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Unions and Sport: Australian Professional Players’ Associations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Braham Dabscheck
Braham Dabscheck*
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour, University of NSW
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Abstract

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Sport has ceased to be an amateur pursuit: it has become a form of employment and subject to many of the legalities and insititutions encompassing employment relations — including unions. This ipaper traces the development of sporting associations, identifies the range of such associations, examines problems which are peculiar to employment in the ‘sports industry’ and future prospects for unions in that industry.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , December 1991 , pp. 114 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1991

Footnotes

*

Paper Delivered at Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association and University of Melbourne Law School Continuing Education Program Conference on The Law of Professional Team Sports, University of Melbourne, 17-19 May 1991

References

Notes

1. For example see Bean, R. (ed), International Labour Statistics: A Handbook, Guide, and Recent Trends, Routledge, London, 1989, pp. 146–181Google Scholar.

2. A survey of Trade Union Members (ABS Cat. No. 6325.0) provides the lower figure, while a survey of Trade Unions (ABS, Cat. No. 6323.0) the higher figure (for financial members).

3. Scoville, James G., ‘Labour Relations in Sports’, in Noll, Roger G. (ed), Government and the Sports Business, Brookings, Washington, 1974, p. 206Google Scholar.

4. For details of these various bodies see Gregory, Paul M., The Baseball Player: An Economic Study, Public Affairs Press, Washington, 1956Google Scholar, Chapter 22; Erwin G. Krasnow and Herman M. Levy, ‘Unionization and Professional Sports’, The Georgetown Law Journal, Winter 1963; and Dworkin, James B., Owners versus Players: Baseball and Collective Bargaining, Auburn House, BostonGoogle Scholar, Chapter 1.

5. For an analysis of the role of player associations in these sports see Dworkin, op. cit., Robert C. Berry and William B. Gould, ‘A Long Deep Drive to Collective Bargaining: Of Players, Owners, Brawls and Strikes’, Case Western Law Review, Summer 1981; Robert C. Berry, William B. Gould and Paul D. Staudohar, Labour Relations in Professional Sports, Aubum House, Dover, 1986; and Staudohar, Paul D., The Sports Industry and Collective Bargaining (Second Edition), ILR Press, Ithaca, 1989Google Scholar.

6. Earlier attempts to form player unions in 1893 and 1898 were unsuccessful. For an account of the activities of the Professional Footballers’ Association see Dabscheck, Braham, “Defensive Manchester”: A History of the Professional Footballers’ Association’, in Cashman, Richard and McKeman, Michael (eds), Sport in History: The Making of Modern Sporting History, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 1979Google Scholar; and Braham Dabscheck, ‘Beating The Off-side Trap: The Case of the Professional Footballers’ Association’, Industrial Relations Journal, Winter 1986.

7. For details concerning the Cricketers’ Association see Sissons, Ric, The Players: A Social History of the Professional Cricketer, Pluto, Sydney, 1988, pp. 285–292Google Scholar.

8. For information on this association formed in Canadian football see Kenneth Alyluia, ‘Professional Sports Contracts and the Players’ Association’, Manitoba Law Journal, 1973.

9. According to Kevin Ryan, the President of the Rugby League Players’ Union, it would be more appropriate to refer to this as a ‘cattle yard’.

10. On several occasions the Australian Football League has allowed poor performing clubs several draft choices ahead of other clubs.

11. For a critical examination of the Victorian Football League’s zoning and transfer systems see Braham Dabscheck, ‘Sporting Equality: Labour Market vs Product Market Control’, The Journal of Industrial Relations, June 1975.

12. 125 CLR 353.

13. Unreported. Foschini vs VFL and South Melbourne (Supreme Court of Victoria, 1982) No. 9868.

14. For a detailed examination and critique of the draft see Braham Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees: The Victorian Football League’s New Employment Rules’, Sporting Traditions, November 1989.

15. The various controls governing the recruitment and transfer of players have been a continuing source of litigation. For a review of the case law see Braham Dabscheck, ‘Sporting Labour Markets and the Courts’, Sporting Traditions, November 1985; G. M. Kelly, Sport And The Law: An Australian Perspective, Law Book Co., Sydney, 1987, Chapter 14; and Deborah Healey, Sport And The Law, New South Wales University Press, Kensington, 1989, Chapter 4. In early 1991, Mr Justice Hill of the Federal Court found the New South Wales Rugby League’s drafting system to be a reasonable restraint of trade. Adamson + Ors versus New South Wales Rugby League Limited + Ors, No. G511 of 1990. On 6 September 1991 a Full Bench of the Federal Court (Justice Sheppard, Wilcox and Gummow) unanimously upheld an appeal against this decision by the Rugby League Players’ Union, No G79 of 1991. On 24th October the New South Wales Rugby League was unsuccessful in seeking special leave before the High Court to appeal the decision of the Full Bench of the Federal Court.

16. For details concerning the negotiation and operation of the salary cap in North American basketball see Robert C. Berry and Glen M. Wong, Law and Business of the Sports Industries, Vol. 1, Professional Sports Leagues, Auburn House, Dover, 1986, pp. 165-169 and 391-402; Berry, Gould and Staudohar, op. cit., pp. 181-188; and Staudohar, op. cit, pp. 109-113.

