SA clubs warned not to mess with Fifa…
International sports lawyer Evert de Bruyn pulled no punches as he warned Premier Soccer League clubs to toe the line with the world football governing body, Tiyani wa ka Mabasa reports
De Bruyn’s comments come in the wake of Fifa’s transfer ban on Swallows FC, over two Serbian players Obren Cuckovic and Vladimir Mandic emanating from a case about eight years ago when the club was still referenced as Moroka Swallows. Swallows agreed to pay R300000 to each player at the time, but reneged on the deal.
In Fifa’s hands now, Swallows may end up coughing up R4.5-million owing to interests over the years and as a result, they haven’t been able to register about four or five players, according to those in the know.
Also recently, Marumo Galants avoided a similar fate when they paid almost R1-million to settle their matter with Kenyan international Ovella Ochieng, who signed with the Limpopo club last year and left without playing a match. Gallants contended that they couldn’t secure Ochieng’s international clearance, hence they couldn’t register him, but Fifa countered that this is no excuse to renege on the contract between the two parties. Ochieng was represented by De Bruyn.
Another matter that got Fifa involved was between Bloemfontein Celtic and former goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb. Siwelele were forced to pay the Cameroon shot-stopper R3-million for unpaid salaries in line with his contract.
Fifa handles matters with an “international element”, which means the cases against PSL clubs that the mother body has overseen have been of foreign players. Speaking to a football representative, who requested anonymity, he’s adamant that some clubs would’ve closed shop if Fifa were also taking matters involving local players.
“The bottom line is that most PSL clubs treat players like sh***t, excuse my language. I know a First Division (Motsepe Foundation Championship) club that has not paid players for three months,” he said.
De Bruyn was at pains to explain that South African clubs have no other option but to fulfil contractual agreements to develop a fully-fledged professional league, not only in name. “Let’s differentiate between Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Supersport United, Stellenbosch, Cape Town City, Maritzburg United, Amazulu…
if they are not one of the clubs I mentioned, a contract in South Africa is meaningless,” stated De Bruyn, who runs his own practice and has been in the business for over 10 years.
“The bottom line is there are a hell of a lot of players not being paid and players being chased away (from clubs).
“There’s a player I’m representing who signed a two-year contract with a PSL club being told, ‘listen, we don’t want you anymore. Here is a document saying you agree to a mutual termination and we will pay you a month’s salary’.
“This is after relocating his entire family and having purchased a motor vehicle, and making plans because of what he thought was a blossoming career in football only to be told after a year that they don’t want him. That’s not even the worst case (on my desk),” he continued.
“The PSL will say to you, ‘well, the dispute resolution chamber mechanism in our tribunal is just as good as Fifa’s, but unfortunately experience has taught me otherwise for two reasons. One, it’s very slow, particularly when a club wants to fight a player, so you are looking at it dragging for six to 12 months. Secondly, the outcomes are not the same. The players who refer their cases to Fifa get significantly more.”
De Bruyn added the problem is widespread and mentioned that even clubs in North Africa, where the Egyptian League is amongst the go-to countries, is prone to these ill habits.
As a parting shot, he urged local clubs to invest in legal departments. “It’s important to have people with legal backgrounds, but specifically people with a football background.
We have now seen it with the Safa CEO (Tebogo Motlanthe) going to attend Fifa courses,” he said.