Call for government to step in over football kids

THE Scottish Government should step in to protect the rights of children who are being signed to professional football clubs, Children’s Commissioner Tam Baillie has told MSPs.

Mr Baillie said he has “no confidence” in selfregulation by the sport to fix concerns around how young players are being treated.

Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee is examining a longrunning petition from campaigners William Smith and Scott Robertson on improving youth football in Scotland.

Mr Baillie said while the Scottish Football Association (SFA) has made some changes in response to concerns, there are still a number of outstanding issues. He said children signed with professional clubs are now allowed to play for their school teams, while a children’s well-being and rights officer has been appointed and a complaints process established.

But he said there are still problems with the compensation scheme operated by clubs with regard to child players, and issues with threeyear contracts for 15-year-olds, the minimum wage and the involvement of football agents.

Compensation payments are paid between clubs for youngsters, with sums calculated by an SFA formula. This equates to around £3,000 per season.

Mr Baillie said: “As soon as a child signs with a club there is a price on their head because that price is the cost of the compensation to another club to release that child to play for them.”

He said the clubs are not interested in changing the system.

He added that money is a “contaminating” factor.