SCOTTISH football is not being brought into disrepute by having young players on £1-a-week contracts, MSPs have been told.
SFA chief Stewart Regan and Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster faced questions on contracts for young players meeting the minimum wage at Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee.
Regan said players on a £1-a-week contract could still be being paid the minimum wage as they could receive an appearance fee for playing a game and the wage would be calculated for money paid for hours worked, including such fees.
Labour’s James Dornan asked: “Surely a £1-a-week contract from any club trying to con some young boy into signing a contract is bringing [Scottish football] into disrepute?”
Regan replied: “No, it’s not. You’re assuming that the club has done it deliberately. The club well may be ignorant on the type of contract that it has to use.
“One incident, which may well have happened as a result of human error, suddenly we leap to disrepute — that’s not how it works.”
Dornan said the club have a responsibility to know what they are paying a child but Doncaster, giving evidence, said it would be “impossible” to find an average of hours worked for young players on £1-a-week contracts by asking Scotland’s football clubs.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here