THE Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) will go on strike from Saturday, May 16, coinciding with the penultimate day of the First Division League.
According to a press release, the RFEF is complaining of not having seen a draft law approved by the Council of Ministers concerning distribution of royalties from TV coverage
And inspections by tax and Social Security authorities on football clubs have forced people out of work, the Federation reveals.
Although higher taxes may not dent well-paid players' pockets too heavily, lower and middle management and admin staff - 'the true soul of our sport', says the RFEF - have been 'forced to abandon their posts'.
The Federation says it has never been consulted on any of the legal changes, but that it 'reiterates its offer to discuss the matter' with the government.
In a nutshell, the strike relates to a tug-of-war over who runs football in the country and ongoing discussions about distribution of income from TV footage, which has always been biased towards the 'duopoly' of Barça FC and Real Madrid FC, Spain's two biggest teams.
A collective negotiation agreement was set to be introduced and a Bill of Law passed by the Council of Ministers, which looked likely to settle the argument – even Barça and Real had been persuaded of the unfairness of their getting the lion's share of TV revenue.
Now, though, the RFEF has staged an 'indefinite' strike because it feels it was not consulted on the Bill of Law and its terms – some of which the Federation does not agree with – have been unilaterally decided by the central government.
Among these terms is an 'unfairly stingy' share of revenue among non-League clubs, whose players do not earn the multi-millions of those of Barça and Real but sums closer to a typical Spanish wage in 'ordinary' jobs – in fact, some players even have additional full- or part-time work on top of practising their sport in order to make ends meet.
The 'unfair distribution of wealth' in terms of TV coverage earnings means richer players will become richer and poorer ones poorer – including those on teams which have already faced financial troubles and who have gone months without getting their wages.
Racing Santander FC went on strike when they were due to play in the 2014 quarter final Spanish Cup match against Real Sociedad FC, which effectively knocked them out of the competition.
Players had not been paid for some time and their fans supported them with a standing ovation when they refused to kick off.
And even League footballers earn far less than those playing for some foreign sides – Spanish players have often been keen to take up transfers to England clubs to boost their income.
Insiders – and sports critics from elsewhere – warn that the strike is not merely a threat to try to force the government's hand, but that the RFEF is serious about downing tools and had given it a lot of thought before coming to the decision to do so.
This is shown by the fact that players will have been on strike for a fortnight already by the time the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) final match between Barça and Athletic Bilbao FC comes round on May 30 – and if a compromise cannot be reached before then, the match will not go ahead, with all the massive loss of revenue across the board this entails.
Additionally, the RFEF says the Spanish government is interfering in the administration of professional football, something which is banned by the FIFA – and if it is deemed the RFEF is correct in its interpretation, Spain could be barred from international tournaments including the FIFA Euro Cup and the World Cup.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com