The Academy & The "1 And A Half Hour" Travel Catchment Rule?

Have noted that this issue has been raised again several times over the last few days. here and on othger Norwich sites, and, interestingly, more general football sites-seems a lot of clubs and their supporters are beginning to get hacked off with that regulation, especially as the "big" clubs are continuosly circumventing it-having "nursery" clubs abroad for example, where you can farm anyone from anywhere, else moving people, lock, stock, and barrell near to their club, offering club homes for subsidised rental and jobs in some cases...

About time!

Surely this is, as is the transfer window, a restriction of trade? Can you imagine this, or both rules, being applied to business in general? Lotus, for example, only being able to recruit people from June to August or in January, and, if and when they take on young staff, they have to be within an hgour and a half's travel time of Hethel...

The Bosman rule was challenged under equally unreasonable legislation (correct me if I'm wrong-a club used to be able to demand a transfer fee from a player who was no longer contracted to them?), when is someone going to challenge these ridiculous restrictions, which clearly and so obviously benefit the wealthy clubs (the Premier League this morning, shouting from the rooftops that the winner next season will get ?50 Million, way to preserve the fabric of the game in the UK chaps!); Bosman was a no-one that got things changed, why can't someone, somewhere, in the game here see the same restrictions on these?

I note however, that the club with what is reckoned to be the best Academy system in the country-Southampton-also have the same problem of us in that half their catchment area is in the English Channel, a'la Norwich with the North Sea. They also share part of it with Portsmouth but that hasn't stopped them finding Walcott, Bale, and others...

Posted By: Martin Peters, Jan 18, 12:15:12