A potentially bitter row is brewing between the National League and the footballers who play for its 72 member clubs.
The National League covers the 5th and 6th tiers of English football and includes many former Football League clubs. The argument all revolves around long-term sick pay for injured players and the rights of clubs to terminate the contracts of players with long-term injuries.
Currently, it appears that under the standard contracts used for players at National League level, the player continues to receive their full salary whilst they are injured throughout their contract.
The player contract that has now been proposed by the National League moving forward purportedly limits the minimum period for which an employee will be on full pay to only 12 weeks whilst they are injured or unable to play. Thereafter the player will only be entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP).
Even more controversially, clubs would be able to terminate the contracts of players who were unable to play for a period of 4 months in the opinion of a “club instructed medic”. Players would be entitled to 3 months’ notice to terminate their contract.
Imagine a player who puts his body on the line for his club by going in for a tackle and ruptures his cruciate ligaments or breaks his leg. Such severe injuries would be unlikely to enable him to play for at least 4 months. The club could potentially just give him 3 months’ notice following the injury to terminate his employment.
This is obviously a major concern for players who do not earn the millions of pounds that footballers earn in the Premier League. Many players in the National League will be on similar salaries to members of the public who attend their matches, even if their clubs are professional rather than semi-professional.
One train of thought is that footballers should expect to have to accept these kind of terms at the level at which they play, as to expect to be paid full salary for well over 12 weeks whilst they are injured is simply not sustainable for smaller clubs. Equally, there is the argument that footballers are in a unique industry where players are putting their bodies on the line on a week to week basis and injuries are commonplace.
Players at National League level will point out that they are just normal people trying to earn a living and that they have mortgages to pay and young families to feed. They risk suffering serious injury every time they carry out their work and if they are unfortunate enough to suffer a major injury that keeps them out for more than three months, they would run the risk of not being paid their normal salary or even of losing their job altogether.
Needless to say, a number of National League footballers have now voiced on social media their dismay at the proposed new contractual terms. Of course, it will be a matter for each of the 72 member clubs of the National League to decide whether or not they are going to impose these terms on players or whether they will continue to offer existing terms. Presumably, the contract will only apply to players who sign new contracts rather than those who are already on existing contracts, although at National League level, it is commonplace for players to be retained only on short term contracts of around 12 months rather than being on the multi-year contracts that players receive at a much higher level.
Based upon responses on social media, there appears to be a divide between those who are sympathetic and those who feel that footballers are already treated more favourably than the average working person. It remains to be seen whether a resolution is reached or whether this dispute becomes a heated debate that could potentially impact upon the willingness of players to play at that level.
There is the risk that some players who could earn comparable money working outside football may abandon their dreams of being a professional footballer, seeking instead the more reliable income of a job outside football. It would be sad if talent was lost to the professional game as a consequence of players having to make these difficult decisions.