EU rights and Maltese football

Mr Robert Arrigo, of Sliema, writes:

I read with interest the report about the ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the rights of Russian players in Spanish football, published in the sports pages of The Times last Wednesday.

In a nutshell, the ECJ ruled that Russian footballers in the European Union should be treated the same way as EU players. This ruling by EU's top court is likely to be interpreted as another reference case for European football.

Such judgment again makes a mockery of the prevailing situation in Maltese football.

In this EU country, we have persons with Maltese passports who are considered Maltese from Monday to Wednesday but they are then forced to assume the status of foreigner from Thursday to Sunday. The ambiguous regulations of the Malta Football Association have created a sort of part-time Maltese citizens. It feels like we are living in a different world!

We also have professional players from EU countries who cannot ply their trade freely, without any restrictions whatsoever, in Malta. And yet, the ECJ has just ruled that even a player from a non-EU country like Russia has the same rights as the local EU citizen because of a partnership agreement between the EU and Russia.

While Uefa's proposals for a rule requiring a minimum number of homegrown players (up to eight by season 2008-2009) in club squads make sense, the quotas imposed by the MFA vis-a-vis the number of non-Maltese players who can be on the field of play at any given time can only be described as extreme.

The MFA is proud to be part of the UEFA family and we expect that it will eventually adhere to UEFA's proposed rule on homegrown players.

It is a pity that in this country one is left with no alternative but to go to court to seek redress when solutions can be found internally.