There Are Rules And Then Are Rules That Are Meant To Be Obeyed So Why Break Them ?

There are rules and then there are rules, that are meant to be obeyed. And in no way should a team be able to obfuscate the responsibility of upholding those rules. Even when it’s not to your liking. And in light of this one has to ask what it is that Chelsea FC of the English Premiership League (EPL) , thought it was doing by luring away a young player from his team , causing him to break his contract ?

Chelsea FC and members of its first team and reserves on the roster. picture appears courtesy of premierleague.com/clubs/chelsea fc @ copyrighted material All rights reserved ..................

To some this may not seem to be an important issue. But it goes to the integrity of the game. And how one goes about conducting themselves in an orderly business fashion. A contract, is a contract , be it oral , implied or written. As was the case , herein.

Galel Kakuta of Chelsea FC . The young player was signed originally from the French first division club Lens in 2008. But it has now been alleged that he was lured away by the Premiership club Chelsea , whilst still under contract with the French club side. An infraction of not only UEFA rules but aslo that of FIFA and that of the Premiership as well. picture appears courtesy of premierleague.com/teams/club/chelsea -fc @ copyrighted material All rights reserved ......................

And while this is not the first time that FIFA , the governing body for world soccer , has come down harshly on a club in this regard. It does send a serious message. That actions such as Chelsea’s will not be condoned or go unpunished. And though the team has the right of recourse, to lodge an appeal with the Court Of Arbitration For Sports (CAS). It’s hard to imagine that the team’ll have a case as to the veracity of its argument.

Russian billionaire oil tycoon Roman Abramovich the owner of Premier League team Chelsea FC. He's seen here with his companion fashion model Daria Zhukova at a UEFA game in 2007. picture appears courtesy of ap/photo/ Matthias Zoening .........................

And it’s unlilkely that the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich , would knowingly let his executives and management act in such a way. But there’s cause for concern if , in-fact the owner and anyone within the team’s management hierarchy willingly allowed this to happen. It’s also somewhat surprising that FIFA in this respect only imposed a ban and a small financial penalty. One would’ve thought that a much stiffer financial penalty ought to have been incurred by the team. In this case they’ve been ordered to pay the French team, Lens , a sum of $1.2 million , with an additional sum of $186,000 to be paid to the team in terms of financial expenditure in providing training for Gael Kukuta , the player at the center of the uproar.

Courtesy of Yahoo Sports and AP:

FIFA gives Chelsea 1-year transfer ban

Zurich-(AP) Chelsea was banned from signing any new players for a year because it encouraged a teenager to break his contract with a French team and sign with the English soccer power.

The sport’s governing body Thursday barred Chelsea from taking part in the next two transfer windows-January 2010 and the next offseason. The next time the Premier League team would be able sign a new player-nationally or internationally would be January 2011 .

Chelsea called the penalty “without precedent” and “totally disproportionate” and said it would appeal to the Court for Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The French club Lens had complained that Chelsea lured 18-year old Gael Kakuta to break his contract with the club and join the English team in 2008.

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And whilst the feeling may well be that Chelsea’s actions aren’t egregious. One first has to look at the message this now sends across the game. Especially in light of the smaller clubs involved in the game and their very own existence .

What are your thoughts on the matter ? I look forward to reading your comments with a great deal of interest.

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