LookAtVietnam Bridge – After football and volleyball, cycling could be the third sport to institute laws and regulations on player transfers.

Vietnamese cycling is a sport beset by continual lawsuits and bitter disputes. Athlete retention is a major problem for top clubs, which lack effective measures to hold on to their cyclists.

Therefore, the Viet Nam Cycling Federation (VCF) is asking its members for feedback on a new set of athlete transfer regulations to minimise such problems in the future.

Contracts needed

In 2004, cyclist Vo Thi Phuong Phi left the HCM City team to race for Binh Duong.

This created a long and bitter dispute between Phi and her former club, negatively impacting the racer’s overall performance. The process might have been smoother for both parties if Phi had signed a detailed contract with the club beforehand.

Unfortunately, most clubs fail to draw up such agreements before working with young athletes.

"Hanoi’s city teams currently employ about 2,000 athletes competing in various sports, most of whom don’t have labour contracts," said an official from the Ha Noi Department of Sports and Physical Training.

In Hanoi, training conditions and benefits were much better than many other places, the official said, so that consequently, few disputes arise amongst top athletes and clubs because team members there had no reason to leave.

He added, however, that lower-ranked athletes were more volatile, since they’re unsure whether they’d be chosen to stay on a team, and were therefore more likely to leave the capital for an assured position elsewhere. Additionally, due to tight budget restrictions, some clubs could not offer athletes even the minimum required benefits.

Regulations

VCF General Secretary Doan Kim Phach said a draft copy of the proposed transfer regulations had been sent to each member of VCF’s steering committee for feedback, but that so far no one had responded.

He said seminars were expected to be held in July and October in order to discuss possible solutions to these issues, paving the way for the adoption of official regulations in 2009.

"The keys are finance and law. Basically, the transfer regulations will be based on sport laws and the transfer regulations of the Viet Nam National Administration of Sports and Physical Training," said Phach.

"An athlete may be transferred only when the two clubs reach agreements on laws and transfer fees. The VCF is a referee for brokering the transfer and setting the date when the athlete will wear his or her new club jersey."

However, Phach stressed that the onus was still on the clubs to draw up proper contracts with their athletes, because only then could the transfer regulations be applied.

Another issue which will be regulated is the transfer of local players to foreign clubs. For example, Japanese cycling club Equipe Asada arrived in Vietnam earlier this month to test three young cyclists, potential recruitment candidates, and right now there are no formal regulations covering this transaction.

Phach said the regulations would set down the rights and obligations of both sides in an athlete transfer, as well as describe the duty of national team members to compete in the national side’s events, which take precedence over domestic or foreign team events.

(Source: Viet Nam News)