Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami 
Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami Robert Sidauruk, Ali Salmande
The Secetary General of the International Sports Law Association (IASL) Olga Shevchenko believes that a specific employment law for athletes is needed to protect sports professionals.
“It is inevitable that sport today significantly affects society both socially and politically. As such, employment issues related to athletes should be regulated under comprehensive provisions,” said Shevchenko at a panel session at the 19th IASL Congress in Bali on Tuesday.
Shevchenko, who is also an Assistant Professor at the Moscow State Law University, explained that a specific law is needed because of the fundamental differences between the circumstances of athletes and workers in general.
Such differences include aspects of greater and more intense specialized coaching and a closer relationship of depedence between athletes and coaches. The relationships between sports clubs and athletes are also fundamentally different to general employment relationships.
Shevchenko further explained that the absence of specific regulations places athletes in a vulnerable position in protecting their basic rights. For instance, when athletes move to a different club in another part of a country, this at times can give rise to an enormous disparity in the terms of employment in the athlete’s contract .
This issue, Shevchenko explained, was a primary agenda item at the 58th United Nation (UN) General Assembly in November 2003. The UN General Assembly was of the view that the lack of regulation covering sport employment has led to serious consequences such as danger of injury, under-age athletes, training violence, doping, under age exploitation and deprivation of athlete’s rights to family contact and other aspects of usual social life.
“We continue to encourage the International Labor Organization (ILO) to draft employment regulations specifically for athletes,” added Shevchenko.
To guarantee the efectiveness of athlete welfare protection, Shevchenko suggests that such specific legislation needs to be in place both at an international level and also domestically in each country.
Russia provides an example of unprotected athletes suffering due to a lack of specific sport employment legislation. In that case, a certain Russian basketball club hired new players despite the fact that it could not pay the salaries of existing players.
Acting for the players, Shevchenko made an appeal to the Russian Basketball Federation, requesting that the offending club must stop hiring new players until the oustanding salaries of existing players had been paid.
Unfortunately the appeal was rejected by the Russian Basketball Federation because the hiring of basketball players in Russia is subject to Russian labor law which does not include specific provisions on athlete welfare protection.
“Our pettition was dismissed by the Russian Basketball Federationdue to the fact that the general labor law in Russia does not cover such specific matters,” said Shevchenko.
During another session at the IASL Congress, Valentino Simanjuntak, General Manager of the Indonesian Professional Athletes Association (APPI), said that the athlete welfare issue was one of the primary agenda items at the annual meeting of FIFPro—an organization for professional football players—in Slovenia, last week. The welfare problem, Valentino said, has led to match fixing by football players and clubs.
According to Valentino, there are at two main causes of match fixing that are triggered by the lack of gurantees for athlete welfare. First, clubs sometimes fail to pay athletes’ salaries leaving the athletes no options than to become involved in match fixing. Second, athletes are sometimes forced by their own clubs to do so.
Valentino hopes that all related government insitutions will start to take the protection of athelete welfare more seriously than to date to avoid inappropriate conduct and sprots scandals.
“This is can be done by ensuring the fundamental rights of athletes such as payment of salary and insurance are duly provided,” concluded Valentino.
(hot/kc)
Robert Sidauruk, Ali Salmande
The Secetary General of the International Sports Law Association (IASL) Olga Shevchenko believes that a specific employment law for athletes is needed to protect sports professionals.
“It is inevitable that sport today significantly affects society both socially and politically. As such, employment issues related to athletes should be regulated under comprehensive provisions,” said Shevchenko at a panel session at the 19th IASL Congress in Bali on Tuesday.
Shevchenko, who is also an Assistant Professor at the Moscow State Law University, explained that a specific law is needed because of the fundamental differences between the circumstances of athletes and workers in general.
Such differences include aspects of greater and more intense specialized coaching and a closer relationship of depedence between athletes and coaches. The relationships between sports clubs and athletes are also fundamentally different to general employment relationships.
Shevchenko further explained that the absence of specific regulations places athletes in a vulnerable position in protecting their basic rights. For instance, when athletes move to a different club in another part of a country, this at times can give rise to an enormous disparity in the terms of employment in the athlete’s contract .
This issue, Shevchenko explained, was a primary agenda item at the 58th United Nation (UN) General Assembly in November 2003. The UN General Assembly was of the view that the lack of regulation covering sport employment has led to serious consequences such as danger of injury, under-age athletes, training violence, doping, under age exploitation and deprivation of athlete’s rights to family contact and other aspects of usual social life.
“We continue to encourage the International Labor Organization (ILO) to draft employment regulations specifically for athletes,” added Shevchenko.
To guarantee the efectiveness of athlete welfare protection, Shevchenko suggests that such specific legislation needs to be in place both at an international level and also domestically in each country.
Russia provides an example of unprotected athletes suffering due to a lack of specific sport employment legislation. In that case, a certain Russian basketball club hired new players despite the fact that it could not pay the salaries of existing players.
Acting for the players, Shevchenko made an appeal to the Russian Basketball Federation, requesting that the offending club must stop hiring new players until the oustanding salaries of existing players had been paid.
Unfortunately the appeal was rejected by the Russian Basketball Federation because the hiring of basketball players in Russia is subject to Russian labor law which does not include specific provisions on athlete welfare protection.
“Our pettition was dismissed by the Russian Basketball Federationdue to the fact that the general labor law in Russia does not cover such specific matters,” said Shevchenko.
During another session at the IASL Congress, Valentino Simanjuntak, General Manager of the Indonesian Professional Athletes Association (APPI), said that the athlete welfare issue was one of the primary agenda items at the annual meeting of FIFPro—an organization for professional football players—in Slovenia, last week. The welfare problem, Valentino said, has led to match fixing by football players and clubs.
According to Valentino, there are at two main causes of match fixing that are triggered by the lack of gurantees for athlete welfare. First, clubs sometimes fail to pay athletes’ salaries leaving the athletes no options than to become involved in match fixing. Second, athletes are sometimes forced by their own clubs to do so.
Valentino hopes that all related government insitutions will start to take the protection of athelete welfare more seriously than to date to avoid inappropriate conduct and sprots scandals.
“This is can be done by ensuring the fundamental rights of athletes such as payment of salary and insurance are duly provided,” concluded Valentino.
(hot/kc)