The use of
player agents in sport is not a recent phenomenon. In the United Kingdom,
the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) was founded in 1907 and this
association offers players an agency service. Agents can negotiate complex
contracts worth millions of Euro yet there is no stipulation that the agent
must be solicitor or lawyer. Despite the increased commercialism and
professionalism of sport, Ireland
has been slow to introduce any legislation regulating
sports agents. Football Association of Ireland (FAI) regulates football agents
by requiring its licensed agents to follow the FIFA regulations. In the absence
of statutory provisions governing such agents, the relationship between a
footballer and their agent is contractual. Although professional footballers
are considered to be employees of their club, in reality few professional players negotiate directly
with the club. Instead a player will obtain the services of an agent, who will
be authorised to act on his behalf. In general, a principal is bound by the
acts of his agent.
In Ireland,
a lawyer/solicitor who acts as football agent is not only bound by the terms of
the agency contract but also by the lawyer-client relationship. Under Irish law
solicitors are governed by their professional body, the Law Society of Ireland.
Solicitors are regulated by a number of Acts, statutory instruments and by the
Law Society Guide to Professional Conduct.
However, for agents that are not in the legal profession, there is
little regulation outside the terms of the agency agreement and the FIFA
regulations. This can leave players in a vulnerable position who employ
unprincipled agents who act not only to the player’s detriment but also the
club’s. Agents can receive a percentage of a player’s remuneration or a may
negotiate a once off fee. As this can often prove to be very lucrative on the
part of the agent, there have been calls for the introduction of legislation to
regulate the non-legal agent. Increasingly, player associations have assumed an
agency role to players on an individual basis. Unless the sport can regulate
agents itself, statutory intervention will become necessary. In the United
States, the Athlete Agents Act was introduced to establish a system of
regulation for sports agents.
Given the absence of statutory regulation in Ireland, this chapter will
begin by examining the relationship between the agent and footballer under the
law of agency, the next section will discuss the current professional football
industry in Ireland, followed by the FIFA regulation of agents, the position of
the European Commission, and the chapter will conclude with a discussion of the
formalities involved in becoming a football agent in Ireland.