“There is no doubt that history will remember the Bosman case as a big step forward for football in Europe”
Executive Summary
The study, which will be there following will portray how the Bosman rule has affected the history of football in Europe. The Bosman rule has so many aspects to follow, such as, how the players get affected due to the rule or how it has influenced the club authorities on the other hand. But there so many changes have indeed taken place in the history of football due to the interference of the Bosman rule, which will be discussed in the study.
Introduction
The following study will portray how the Bosman rule has affected the game of football in Europe or if it is a big step in the world of football in Europe as well. The Bosman rule has a severe impact on the era of football history. In the year of 1990, Jean-Marc Bosman started a case against the unlawful act of the authority of football clubs. The clubs had the authority to put a player at their side until the club wanted to forbid it. The same act had happened to Bosman and his career had come to an end by the time. He was finished as he lost the agreement with another club, as he was not happy with his current one at that time. Eventually, he got sacked from his current club too (King, 2017). Due to his fitness instability, he was refused to other clubs as well. He had to live in a garage for two to three years. As he suited a case against the football clubs of Europe, the case was elongated for a long time. After five years of running, the case finally came to the end and the judgment was in Bosman’s favour as well. The following report will state many aspects of the Bosman rule eventually.
Case Study
According to Hansson, (2016), in the year 1990, Jean-Marc Bosman had faced an issue during the time of his career at RFC Liege. Jean-Marc Bosman was a footballer of 25 years old at that time. His national team was Belgium. The footballer had the specification of playing at the position of midfield. At the time of playing in RFC Liege, Bosman found that his career is not working out at all. On the other hand, he had an offer of joining the second division football of France at the side of Dunkirk. Bosman had a contract of two years with Liege. As the contract ended, the player found that he could join the Dunkirk. At that very moment, the Liege disagreed to leave Bosman as well as Liege made a demand of a huge amount of money that was even more than Dunkirk offered. The deal had to collapse very soon and Liege cut a huge amount of wages from Bosman, which was like around 75% of his wages. That was the time when Bosman was much bankrupted and he had to decide on his career. He consulted to a lawyer named Jean-Louis Dupont (Zambom-Ferraresi, Rios and Lera-López, 2018).
By the statement of Hendrickx, (2015), Dupont studied the case and understood the situation but it seemed like there was no way to recover the situation. Many days had passed but they were not able to get any positive feedback or justice. After that, Bosman had to face a lot until the date of December 15, in the year 1995. At that day, the football of modern days had changed. The legal fight of Bosman made something more than extraordinary that helped to make the changes. The judgment from the European court had created history as well as the footballer after that had also benefited by this amended rule. The player would not be a slave of any club anymore from that time. The rule said that the players could leave the club as the contract gets to end and the club cannot demand any money from the player. The statement of Bullough et al. (2016) stated on the other hand that, the player will be able to demand a particular amount of money from the club if the club does not reach all the aspects of the contract as well. Players can freely roam around the clubs. After the deal comes to an end, the player can demand more money from the current club as well as, the player can sign to other clubs, which will provide more wages than the current. The current club had no way right to demand the money or cut wages of the player. However, Serrano et al. (2015) stated that the Bosman rule made to hand over the baton from the club to the players.
Analysis
As the case study has described, the Bosman rule has made several differences in the history of world football. The scenario portrays the era of agent-based negotiation in clubs as well. The Bosman rule has initiated this era and it may not possible if the Bosman rule was not established. As per the scenario, it is clear that Bosman faced many challenges during the time of suspension. The suspension of two years made Bosman unfit for playing anymore and during this time he hovered around the court regarding his case. Bosman had nothing to do at that time so that he went for the amateur clubs of France as well as Belgium and waited for another three years hoping the judgment would come soon. As per the statement of Georgievski and Zeger, (2016), the judgment came at the year 1995, 15th December. At this certain time, the Belgium midfielder got unfit and no other professional team or club accepted him for playing or made a contract with him. His career was ended very soon, which was not at all helpful to him. In the year 1997, Bosman got a compensation of around 750,000 Euro as he had to retire from his career for something that must not occur to any player. As per the case study, Bosman was trapped in the legislation of European football (Norbäck, Olsson and Persson, 2016). The club for which he was playing refused to play with him anymore. On the other hand, they charged him huge money. The other club Dunkirk was willing to pay the transfer fee but Liege demanded money of around 250,000 Euro and that was not possible for the club Dunkirk as well.
