Annex B
Letter from the Overseas Labour Service
WORK PERMIT
CRITERIA FOR
FOOTBALLERS
It was good to meet you and Debbie for the first
time last week. Many thanks to you both for attending and contributing
to what I hope, like me, you found to be a helpful and informative
discussion about proposals for enhancing the arrangements for
the existing work permit criteria for footballers.
A formal note of the Lancaster Gate meeting
will be sent to all attendees shortly. In the meantime however
I thought I might write to you in connection with one particular
action point you took away with you on the day. This was, as you'll
recall, linked to the important issue raised about the standard
of overseas player to be considered eligible to participate in
and contribute to the sport in this country.
The proposal tabled at the meeting was that
all new work permit applications received by Overseas Labour
Service (OLS) from the start of season 1998-99 would only be considered
if the overseas player concerned was to be employed by, and playing
for, either an FA Premiership or Nationwide League Division 1
club in the UK. It was agreed that under this arrangement all
existing work permit holders in Divisions 2 and 3 would
still be considered for extension where appropriate. Following
discussion around the table on this matter you requested that
the Football League be given the opportunity to discuss it further
at their AGM on 5 June.
I thought it may aid the discussion you and
your colleagues have next month if I was to summarise here some
of the key points of the work permit arrangements. First, and
most important, it should be stressed that the DfEE can only issue
work permits for top class sportspersons whose employment will
not displace or exclude UK or other EEA players. An overseas footballer
should be internationally established at the highest level and
be able to make a significant contribution to the sport in this
country at the top level. The criteria to be drawn up with the
football bodies in the UK clearly needs to reflect all this.
At the present time it is of concern to the
Department that some applications are being received from football
clubs that are playing at levels of the game in this country which
do not appear to fit comfortably with the UK work permit arrangements
and endanger the high standards set out in them. As you will remember
a proposal to exclude non-league clubs from the revised
football criteria was unanimously agreed at last week's meeting.
It was felt that an overseas player coming in at that level of
the game would not, in truth, be of the highest calibre and would
struggle to make any sizeable contribution to the game overall
(not simply the club) in this country. In addition there would,
of course, be clear doubts over why a club at such a level could
not fill a vacancy from the considerable numbers of players available
across the whole of the EEA workforce. In our opinion these concerns
apply equally to those clubs participating in Divisions 2 and
3 of the Nationwide Football League.
I would be grateful if you could consider the
merits of cascading this information to your colleagues in the
Football League ahead of, or during, the forthcoming AGM. You
may also wish to refer them to the more detailed information contained
in the "Guide for Employers" document which accompanies
all work permit application forms for entertainers and sportspersons.
I would appreciate it if you could let me have
the Football League's reaction to this issue, or indeed any others
in relation to the work permit arrangements, emanating from your
meeting next month. An early response would be very helpful in
seeking to prepare the revised criteria for next season in agreement
with yourselves and the other football bodies in England and Scotland.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Jim Martin
Sports & Entertainments Team
Overseas Labour Service
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