A-League transfer policy plays rich against poor

The Australian Trade Practices Act and the common law does operate to protect sports people from restrictive trade conditions. The key legal principles in this area of the law can be summarised as follows: "In professional sport, there are a number of agreements and undertakings that impose conditions that operate as a restraint of trade. Many of these restraints are necessary and reasonable, some more tenuous to the proper administration of the sport. The general issue in determining whether a restraint of trade in sport is reasonable or not, involves a balancing of the interests of the sport, the club, and society as against the adverse effects on the player (such as lost income)." (From Chadwick's 'Restraint Of Trade In Australian Sport') So, if Griffiths was to bring a succesful restriction of trade action he would need to show that it is unreasonable for him not to be allowed to immediately register for his new team given an assesment of ALL relevant interests. Based on what I have written above about what I deem to be fair and reasonable, I don't believe he would have much of a case. However, I'm not a judge. There is also a distiction between Bosman and similar international decisions, as those cases have focused on the application of European Treaty law.

Australian clubs are contractually compelled to follow the A-League's rules on registration. Think of the A-League as a corporation that has 10 contracts (or licences), one with each of the clubs. Players then sign contracts with the clubs. When the contracts end between a club and a player, other clubs cannot employ the player because they are themselves contractually bound to comply with the registration conditions outlined by the A-League franchise licences. If a club were to employ a player outside the registration period, that did not comply with the A-League's terms of the contract with the club, the club's contract with the A-League could become void; the club's licence would be revoked. In terms of all contracts ending in registration periods...this does sometimes happen. A three year contract will often end at the close of the player's third season and under the Bosman rule the player is eligible for a free transfer. However, in mid-year transfers, such as Visconte, or where a player leaves a year or two early, players usually have not performed all of their contractual obligations, so a transfer fee is paid as compensation to the selling club. Transfer fees are usually split up between the player, agents and then club. If your premise that all transfers be free was established, then A-League clubs would lose one of their few sources of revenue and the players would be paid even less. That doesn't seem very fair.

There are frequent discussions about players not having adequate rights in having freedom to move on when contracts expire. Since the Bosman decision in the 90s there has been a growth in player power. Existing regulations are designed to balance the interests of players and clubs. In the case above I think the balance is quite fair.

That's my guess too. Imagine the amount of players who would seek to end their contracts when their teams go through a bad run. There must be some level of protection for the clubs so they can keep players.

First of all, "transfer" is a dirty word we like to use which is slang for what FIFA describe as "registration". In the FIFA regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, FIFA sets out that registrations may only be made in two annual periods decided upon by the League's governing body (within a set time frame, of course). "Players may only be registered during one of the two annual registration periods fixed by the relevant association." FIFA does provide an exception where contracts have been mutually terminated, as in Visconte's case: "As an exception to this rule, a professional whose contract has expired prior to the end of a registration period may be registered outside that registration period. Associations are authorised to register such professionals provided due consideration is given to the sporting integrity of the relevant competitions." FIFA explains that this means: "Although not expressly mentioned by the Regulations, a player who has mutually agreed with his club on the early termination of the employment relationship before the expiry of the registration period also falls under the aforementioned exception. The mutual termination of the employment contract must occur before the end of the registration period for the player to fall under the aforementioned exception." So Visconte could under FIFA rules be registered early. However, it is up to the rules that the A-League comes up with for its own transfer windows. It has no obligation to allow an early registration. "The possibility of registering players outside a registration period is an authorisation, not an obligation, given to the association concerned. In fact, while considering the sporting integrity of the national competition, the association needs to put in place uniform rules of application for this exception by establishing, for example, the number of players per club that can be registered and the last possible date for these players to be registered." So really when a player is allowed to move is essentially up to the governing body who sets the regulations of the particular league.

**UPDATE** Tom Rogic is being linked with Scottish champions Celtic. http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/01/09/mariners-rogic-to-trial-with-celtic/

The "cashed up" line was not meant to be a reference to the Griffiths situation, it was made regarding the overall financial stability of the club in contrast to teams who often are required to sell players to maintain financial viability.