Dunkirk refused to pay this amount of money and the deal went wrong. As soon as the deal was collapsed, Liege cut around 75% of wages from Bosman, which was the cause of Bosman’s bankruptcy (Norbäck, Olsson and Persson, 2016). There was no way in front of Bosman to file a petition to the European court. The lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont never left him at this crucial phase but fought along with him. The fight was not fair even at that time because most of the places had refused them to help. By this time, the career of Bosman was being finished very slowly. According to the statement of Pearson, (2015), in the year 1995, Advocate General Carl Otto Lenz delivered a report that was based on the law of general principles and the Court of justice. The report said that the issue was ongoing right then had no particular basic theory but it was unlawful. He stated that the procedure of transfer of a player was not legal at all. The specific system of transfer is required amen mend. The system that was running violated several laws of the present system of that time. On the other hand, the system was made for keeping the balance between the player and a league, which can be established in other ways. Therefore, on December 15, the European court made justice to the favour of Jean-Marc Bosman (Matheson, 2017).
Critical Evaluation
According to Matheson (2017), a 25-year-old footballer from Belgium had faced several challenges regarding some unlawful activities of the football clubs of Europe. His career had finished by the time of his young age. The inner, as well as illegal politics of the club, made him face that situation. At the time of playing in RFC Liege, Bosman found that his career is not working out at all. On the other hand, he had an offer of joining the second division football of France at the side of Dunkirk. Geeraert and Drieskens, (2015) have established that Bosman had a contract of two years with Liege. As the contract ended, the player found that he could join the Dunkirk. At that very moment, the Liege disagreed to leave Bosman as well as Liege made a demand of a huge amount of money that was even more than Dunkirk offered. The deal had to collapse very soon and Liege cut a huge amount of wages from Bosman, which was like around 75% of his wages. Bosman lost every way of coming back to mainstream football at that moment. The challenges Bosman had faced a lot about his career regarding some unlawful activities of the authority of the club. He realized that the players are kinds of slaves for the clubs. The clubs buy the players and have made them do whatever they like to.
The Bosman rule made the players free from such unlawful activities. Before the Bosman rule come in front of the regulation, the club had the power of possessing a player for the time being. According to Parrish, (2018), the contract made by the club had mentioned that the player would not be able to leave the club after it ended. After the end of the contract if a player wanted to sign in into another club there were certain clauses too. Therefore, when the contract ended, the player had to provide a certain amount of money as the transfer fee to the current club. This unlawful activity was banned after the interference of Bosman rule in Fifa. In the year 1995, Jean-Louis Dupont stated that article 48 had the view of free movement of the paid workers in Europe as well as articles 85 and 86 had also stated about the imposed culture of restriction in practice and abuse of certain dominant positions in Europe as well. These rules were violating the ability of a person to take a job in another country. The movement ran through years as the Bosman rule had come to take its place in the world of Fifa (Sloane, 2015).
Agreement
Before the Bosman rule has come to the sight of people, there was no civil regulation regarding the activities of a player at a particular club, such as none of the players could leave the club after the contract ended. It was such an unlawful activity that a player is a kind of slave to the club and he cannot choose. The club had all the power regarding the joining or resigning of a player. As per the case study of Jean-Marc Bosman, in the year 1988, he had a contract of two years with RFC liege. After the end of two years, he had gotten a better option from a French Second Division Dunkirk, but he was unable to achieve that opportunity because of the unlawful rules. The club demanded an amount of 250,000 euros.
