APPENDIX 16
Memorandum from Wrexham Association Football
Club Limited (WP26)
Wrexham A.F.C. makes this submission to the
Education and Employment Sub-committee as a club who feels it
was treated unjustly by the Department of Employment in respect
of an application for a player who both met all the criteria of
the Department and had the ability to excite the club's spectators.
In October 1998, this club applied for a work
permit in respect of Clayton Ince, a current international with
Trinidad and Tobago.
The club offered this player a financial package
within the guidelines of Department of Employment and Education,
which placed the player amongst the five highest paid players
at the club.
The Department refused this application on the
grounds that the player's wages did not match those of someone
performing at international level.
This surely acts against small clubs who, through
a combination of reputation for coaching young players and good
housekeeping, can attract players of international calibre.
The Appeal on this decision was lost on the
grounds that the player's country was not of sufficient International
standing, currently number 69 in the F.I.F.A. list. However, there
are already two other players from this country who have work
permits to play in the Premier and First Divisions.
A First Division club applied for a work permit
for the same player three months later and had the application
granted.
Wrexham A.F.C. applied for the work permit believing
that all clubs would be treated equally.
It is now apparent that the Department would
only consider applications for work permits from Premier and First
Division clubs. How can this criteria be considered fair in an
industry in which progress should reflect ones own merits, not
the division of have's and have not's?
The new criteria, whilst removing some anomalies,
still relies heavily on the F.I.F.A. list which we feel prejudices
clubs at our level and this is despite the fact that we have to
conform with employment legislation which covers the whole of
professional football.
Clubs similar to ours continue to have to try
and balance the books by selling on the fruits of Youth Policies
in an every decreasing market which is populated at the higher
levels by international squad players.
It is hoped that this submission will assist
the enquiry to establish criteria that treats all football clubs
equally.
Wrexham Association Football Club Limited
October 1999
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