Eastham v Newcastle United FC Ltd [1964] Ch 413

Abstract

At the material time, professional football players in England were typically employed with their club through written contracts of 12 month’s duration. A player also had to register with the Football League (the league of 92 professional clubs in England) and the Football Association (the governing body of the sport in England) and while so registered could only play for that club. At the end of the season, the employing club had the choice either to retain the player at a reasonable wage or put the player up for transfer to another club for a fee. If retained, the player was debarred from playing for another club and until he resigned with the retaining club, no contract of employment existed. If the club wanted to transfer the player, they would set a transfer fee and although a player could not be transferred without their consent; nevertheless, if he was on the transfer list he could not seek re-employment except with a club willing to pay the fee. A dissatisfied player had a limited means of appeal to the league management committee. In the stated case, the claimant, a professional footballer registered with a league club, asked to be transferred. The club had, however, given him notice of retention and thus refused to release him. The player refused to resign with the retaining club and sought to challenge football’s “retain and transfer system” principally by arguing that it was an unreasonable restraint of trade.