Axed coach takes Adelaide United to court
Dutch soccer coach Rini Coolen fears deportation from Australia while pursuing court action against the A-League club which replaced him, Adelaide United.
Lawyers for Coolen claim United misled the Dutchman, who was dumped as Adelaide’s head coach last December – 18 months into a four-year contract worth $1.1 million.
Coolen’s lawyers appeared in the South Australian District Court on Tuesday, arguing Adelaide United breached the Dutchman’s contract.
But the club says Coolen wasn’t sacked but merely redeployed to a junior development role, which he opted not to perform.
Coolen’s lawyer, Andrew Short, said the redeployment was untenable and Coolen was seeking damages over his contract.
Coolen remained in Australia on a visa sponsored by Adelaide United and his living situation was endangered by losing his job, Mr Short told the court.
“It places at risk his ability to stay in the country,” he said.
After being removed as coach, Coolen lodged a claim against United under Football Federation Australia’s grievance resolution regulations.
But the FFA’s appeal committee ruled the case can’t go through the grievance process.
The ruling prompted Coolen to go to the district court’s civil jurisdiction, seeking damages.
Lawyers for Coolen and United on Tuesday agreed to mediation meetings, with the court setting a settlement conference for July.
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (9) | Page 1 of Comments
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May 23rd 2012 @ 9:07am
phutbol said | May 23rd 2012 @ 9:07am | Report comment
Tough titties Rini. You were demoted for poor performance and chose to leave. No compo for you sir.
May 23rd 2012 @ 10:25am
Chips Rafferty said | May 23rd 2012 @ 10:25am | Report comment
Another no name, dutch numpty blow in taking a job from local strayan sockah coaches. They should just deport the clueless muppet. he was Gawd awful as the clipboard carrier for the croweaters sockah club.
In straya the clueless two bob movers and shakers should look at employing talented local clipboard carriers like Les Scheinflug, Frankie Arok, Raul Blanco, Nick T, Ken Schembri and me. We cost a lot less of the hard earned too.
we are the riteful big boys who should be calling the shots on the paddock in the Z league, not blow ins, unemployable in their own countries.
May 23rd 2012 @ 10:31am
Ben of Phnom Penh said | May 23rd 2012 @ 10:31am | Report comment
To be fair none of us are privy to the contract details, as such the merit of this case is unknown to us. This is one for the mediators and possibly (though hopefully not) the courts.
This is a legal, as opposed to football, matter
May 23rd 2012 @ 11:12am
Andyroo said | May 23rd 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Kevin Keegan went through a similar thing at Newcastle but had the public’s backing…. Rini obviously needs better PR people.
May 23rd 2012 @ 5:00pm
tristina said | May 23rd 2012 @ 5:00pm | Report comment
ItsCalled AussieRules ,
have a read of this.
May 23rd 2012 @ 7:59pm
Titus said | May 23rd 2012 @ 7:59pm | Report comment
Isn’t Greg Griffin a sports lawyer?
I suspect they thought this one through before proceeding.
May 23rd 2012 @ 10:00pm
thinker said | May 23rd 2012 @ 10:00pm | Report comment
Liverpool?
May 24th 2012 @ 7:12am
Kasey said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:12am | Report comment
Its no big deal, the courts will push it to mediation, a settlement will be reached and in 3-5 weeks a press release from the club will say something along the lines of “we thank Rini for his efforts at the club and wish all the best for the future”. Griffin knows his way around the legal system, there is no story here. Off season barrel scraping for stories.
May 24th 2012 @ 10:36am
tristina said | May 24th 2012 @ 10:36am | Report comment
thanks nostradmous