Whether you’re appalled or attracted by the interaction between sport, politics and the law, October is going to be a fascinating month as the consultation on the European White Paper on Sport rolls on and the text of the Reform Treaty hardens.
In fact, the fireworks have already begun.
This week, Michel Platini, head of UEFA, wrote an open letter pleading with Gordon Brown to back his federation in their fight against the ‘malign’ influence of money by amending the Reform Treaty to enhance their powers. Unfortunately, for Platini, Brown seems to have rejected his pleas (see Paul Kelso at the Guardian).
Rejection will be a bitter blow for UEFA which has lobbied hard for the powers of governing bodies to be ‘recognized’ by the EU. The back drop to this campaign has been the changing power balance between players (employees), clubs (employers) and governing bodies (regulators). Or, as the EU White Paper puts it, ‘The emergence of new stakeholders…is posing new questions as regards governance, democracy and representation of interests within the sport movement.’
The arguments which UEFA make strike a chord with many fans, federations and politicians (click here) but does that merit inclusion in the Reform Treaty? Or giving exemptions for governing bodies from the reach of EU law, the core goal for UEFA?
The Asser Institute Sport Law Centre commissioned Professor Wathelet to look at the Arnaut report and its legal arguments. The conclusions came out last week: “…the future of professional sport should not be outside Community law which, as interpreted by the European Court and the European Commission, is probably the best guarantee of maintaining flourishing competition between national teams on the one hand and the spirit of truly European club football on the other.
“When the need really arises, as is the case with regard to the questions of the international match schedule and player availability for national teams, there can be no doubt that the scope of the application of Community law in the sports sector will be refined by the ECJ (…). Far from being a source of legal uncertainty, this jurisprudence will help consolidate and clarify the rights and obligations of the sector’s various parties under EU Law.”
Platini would not agree, of course. But Brown is clearly not the first person to take a different view of the best legal and governance structure for European Sport going forward.