The ‘prohibition clause against former team members’ inserted in the process of trade agreement between the professional volleyball women’s women’s division Pepper Savings Bank and GS Caltex for libero Oh Ji-young (35) may have violated the contents of the existing contract. Controversy is expected.
Both clubs violated the rights of the players guaranteed in the document, and the Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO), which is responsible for management and supervision, seems to have approved it without issue.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) is said to be planning to confirm the issue and consider whether to impose sanctions.
In June 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism prepared a ‘professional sports standard contract’ to protect the rights and interests of players and create a fair contract culture, and then announced it as an administrative rule.
At the time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduced the contract through a process of collecting opinions, and currently domestic professional sports clubs, including professional volleyball, are contracting with players with a ‘standard contract’ for each league.
The trade between Pepper Savings Bank and GS Caltex may violate Article 4 (obligations of the club) 3 of the standard contract.
In that article, it is written that ‘the club shall not engage in discriminatory acts such as excluding players from games and training for reasons such as race, nationality, region of origin, school of origin, appearance, etc., other than ability as a professional sports player’.
This means that external factors will be excluded and opportunities to participate in games and training will be given based on objective abilities such as injuries and skills of players.
Although the clause only lists general examples of discrimination, such as racial issues, it can also be interpreted as discriminatory behavior to deprive players of the opportunity to play for the benefit of the club. 메이저사이트
The contents of the agreement between the two clubs go against the purpose of introducing a standard contract to guarantee the rights of players and may violate the contract.
This trade also seems to have violated Article 19 (Trade) Clause 1 of the contract.
In the related clause, it is stated that ‘the club shall not enter into a trade contract under conditions less favorable to the player than the main contract unless there are special circumstances’.
Oh Ji-young had to play the rest of the season under the unfavorable condition of being deprived of the GS Caltex game due to the trade.
As a result, he was infringed on his basic rights as a player, such as obtaining free agent qualifications and competing for personal record titles.
Only two teams benefited. Pepper Savings Bank, which had fallen into a losing streak, succeeded in strengthening its power, and GS Caltex came to digest the league relatively favorably.
GS Caltex benefited from Pepper Savings Bank’s use of Oh Ji-young only in matches against other teams, excluding GS Caltex.
Even if Oh Ji-young recognized and accepted the trade insertion clause in advance, the problem does not go away. Because this is not an individual problem.
If the trade is recognized as a normal trade and passed without any improvement measures, the problem of infringement of the player’s rights may arise in the future.
League management is also problematic. For example, it is theoretically possible to make an unreasonable order to allow the player to be put only in a specific team and game while trading.
KOVO is aware of the problem internally. KOVO said on the 24th, “We will consult with the clubs to find ways to improve so that the rights of players are not violated.”
On the other hand, Pepper Savings Bank recruited Oh Ji-young, who played for GS Caltex, in exchange for the 2024-2025 season rookie draft first round nomination right on the 26th of last month, after losing 16 consecutive losses after the opening.
At the time, GS Caltex requested the insertion of a clause prohibiting Oh Ji-young from participating in GS Caltex matches for the remainder of the season, saying that the trade was not balanced, and Pepper Savings Bank responded.
Details of the trade, which were not initially disclosed, were known on the 23rd when the match was held.