However, Duval and Van Rompuy, (2016) have established that Dunkirk officials wanted to pay the transfer fees of Bosman but the amount of money was quite high so that they refuse to pay and the deal was not successful. On the other hand, the current club also charged Bosman for ‘unlawful’ activity that was about 75% of his current wages. Bosman was broken down at that phase. He started a huge fight against the club as well as European legislation. After a fight of five years, he got success with his lawyers Luc Misson and Jean-Louis Dupont. The fight was not very easy because the career of Bosman got finished. He lost his fitness during the time and other clubs had started to refuse him due to fitness issues. He lived in a garage at the time of the legal fight, which is equivalent to bankruptcy. In the year 1997, he could have money around 750,000 Euro as compensation that his career was finished soon whereas he had no flaws regarding the issue (Sloane, 2015).
Now, I think that this amen mend of rule has saved many players’ careers. The players are about to play for country and clubs but not to make politics around them. The authority of clubs was establishing slavery around the players. It was all about the power of the authority of the clubs. If the club wanted to resist a player that could very easily what should not take place. I agree that the Bosman rule has changed the nature of football in Europe because the act of 48, article 85 and 86 was violating the rules of acknowledging a player for his or her service to the club as well as the country. Now the players are free not to be a slave to the clubs. Now a player can be happy after the contract ends. If a player can have an opportunity of getting a higher amount of money from a particular club, he or she can easily move there without any hesitation, obviously after the contract with the current club ends. Additionally, Sloane (2015) stated that before the establishment of the Bosman rule, the players could lose the wages as is reflected in the case study of Jean-Marc Bosman. Now the footballers can play without any political issues inside the club and that makes a very healthy environment of playing as well.
Conclusion
As per the above study, it is stated that the Bosman rule has saved so many talents from the grasp of the rules of life. The Bosman rule has changed the entire structure of football in Europe and it is true from various aspects. The rule that has been made after the filed case of Bosman has secured many more footballers careers, which could have an end just like Bosman. The Bosman rule saved the career of so many people, as well as the authority, has lost the power of dominance at the same time. The work of Bosman is a milestone in the world of football. Bosman stated that a player is about to play, his sportsmanship can be affected due to these kinds of issues. In the above study, it is established that the how Bosman rule affected the game football in many ways and all of them are positive towards the sport. A sport is a business but if the business starts to affect the sport, the business will be no longer any more. However, what Jean-Marc Bosman has done are full of positive impacts upon football in Europe as well.
References
Bullough, S., Moore, R., Goldsmith, S. and Edmondson, L., 2016. Player migration and opportunity: Examining the efficacy of the UEFA home-grown rule in six European football leagues. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 11(5), pp.662-672.
Duval, A. and Van Rompuy, B. eds., 2016. The legacy of Bosman: Revisiting the relationship between EU Law and Sport. Springer.
Geeraert, A. and Drieskens, E., 2015. The EU controls FIFA and UEFA: a principal–agent perspective. Journal of European Public Policy, 22(10), pp.1448-1466.
Georgievski, B. and Zeger, S., 2016. Is English Football Facing a Financial Crisis, or are We Only Missing Better Regulation?.
Hansson, M., 2016. The, one, or the one legacy of Bosman?.
Hendrickx, F., 2015. Twenty years Bosman case.
King, A., 2017. The European ritual: Football in the new Europe. Routledge.
Matheson, V.A., 2017. European football (soccer). In Handbook of sports economics research (pp. 118-135). Routledge.
Norbäck, P.J., Olsson, M. and Persson, L., 2016. The emergence of a market for football stars: Talent development and competitive balance in European football (No. 1126). IFN Working Paper.
Parrish, R., 2018. Sport and the European Court of Justice. In Sports law and policy in the European Union. Manchester University Press.
Pearson, G., 2015. Sporting justifications under EU free movement and competition law: the case of the football ‘transfer system’. European Law Journal, 21(2), pp.220-238
Serrano, R., García-Bernal, J., Fernández-Olmos, M. and Espitia-Escuer, M.A., 2015. Expected quality in European football attendance: market value and uncertainty reconsidered. Applied Economics Letters, 22(13), pp.1051-1054.
Sloane, P.J., 2015. The economics of professional football revisited. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 62(1), pp.1-7.
Zambom-Ferraresi, F., Rios, V. and Lera-López, F., 2018. Determinants of sport performance in European football: What can we learn from the data?. Decision Support Systems, 114, pp.18-28.
