IN December 1995, the little known Belgian footballer Jean Marc Bosman turned world soccer upside down when he brought a difficult, five year battle to a successful conclusion by winning his case against European soccer's ruling body, UEFA, and the Belgian FA in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
The "Bosman Judgment" was born and, as was easy to predict, modern soccer has never been the same since. The European Court of Justice upheld two cardinal principles - namely freedom of player movement for out of contract players and the illegality of foreign player limitations within European Union countries.
On the day, those in favour of the judgment such as Dutch Euro MP, Jimmy Janseen van Raay, pronounced it "the end of modern slavery". Those against, such as UEFA's Swedish president, Lennart Johansson, called it "an attack on football".
Administrators and club officials all over Europe predicted a Doomsday scenario of small clubs going into liquidation faster than leaves off trees on a windy November day. That prediction, of course, was based on the belief that many small clubs can make ends meet only by finding and developing young players and then selling them on at a profit.
One year later, even in the future of the small club remains uncertain, it has become abundantly clear that soccer can adapt and survive in the post Bosman universe. In a world where organised leisure is a daily growth industry, soccer was one industry not about to go down the drain.
Even the fact that the last year has witnessed huge transfer fees paid out for such as Englishman Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United, £15 million), Italian Enrico Chiesa (Sampdoria to Parma, £10 million) and Brazilian Ronaldo (PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona, £13 million) proves that the end of contract clause, in itself, was not enough to stop transfer fees.
If a club wants a player badly enough, they will not wait until his contract has ended before making a bid for him.
While soccer has survived hunky dory, thank you, how has Bosman himself been getting on? In a recent interview in Italian weekly, Guerin Sportivo, Bosman was at pains to deny media reports to the effect that he was now living in his parents' garage in relative penury.
Now 32, Jean Marc Bosman currently lives with his parents, Angelina and Gilbert, in a comfortable, middle class area of Liege called Cointe, about five minutes from the centre of town. The family house is a solid, modern red brick three storey building on a street full of similar houses.
Outside the front door sits a brand new, dark blue BMW car. Asked about reports of his impending incarceration in Debtors' Prison, Bosman laughs and says that he is currently building a new house, adding:
"I manage to get by ... I don't have a salary, that's for sure, but I get invited all over the world to attend and address conferences and I do that for a fee and try to live on that."
When his case against UEFA is finally over, Bosman's financial situation should be much sounder since his lawyers have filed for approximately £500,000 damages. As of now, though, he has received nothing:
"That's not a figure thrown out off the top of our heads but rather it is a precise calculation, based on what I would have earned if I had been a free agent over these last years."
Bosman, of course, has been effectively out of professional soccer for five seasons since playing for French second division side St Quentin in the 1990-91 season. Blocked by the club which held his card, Belgian side FC Liege, Bosman moved to the Indian Sea island of La Reunion in search of (semi professional) soccer in 1991 and since then has played only at an amateur level.
A Belgian youth international and someone who had played in 128 Belgian first division games during seven seasons first with Standard Liege and then with FC Liege, Bosman's last five years have not been easy. The stress and strain of his seeming one man fight against world soccer helped break up his marriage, leaving him the separated father of a seven year old daughter, Manon.
Bosman now concedes that things were difficult and that at one stage during 1993, he found it almost impossible to pay his electricity and phone bills. He is also now ironically bitter about the lack of support from colleagues, many of whom have benefited indirectly from his legal action against UEFA.
The "Bosman Sentence" may not so far have earned him anything other than jargon based immortality but he is unrepentant, threatening further warfare on UEFA and the Belgian Federation if they do not soon settle his damages claim:
"I could, of course, still cause a further stink ... I could wait for the beginning of the next European Championships in the year 2000, jointly organised by Belgium and Holland, and I could hold a news conference just to let the world know that they are still trying to put obstacles in my way.
Before then, however, Bosman intends to stage a "Bosman Benefit", due to be held at an as yet undecided venue on April 27th, 1997, and to be attended by world stars such as Argentine Diego Maradona, Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, Italian Gianluca Vialli and others. We may not have heard the last of Bosman.
