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Football clubs up in arms over TV contract worth millions
of liri
by Ivan Brincat
Maltese football Premier League clubs are up in arms against
the President of the Malta Football Association over a television
contract which could be worth millions of Maltese liri.
The presidents of the Premier League clubs are calling on Dr
Joe Mifsud, the MFA President, to withdraw a contract signed
by himself with CWL last year and accept a new contract being
offered by VH Sport Media which is substantially better.
In fact, this is what the MFA President had offered to do all
along had the clubs got a better contract. Ten Premier Club
presidents had been told by Dr Mifsud last year that he would
sign their contract if it proves to be better than the one he
had signed in breach of the MFA statute – something he
admitted last Saturday.
“He has now admitted that the contract of VH Sport Media
is substantially better so he should sign it as he had promised,”
Valletta FC President Joe Caruana Curran told The Malta Business
Weekly.
The contract being proposed by the football clubs is much more
lucrative. For example, if Malta were to be drawn against Germany,
the association would get Lm928,000 instead of the Lm425,000
negotiated by Dr Mifsud. For a match against England, VH Sport
Media were offering Lm800,000 instead of the Lm200,000 offered
by CWL. On the other hand, a match against Italy would land
the association Lm600,000 as opposed to the Lm100,000 offered
by CWL.
Mr Caruana Curran said that for the match against Germany the
difference was “half a million Maltese liri which was no
joke”.
The new contract also includes a lump sum of money when the
contract is signed and was described as by far better than that
signed by the MFA President.
During a heated annual general meeting last week, Dr Mifsud
admitted that he had breached the MFA’s statute when he
signed the CWL contract alone last year.
Now, the Premier League clubs are furious because they are claiming
that Dr Mifsud is not a man of his word since he first told
them to negotiate a contract and now he wants to ask CWL to
counter that offer. “He told us that he would rescind the
contract signed last year and sign our contract if we got a
better deal. Now, he is telling us that he will go back to the
original 1995 contract which gives CWL the right to match any
other offer the association has. This was never made clear to
us and we are insisting that the MFA signs the contract we have
negotiated,” the President of the Premier Clubs Standing
Committee Tony Bezzina told The Malta Business Weekly.
The Premier League club presidents met yesterday evening to
discuss the latest developments and see what further action
could be taken. The clubs have warned that the issue will not
stop here. The presidents and representatives of the clubs in
the Premier League Standing Committee are now stating that they
cannot accept a claim by Dr Mifsud that he cannot breach the
1995 contract with CWL because he would be sued by the company.
The MFA President and the executive
committee also risk being sued by the club presidents and the
company which made the new offer if the contract is not signed,
as had been promised. At an extraordinary general meeting held
last December, Dr Mifsud had told the clubs that if the MFA
was presented with a better offer, then he would certainly accept
the offer and rescind the contract with CWL.
“Dr Mifsud never told us that he would go back to CWL and
renegotiate the contract we got. It is evident, and he has admitted
it, that he has breached the statute by signing the Lm1m television
contract alone and now he has gone back on his word,” another
president said.
The Premier Clubs are also warning that they have correspondence
with the MFA President which they would publish.
The issue came to the fore again last Saturday during a very
heated argument between the representatives of the Premier Clubs
Tony Bezzina, Joe Caruana Curran and Dr Mifsud.
During the meeting, the Premier League clubs accused Dr Mifsud
of ungentlemanly
conduct.
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