whether the existing contracts of many of the Wits players would allow for them to relocate should the sale of the club go through, the Siya crew asked sports law expert Evert De Bryn, an attorney who also sits on the independent PSL disciplinary committee panel.

We asked him what the possible implications are, should this deal and the reported sale of Bloemfontein Celtic be approved by the League’s executive committee.

“It’s a difficult question, but it very much depends on what the agreement of sale between a club and any purchaser entails. If it is just the purchase of the status and not the club as a going concern, that would be significant in answering the question. But if it is sold as a going concern, or by way of a sale of shares, and all agreements relating to players remain in place, then by virtue thereof, the players would be included in that transaction.

“In that case, the employment contracts would remain exactly as they are. The terms of the employment agreement would however reflect where the club would be based, or whether a player can be expected to relocate. So, if a purchaser wants to relocate the club to a different city, then you could effectively be in breach of that employment contract to the extent that it was a material term of that contract that a player would be playing in a specific city. Unless there is mutual agreement between the parties that the players are happy to relocate, then you would – theoretically – have a situation where a club would not be able to enforce that player’s contract in principle.

“If a player is not happy with relocating, then they have grounds to terminate. If the club, however, is not sold as a going concern, but only sells its status, then that would not necessarily include the players or any other contract that the team has. The selling club would still have an obligation to its players to pay them, and that in itself creates some challenge. If you sell the status, then what are you left with? But perhaps a team could take the money from the sale and reach a settlement with all the players, allowing them to join whoever they want. That notion, however, puts the club in a bad situation with the players, who could argue that they should be paid the value of their contracts and then go on to sue for breach of contract.

“I can’t see why anyone would sell the status just as an asset – selling it as a going concern, together with the players, makes the most sense as the player contracts have significant value. A purchaser might, however, feel that relocation is not a significant enough basis for a player to terminate his contract. In that case, a player would have to approach the PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber to obtain his clearance. I am of the view that relocation without the consent of the player to change the terms of the contract would result in a breach of the employment contract.”