By Mark Baber
May 8 – The crisis in Spanish football, which threatens to bring football to a halt in the country from May 16, has deepened with the player’s union (AFE) aligning itself with the federation (RFEF), calling for a strike to begin on May 16 – the Spanish league (LFP) has already declared strike action illegal.
The player’s union has entered dispute over the division of TV money, which led to the RFEF ordering the suspension of all league and cup games from May 16, arguing in favour of a more equitable distribution of TV money to the lower division clubs.
A new law in favour of collective sale of TV rights, aims to end the situation where Barcelona and Real Madrid negotiate individually, taking the lion’s share of TV revenue for themselves. This is welcomed by the players union, but they are not happy with the new deal giving first division clubs 90% of the income.
Announcing the decision to take strike action from May 16, union president Luis Rubiales said: “We are in favour of the collective sale of the TV rights, but not the new law as it is. We ask for a smaller difference between the first and second division like in the rest of Europe.”
The player’s action dove-tails with the actions of the Federation, who are concerned not just about TV revenues but with how betting revenues are generated.
The league, has already initiated legal action against the Federation to halt the suspension of football and Javier Tebas, the president of the Spanish league attacked Angel Maria Villar, the president of the federation saying his actions were “insane, audacious, and irresponsible.”
On Thursday Tebas defended the recently passed law, saying: “I’m embarrassed by the attitude of the other bench legs. They’re being ridiculous. There’s no need to change even as much as an iota [of the Royal Decree]. We’ll never negotiate a Royal Decree with the AFE. If the League must finish in June then so be it. They are the ones who created this mess, so they must decide.”
Tebas also denounced the players union for initiating an “illegal” strike, saying that: “The strike, which has no labour benefits, is prohibited.”
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