We frequently criticise the powers that be in sport, but on this occasion we view this as going in to bat for the players.
Every fan of the Hyundai A league will tell you that the season is too short. The coaches and players will also agree.
What is wrong however is the fact that A league players contracts terminate on 31 March of each season. So players find themselves unpaid for two months of the year if their contract has expired. New contracts are signed from 01 June.
So as some players are discovering this year when the clubs have lost money, they are being told that they will be re-signed for the coming season but after the two month period where it will not cost the club money.
This is morally wrong. If you are signing for an A league club you should be paid for a full calendar year, so that if you are released and have to find a new club there is a cushion on which you can survive that period.
Some people will say that these players are paid too much they should be fine, but the truth is it is not the high paid players who are being put in this position. The high paid players are on the big bucks and the longer-term contracts. It is your journeymen, your squad players who are the ones who suffer. Like it or not every club needs these players, and if we strangle them financially out of the game, it will not be good for the clubs or the game as a whole.
