When Fumiyuki met Andy

The final twist in the unusual contract saga of Fumiyuki Beppu came yesterday, when Skil-Shimano released him from the final year of his deal. He’ll now join Team RadioShack. Despite headlines like “Skil bow to power of Armstrong”, pressure from Lance or Johan Bruyneel would have been unnecessary. Thanks to Andy Webster, that’s been well established in European football (aka soccer).

In 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Webster’s right to join Wigan Athletic in the English Premier League before the final season of his contract with Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian. The resulting Article 17 of FIFA’s transfer regulations requires a financial penalty in all such cases and a 4-6 month suspension may be applied. The regulations also ban the new team from signing any other new players for a year.

Labor laws rightly prevent the FIFA system from giving a lot of power to the jilted team. Instead, the system functions by providing disincentives against the rogue athlete and his new team. As a result of the hefty financial and sporting penalties, “Webster rule” cases have been pretty rare. By comparison, the UCI’s disincentives are underwhelming. According to Cyclingnews:

International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations state that a rider cannot sign with a new team while they are under a valid contract unless they have the express permission of the UCI. The regulations also state that a team signing a rider who is already under contract can face a fine of up to 30,000 Swiss Francs, with the rider himself subject to a fine of between 300 and 2000 Swiss Francs.

Granted, the rider and his new team still have to negotiate a contract buyout. But even with that expense, the UCI system – or lack thereof – does almost nothing to protect teams like Skil-Shimano and Garmin. Apparently, Pat McQuaid is “looking at” this but he doesn’t sound so enthusiastic about it.

Check out the next issue of ROAD Magazine for my thoughts on what an effective rider transfer system would look like. On newsstands March 9.