Slaves to football

In contrast to the Beckhams of the football world, the players of Edinburgh team, Hearts of Midlothian, claimed they are treated as slave labour devoid of rights and sympathy.
At the end of last month when public sector workers staged a walk-out over changes to their pension agreements, Hearts players had already worked for six weeks without pay and, five days before their December wage is due, they are still awaiting November’s payment. Yet they don’t have the right to strike.

“People all over Britain went on strike the other week over changes to their pensions. Imagine how they would feel if they weren’t even getting paid. We all have mortgages and bills to pay like anyone else and with Christmas coming it’s just horrendous. Lads are worrying about how to feed their families and pay for petrol for their cars to get to training five days a week and a game on the Saturday. It’s all taking a toll..."

“People think that footballers are privileged and in some ways we are. Yes, we get to play football but boys still want to be able to pay bills and those with families want to be able to provide for them. I watched other people go on strike the other week but we can’t do that. The boys have all been talking and we had a few ideas but we can’t do anything that will come back on us. We are the ones not being paid but we have to keep our noses clean. We can’t strike because they would use that against us at any tribunal and claim we were in breach of our contracts. Maybe that’s what they want.”

“Anywhere else in the world, if it was anyone other than footballers, the authorities would have stepped in by now. There would have been an uproar. But because we are footballers those normal rules don’t apply. People think we are all millionaires – we’re not, we are normal people with the same money worries and commitments as anyone else and we are under a lot of stress just now.”

The players accused the governing bodies of hiding behind what are self-imposed regulations and rules and leaving them blowing in the wind. “They have hung us out to dry,” said one angry spokesman for the squad.

“In any other profession if you weren’t paid you could walk away but we can’t. Our contracts don’t allow that… yet. In the meantime we are tied to Romanov and this club. Everyone makes a big thing about fair trade and civil rights but we are like Romanov’s slaves, we are his property while we are under contract."

They have set a date of 14 January to call the club’s bluff and walk away as free agents.

From here