Young footballers: 'Faster action needed' on youth players' rights
- Published
Progress on improving rights for young footballers has been too slow and external regulation may be needed, MSPs have warned football authorities.
A Scottish Parliament committee is concerned about young players being stuck in exploitative contracts which do not pay them fairly.
The issue was first raised in a Holyrood petition 10 years ago.
Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee said changes brought in by the SFA and SPFL have not solved the problem.
The committee wants to ensure under-16s are not required to sign multi-year contracts
The MSPs also want better monitoring to ensure all young players are receiving the minimum wage.
Convener Johann Lamont said: "There is a huge power imbalance between football clubs and the young people who aspire to play for them.
"Football is a passion for many young people and an offer to join a club's youth set-up may seem like a golden ticket.
"However, clubs trading in children's dreams should not be hiding devils in the detail, such as contractual small print which too many young people and their parents or carers may overlook until it is too late.
"The committee welcomes some of the measures introduced by the SFA since our consideration of this petition began, but this progress has been painfully slow. After 10 years, the committee believes that time is up."
"Children under the age of 16 should not be expected to sign exploitative multi-year contracts and young players should expect to be paid at least the minimum wage for their work," Ms Lamont added.
Youth coach Scott Robertson is one of those behind the petition
The petition, lodged in March 2010, external by youth coach Scott Robertson and William Smith, is the longest in the history of the Scottish Parliament.
A report from the petitions committee, released on Monday, said regulation or new legislation might be the only way forward.
The committee also said there had appeared to be breaches in the rules around children's human rights in football, which the Children and Young People's Commissioner should investigate.
Ms Lamont said: "We are also concerned that the current Children and Young People's Commissioner is not prioritising this petition in his office's work, despite agreeing with his predecessor that issues remain unresolved.
"We believe that the commissioner's office still has a critical role to play in ensuring the rights of children involved in youth football are not overlooked."
Children's commissioner Bruce Adamson said he was setting up a meeting with the minister for public health, the SFA and the petitioners - but was asked to wait until the petitions committee had published its report.
He added that children's rights were best protected by law rather than self-regulation.
"Should the Scottish government be unwilling to legislate we would support the committee to bring forward its own legislation to resolve these issues in the best issues of children," he said.
'Journey of improvement'
Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA chief executive, said its wellbeing and protection team was carrying out "extensive work" to provide professional support and guidance across all levels of the game, and the "journey of improvement" was ongoing.
He said: "We are also fortunate to have strategic oversight from a highly experienced Independent Wellbeing and Protection Advisory Board which is chaired by Jackie Brock, CEO of Children in Scotland and author of the Brock Report, who was commissioned previously by the Scottish government to review Scotland's system for safeguarding of vulnerable children.
"It is also important to acknowledge failings. The well-documented lapses in PVG checking within the Scottish Youth FA was a sharp reminder of the need to have more robust policies and procedures in place for monitoring our affiliate bodies and the subsequent board directive issued has been successful in ensuring best practice across the recreational game in this regard."
Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, added: "Today's report recognises the enormous amount of vital work carried out by all 42 SPFL clubs in close partnership with our colleagues at the Scottish FA.
"As a sport which harnesses and nurtures the passions of hundreds of thousands of young people throughout Scotland, football rightly places an overwhelming priority on ensuring they can play and learn in a safe and supportive environment."