Industrial Relations in Australasian Professional Team Sports

Abstract

The organisation and presentation of sporting competitions necessarily involves the interaction of players and administrators. While they may have common interests and objectives, they are nonetheless involved in an authority relationship concerning the administration of their sport ; especially over matters pertaining to the remuneration and employment conditions of players. The paper provides information on the transition of industrial relations in Australasian professional team sports from one of employer domination to joint regulation by employers and representative player organisations from monopsony to bilateral monopoly. The paper is divided into two sections. The first outlines the various labour market rules developed by leagues and briefly examines the generally negative attitude of common law courts, and other regulatory agencies, to such rules. The second section presents information on the emergence or rise of player associations and the trajectory of collective bargaining in various sports on both sides of the Tasman. Industrial Relations in Australasian Professional Team Sports The organisation and presentation of sporting competitions necessarily involves the interaction of players and administrators. While they may have common interests and objectives, such as sharing ‘a love of the game’, they are, nonetheless, involved in an authority relationship concerning the administration of their sport ; especially over matters pertaining to the remuneration and employment conditions of players. There are five ways, or what industrial relations scholars like to describe as levels of bargaining, in which these authority relations can be played out. The first is where an individual club/employer interacts with an individual player/employee. A club and a player will negotiate and enter into a contract of The Otemon Journal of Australian Studies, vol. , pp. ,

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