17. It is possible that future research will unearth additional examples.

18. Sandencock, Leonie and Turner, Ian, Up Where, Cazaly? The Great Australian Game, Granada, London, 1981, pp. 60Google Scholar, 121 and 123.

19. Interview with Martin Gallagher, former player and official of the Association of Rugby League Professionals, Padstow, 14 June 1990.

20. Football Times (mimeo). Information supplied by Bernard Whimpress.

21. Rugby League Week, 24 August 1974.

22. Daily Telegraph, 20 April 1974.

23. The Australian, 11 August 1978.

24. Minutes of Management Committee, Professional Footballers’ Association, 14 February 1960.

25. The Australian 7 April 1989, 21 December 1989, and 11 January 1990.

26. Telephone Interview. Glenn Bartlett, 17 April 1991.

27. Quoted in Sandercock and Turner, op. cit., p. 60.

28. 84 CAR 675. For an account of the activities of the union see Braham Dabscheck, ‘Out of bounds: The 1955 Australian Football Players’ Union’, Journal of Australian Studies, November 1990.

29. David Richards, the Chief Executive of the Australian Cricket Board, regards it as ‘a very, very important committee, probably the most important committee the Board’s got’. ‘David Richards’, in Jack Egan (ed), Extra Cover, Pan, Sydney, 1989, p. 331.

30. For further details concerning the activities of this body see Braham Dabscheck, ‘The Professional Cricketers Association of Australia’, Sporting Traditions (forthcoming).

31. For details concerning its formation see Braham Dabscheck, ‘Industrial Relations and Professional Team Sports in Australia’, The Journal of Industrial Relations, March 1976. Also see Stewart, Bob, The Australian Football Business: A Spectator’s Guide to the VFL, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1983Google Scholar, Chapter 12.

32. Inside Aussie Rules, AFLPA Members’ Newsletter, December 1990.

33. See for example The Australian 18 May 1978, 20 July 1978, 1 August 1978, 28 March 1979; and The Age 19 July 1990.

34. For details see Dabscheck, ‘Industrial Relations…’, op. cit.., pp. 38-40.

35. Interview with Peter Allen, Executive Director, Australian Football League Players Association, Melbourne, 9 July 1990.

36. See The Australian 8 July 1989, 19 June 1990, 13 and 16 July 1990; The Sun 18, 19 and 29 June 1990, and 12 and 14 July 1990; The Age 12, 14, 19 and 21 July 1990.

37. For an account of the association’s activities up to this point see Tony Buti, ‘History of the WAFL Players Association’, Papers in Labour History, No. 4, November 1989, Perth Branch, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History.

38. Telephone Interviews, Glenn Bartlett, 17 January 1991 and 17 April 1991. Also see Industrial Relations Society of Western Australia, Newsletter, November 1990.

39. Annual membership figures held with the Registry of the industrial Commission of New South Wales.

40. For details see Sydney daily newspapers in the period June to August 1990.

41. The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March 1990; The Australian 30 March 1990; Interview Damian Keogh, Woolooware, 2 May 1990; Telephone Interviews, 6 September 1990 and 15 April 1991.

42. Such thoughts pervade Brian Taylor’s diary concerning the Collingwood Football Club in 1990. See Brian Taylor with Jon Anderson, Black and White: The Taylor Diaries - 1990, Globe Press, Brunswick, 1990.

43. Bartlett, Telephone Interview, 17 April 1991.

44. For example see ‘A Summary of Major Accomplishments by the VFLPA 1980-1988’, On The Ball, VFLPA, 12 April 1988.

45. See Australian Football League Standard Playing Contract, particularly Clause 9. Salary cuts were forced on several players during the 1990 season. See The Age 21 July 1990.

46. Such a fate befell the Professional Footballers’ Association following an unfavourable decision in the Kingaby case (unreported) in 1912. For details see Dabscheck, ‘Defensive Manchester…’, op. cit., pp. 242-243.

47. The National Football League Players Association disbanded following an unfavourable decision in 1989. The decision has been seen as “tactical” in removing the National Football League’s anti-trust exemptions afforded by collective bargaining. See The Sporting News 27 November 1989. For discussions of the legal situation in North America see Berry, Gould and Staudohar, op. cit., Chapter 2; and Berry and Wong, op. cit., Chapter 2.

48. And for those who are interested in such things it might provide us with an indication of the life that awaits enterprise unions which operate outside industrial tribunals.

49. For a critical examination of North American sport see Roberts, Randy and Olson, James, Winning Is The Only Thing: Sports in America Since 1945, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1989Google Scholar.

50. For details of Miller’s impact on baseball see Dworkin, op. cit., pp. 29-37; and Berry, Gould and Staudohar, op. cit., pp. 52-53.

51. For information in this see Dabscheck, ‘Defensive Manchester…’, op. cit., pp. 237 + 255; and Dabscheck, ‘Beating…’, op. cit., p. 351.

52. Industrial Commission of New South Wales, Mr Justice Bauer, No. 271/90.

53. Australian Council of Trade Unions, Future Strategies for the Trade Union Movement, May 1987; and Department of Trade, Australia Reconstructed - ACTU/TDC Mission to Western Europe: A Report by the Mission members to the ACTU and TDC, AGPS, Canberra, 1989.