Club applies to ETC for footballer’s permit... receives plasterer instead

Had Barcelona been playing football in Malta the club would have had to sift through the CVs of other footballers submitted by the government employment agency before signing Argentine striker Lionel Messi.

When a club signs a foreign player it does so because it wants that particular player

It may sound absurd but this is the reality Maltese football clubs are facing when signing non-EU foreign footballers, The Sunday Times has learnt.

On one occasion a Premier league club that submitted a work permit application with the Employment and Training Corporation for one of its foreign signings was sent a list of ‘prospective’ footballers to be interviewed, including the CV of a plasterer.

“When a club signs a foreign player it does so because it wants that particular player and it should not be constrained to interview others sent to it by the ETC,” Qormi FC president Redino Apap told this newspaper after the issue was raised last week during a meeting of the Malta Football Association’s council.

The plasterer’s CV may have been erroneously included in the list but ETC chief executiveClaudio Farrugia said thecorporation was only following employment legislation.

He said that whenever the ETC received a work licence application for a third country national, the vacancy was uploaded on the agency’s website for 18 days to give others the chance to apply for the same job.

Applications are then filtered for suitability and the ETC refers them to the employer for consideration.

“Each occupation requires specialist skills and given that the people recruited will be in paid employment, EU nationals needto be given equal access to opportunities for employment,” MrFarrugia said.

However, he denied that football clubs were required to carry out interviews with the people identified by the ETC.

“The reference to an interview may have been made by corporation officials when a query was made but the corporation does not dictate the manner to be adopted by a club to assess the suitability of the candidates,” he said.

Mr Farrugia also confirmed that in a recent discussion with the MFA it was clarified that clubs do not necessarily have to interview each and every person referred to them. “It is quite acceptable in recruitment practices that employers only shortlist potential candidates from the CVs,” he said.

According to the head of the MFA’s legal department, Chris Bonett, the ETC has confirmed that clubs can disregard the CVs of people identified by the agency but specific reasons must be given.

“The reasons for rejection can be technical such as the club wants an attacker and the person identified by the ETC is a defender. Another reason may be the level of pay requested by the player, which can be too high for the club to afford.”

Dr Bonett said the ETC’s clarification will have to be discussed by the MFA’s top officials and then referred to the clubs. “This isthe law but we have to bear in mind that the majority of club administrators are volunteers and this may be viewed as an additional unnecessary burden and the MFA will await their direction,” he said, adding the association was prepared to continue discussing the matter with the ETC.

Whether the ETC’s explanation will placate clubs still has to be seen but Dr Bonett said a more radical approach was needed to tackle the matter in a holistic manner and called for specific sports legislation that respected EU directives but changed the way employment was conceived in sport.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com