County Associations are required to operate a system to collect football debts on behalf of Affiliated Clubs, Affiliated Leagues and Other Associations.
It has become accepted in previous years that clubs allow players to accumulate debt throughout the season and collect monies owed at the end of the season, this is now considered poor practice.
The FA's Football Debt Recovery Rules are strict on timescales for this process to take place, following these guidelines will allow the club to come to the County FA for assistance.
As a County FA we are unable to deal with any case of bad debt which does not conform with this criteria, we therefore urge all clubs to familiarise themselves with these regulations and adopt good practice by collecting money due from players on a regular basis.
Football debts are defined as those costs directly arising from football activity and as such would include disciplinary costs (i.e. Fines), match costs (i.e. Match Fees), Playing Expenses (i.e. Pitch Hire). Incidental costs (eg Fund Raising activities, Club Subscriptions) DO NOT fall into the scope of the Football Debt Recovery system. Also personal loans are not included in Football debts.
Before making your application you must ensure and be able to prove that the person(s) you request to be placed on the defaulters list have:
(a) Been informed in writing, and have full knowledge of their outstanding responsibility to your Club/League.
(b) Been given a reasonable opportunity to settle their outstanding responsibility to your Club/League.
(c) Been informed by you in writing, that you will commence proceedings against them if responsibility to you has not been discharged by a given date.
If a player does not pay his/her club after payment is requested, the Worcestershire FA has put together some template letters that can be used as an aid to your club.
Appendix 1 is a formal letter that a club should send to their player/s if the debt is not settled immediately, it clearly states a date that the debt should be paid by and informs that failure to comply will result in the matter being passed to the Worcestershire FA who may impose a ‘suspension until paid’ against individuals.
Appendix 2 should be used to report to the Worcestershire FA any player who has failed to pay following the formal letter, this must be within 28 days of the formal letter (appendix 1) being sent and 56 days of the debt being incurred.
A person placed on default at your request can only be released from default by the Worcestershire Football Association. This will only be done on receipt of a written clearance from you stating that the person has discharged their responsibility. Until this is received and acknowledged by the WCFA, the person will remain on the default list and cannot take part in affiliated football.
Please be aware that there are separate rulings for Youth clubs. Full details are available in the Worcestershire FA handbook.
Anyone with any queries regarding this process should contact
E mail: info@worcestershirefa.com
Tel: 01905 827137 (Governance)