AS PLAYERS are being asked to play more and more football in increasingly difficult conditions, it’s time that players’ union representation became a more prominent part of the game.

Taking the examples from this summer alone, players have been asked to play in extreme weather conditions that will dominate many of these off-season international tournaments for years to come.

Then, for many, there will be just a short break before they are asked to jet off on global pre-season tours with their clubs in similar conditions.

Some clubs now even play post-season matches, as players trudge onto a plane for a game on the other side of the world after a full season of non-stop football in numerous club competitions. There is no real time off work.

Kick-off times are dictated not by when the conditions will be best for the players and fans, but by broadcasters, advertisers, owners, and organisations, in a familiar tale of commercialism being prioritised over worker welfare.

Climate change will not only mean increasingly hot playing conditions, but also weather delays that result in players being asked to work longer hours. Even if players and staff are waiting in a stadium for a storm to subside or for torrential rain to ease, it is still extra work.

Each organisation will say the other is to blame, but the truth is that all these clubs, leagues, confederations, and governing bodies are all trying to corner the football market for their own ends. Whether that is control of TV broadcasting and the money that brings, or the selling of advertising and tickets and creating more fixtures to this end, each wants the money earned from the entertainment these players provide to be theirs and theirs alone.

Player unions have naturally become more prominent on the back of these issues, with organisations such as Fifpro globally and the Professional Footballers Association in the English leagues doing important work to try to push back on behalf of the players.

This can and should go further than it does currently. In some ways, these unions can feel separate from the players because player or manager comments and union statements often seem detached from each other.

Statements are put out and attempts are made to tackle the problems, but there is often a lack of collective action and solidarity beyond that.

Prior to the Club World Cup, the players’ union in Major League Soccer (MLS) protested against the unfair bonus scheme in place from their last collective bargaining agreement, which didn’t take into account a new and unusually lucrative tournament such as the Club World Cup. 

Players from Seattle Sounders, one of the MLS teams participating, worked together with the MLS Players Association to give prominence to the issue, getting fans’ support and attracting global media coverage. In one of their pre-Club World Cup games, every player wore T-shirts bearing clear messages of protest, and followed up by using their post-match interviews to raise the issue. It was a good example of players, staff, union, and fans raising an issue coherently and in unison. An example to follow.

But even Seattle themselves were not supported by the other MLS teams involved, Los Angeles FC and Inter Miami, at least not visibly.

In the United States, player unions are more prominent and appear more focused on certain issues when they arise. This is partly because MLS and NWSL players are working in leagues that use a salary cap and various roster restrictions. As a result, they need strong representation to make sure they get fair deals from these teams, who will try to offer the lowest wages they can to any player to stay under the salary cap.

Clubs from European leagues and others will always bargain for the lowest wages and bonuses, etc, too, but in top-level football in the biggest leagues around the world, players do tend to receive a high percentage of the income generated by the clubs.

This is often described as player wages spiralling out of control, or player greed, but it’s one of the few industries where those doing the work are given a considerable portion of the income.

This still brings problems, not least huge wage disparities within the game and even within individual teams. The amount paid to players can lead to higher ticket prices and more expense for fans, as the owners of some of these teams do everything they can to get their lucrative cut and use player wages and transfer fees as the excuse to try to do so.

The fact that some players earn a good portion of a club’s revenue doesn’t mean they don’t need strong representation, especially with ongoing murmurs of salary caps being introduced in Europe. These high-earning players also make up a small percentage of professional footballers.

Ideally, players and their unions, and supporters and their representatives, would work together. We’ve already seen growing supporter movements and organisation on the back of ticket price issues, some even taking the form of unions, potentially heading towards a situation where supporters, players, and staff are working together.

Even agents could be part of this, as surely the job of an agent should be to get the best deals and working conditions for their players. In some cases, though, this is not their aim, and agents will work to move a player on to a club, any club, just to get their cut of a transfer deal or signing-on fee, even when such a move might not be good for the player’s career.

But there are good agents out there who could be part of something new that works alongside trade unions or even becomes an integral part of them.

There could be a more co-operative player agency setup, where individual agents form a collective that looks out for player welfare, gives legal advice, career advice, and helps structure contracts when a player is signing a deal. 

They could become a form of union representation for footballers at all levels, but would need to be part of a collectivised agency where the agents themselves are paid a wage, rather than the current setup, where, in some cases, money for the agency and agent is prioritised.

There is enough money in the game for these agents themselves to be paid well as they represent these players. Pools of money made from the vast sums involved in the transfer market could also be used to help players who might not be as fortunate as those who make it to the top level.

It could assist them in looking for career alternatives while also offering support post-retirement, especially for those who never reached the levels of pay that set them up for life. It could also go towards offering support in other areas of the game, such as players who are experiencing mental health issues or addictions to gambling, etc.

At the moment, the immediate improvements to player union representation would be more prominence and unity. 

Messages need to come not just from union spokespeople or separate comments in post-match interviews, but from collective, targeted action involving unions, players, and teams. If there is an issue that needs raising, do it together in a focused manner.

High-profile players and teams delivering clear union-backed messages together in solidarity with all players and supporters would do a lot to raise the profile of these issues and result in them being taken more seriously at a time when it is much needed.