STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS

There are a huge number of people in the European Union. Over 450 million of us. EU laws are in place to protect us, but if someone finds themselves being treated unfairly, is there really anything they can do about it?  This is the story of one person,  Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman.

Bosman felt he was being treated unfairly by the people who employed him, in this case, his football club. So he took them to court, the decision of the court  left a change in the rules now known as the Bosman Rule. So here I am pitch side at Charlton Athletic stadium now I'm a bit got it to be honest because I can't get a chance to score in the goal because they're actually returfing for next season, but not to worry because I'm joined by Don Johnson, whose a spokesperson for the Premier League.

Don can you tell me what was the situation like before the ruling?

Well, basically the situation was that a player at the end of his contract could still be kept by that club and so they didn't have .. uh.. freedom to move and the club could actually demand a transfer fee and retain registration of the player.

So can you explain what a contract is for, for the people that might not know.

Well,  when a player signs for a club they sign an agreement which keeps them at the club for normally three or four years..  ah and at the end of that contract a man no longer is the property of the club.

So who was Marc Bosman then, the player that changed all this?

Marc Boman played for a Belgium club called Liège and was looking to move at the end of his contract. He couldn't find a club that was willing to pay the fee in order for him to move. So why did the player  Bosman decide to go to court then? Bosman clearly felt this was unfair so he went to court under the freedom of movement labor laws that exist in Europe in order that he could change the system so that he could move at the end of his contract without a fee being payable to his club. And what did the court decide then? The European Court of Justice found in favor of Bosman and they felt it was unfair for a club to demand a transfer fee for an out-of-contract player and determined that players should be free to move from club to club, because that was a fundamental right of every citizen in the European Union and every freedom of movement of labor.

So what effect did the Bosman ruling have on the players then? Well, I'm talking to Bobby Barnes and you're a spokesman for the Professional Footballers Association? 

That's right, yeah, we represent the interests of all footballers playing professionally in the UK.

So, what's it like now than the Bosman Ruling's in place?

Players now have the opportunity, if they are over the age of 24, which is an important key age. Once they have actually completed their contract, they are now actually free to join another club without any transfer fee having to be paid. This has actually allowed players a lot more freedom of choice to actually decide where that you want to go and play next. I think overall, it's been a good thing. I mean certainly for the top players it gave them the opportunity to command higher salaries and demand that if clubs wanted to keep their services they had to a) pay them a bigger salary, and b) look at keeping them on a longer contract.

Jean-Marc Bosman took on his employer and world, and what he did changed the way players were employed throughout the European Union but in the end he was really only asking for the same freedom of movement that most workers in the European Union already enjoyed. The Bosman Ruling shows that if one person feels they are being treated unfairly under the European law they can make a difference.