Players Union allays fears over short-term contracts
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Saturday July 8, 2023 06:00
This comes after some football commentators raised concern about an emerging trend where certain players prefer signing one-year contracts instead of long-term commitments.
There has been a debate as to whether it is a good or bad move for both the players and the clubs concerned.
While others agree that it gives players bargaining power at the end of the short-term contract to negotiate better terms, some raised fears that it may turn out to be a dangerous move.
Their concerns are that short-term contracts have no guaranteed job security and that in cases of loss of form and injury, the player may find themselves in limbo.
However, the players union has allayed such fears and stated that from a regulatory point of view, a minimum contract can be one season.
Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, Masaseng said some players prefer to do one-season contracts because they want to benefit from signing-on fees from club to club.
'You will note that this is purely an agreement between the player and the club and if the player is not happy about it, he can take his services elsewhere. So we are not particularly concerned about whether it is a one-year or two-year contract. If a player picks up an injury and the treatment goes beyond the contract, it remains the responsibility of that particular club to take care of his medical needs,' Masaseng said.
He also said as a union they have always fought and will continue to fight to see that the Botswana Football Association (BFA) enforces regulations. He said the BFA as a custodian of the game must ensure that agents' regulations are enforced so that players can feel protected. '...especially in a small market like Botswana where you get people who double as player representatives and club representatives.
In some cases, you will find that these agents will swing on the side of the club during negotiations. So the issue of conflict of interest can be best addressed by the enforcement of agents' regulations,' he said. Masaseng also said from the point of view of the players union, these regulations must be enforced so that they can best deal with issues coming out of some agents who operate outside the laid out procedures.