Youth soccer development is the lifeblood of Scottish football. Without the riches of television deals, clubs are largely on the sidelines in the big-money transfer market. Celtic and Rangers both have budgets leaps and bounds above the country’s other clubs. However, even they get sticker shock when transfer fees go above £5 million.
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Clubs now must develop their own stars and, perhaps, sell them on to generate revenue. For example, Celtic’s Kieran Tierney sold for £25 million to Arsenal. Also, more recently Rangers’ Nathan Patterson, went for £10 million to Everton. Such fees are chump change for EPL clubs.
Scottish Youth Soccer Signings Under Threat
Youth soccer development in Scotland has now come under the microscope from campaigners. A group called Realgrassroots claims that signing under-16s to multi-year registrations violates United Nations’ human rights laws.
These same campaigners have urged Scotland’s Parliament to take legislative action. They demand banning the use of 30-month registrations for players aged 15 years and younger. This applies to youth soccer players in the Club Academy Scotland set-up.
Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee recommended that the current compensation system, which in the past has been described by both Celtic and Rangers officials as a “transfer market in children,” be reformed so that development costs only must be paid to a club when a player signs their first professional contract.
Expansion
Even the hint of human rights abuses—and exploitation of children—is objectionable. However, changes to the current system could have downstream effects for clubs on the margins. They could potentially remove an important source of revenue. Also, without said revenue, some clubs might even opt to scrap, or at least limit, their investment and involvement in youth soccer development.
The SFA has refrained from commenting on the matter thus far, which is not surprising. Parliament must tread carefully. The future of the sport and its younger players may be at stake.
