Sports lawyer weighs in

A sports lawyer, who spoke to the Siya crew on condition of anonymity, has shared a legal opinion on what might have happened in Mailula’s situation based on the handling of training and development compensation fee matters in Mzansi.

“Using Mailula as an example, because his case is fairly standard to your normal training and development compensation claim, when a player signs his first professional contract that’s usually when development compensation becomes payable to the club that participated in his development.

“There can be any number of clubs that participated in the player’s development, but it’s from the age of 12 up until the year he turns professional,” said the legal expert.

“Let’s say at the age of 12 he was at an academy in Polokwane up until the age of 15. That academy would be entitled to compensation for years 12, 13, 14 and 15. Let’s assume that he moves to Sundowns academy at the age of 16, where he is there until the age of 22. Because Sundowns is the club that signs him eventually, they are not going to pay themselves any development compensation, so that kind of thing goes by the wayside.

“But effectively, a training club or academy is entitled to training and development compensation for each year that the player was registered with them and developed, and that becomes payable once the player is registered as a professional,” the lawyer added.