Players who are offered only short-term deals based purely on their age could mount a legal challenge against the policy, according to a leading employment lawyer.
The assumption players are coming to towards the end of their career once they
turn 30 has long become part of the culture of the modern game.
Arsenal are one Barclays Premiership club which have, under manager Arsene
Wenger, adopted a policy of offering only 12-month contract extensions to senior
members of the squad, which is then reviewed on an annual basis.
It served players such as Dennis Bergkamp well, the Dutchman eventually
retiring at the end of last season aged 37 following some 11 campaigns with the
Gunners.
However, last year Robert Pires elected to further his career elsewhere under
the security of a longer-term deal at Spanish club Villarreal.
Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is out of contract in the summer, and as yet
there has been no agreement with the Germany international - who turns 38 in
November - over a new deal to stay at the club.
Age discrimination in the work place became unlawful late last year through
the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
Richard Linskell, employment partner at London-based Dawsons Solicitors,
believes it would be hard to justify some of the policies of football clubs
under the new statutes.
'To say `we are not going to give a contract of more than 12 months to any
player over 30' cannot be justified,' Linskell said.
'Arsenal may be able to justify the decision in relation to any particular
player, but I do not think it is right to have a policy which applies simply on
the grounds of age.
'Robert Pires left because he got a two-year deal at Villarreal, and also
clubs like Bolton signed players, such as Idan Tal, who was over 30, on a
three-year deal.
'How can Arsenal justify it if other top teams around Europe think that they
can offer longer contracts to older players?
'The whole nature of discrimination law is that you must not stereotype - and
some clubs are generalising that all footballers over the age of 30 are somehow
inferior and therefore not suitable for longer than a one-year contract.'
Linskell added: 'The problem is that everyone accepts there is a point at
which someone cannot physically compete - but with goalkeepers most of them do
not come into their own until they are 30.
'If Arsenal were to say, for example, that there had been some situations
this season where Lehmann was not as flexible as before, was not quick enough
off his line any more, therefore we think his physical abilities are reducing,
then they may be able to justify the decision, in his case, not to grant more
than a year's contract.
'But the problem is their policy does not seem to be linked to individual
ability - it seems to be linked to an arbitrary factor, which is age.'
Football may hold a unique place in the country's psyche, but Linskell
maintains in the eyes of the law it is governed by the same employment
regulations as any other workplace would be, and so is subject to the same
checks and balances.
However, any such legal proceedings in terms of a tribunal would prove to be
both a lengthy and complex - not to mention costly - course of action.
Linskell reflected: 'Players could go to another club, say in Spain, on
probably half the salary and could then bring a claim for loss of earnings,
which is the difference between what he is getting in his new job and what he
was getting before - and would have continued to get were he not discriminated
against.'
