THE European Commission has reiterated that it can never accept a formal agreement limiting the number of overseas players in European soccer teams which shows that the tentacles of that body reach everywhere.
UEFA Europe's governing soccer body is pressing clubs to back a voluntary agreement to field a minimum of six home-grown players in each side in order to reverse some of the effects of the 1995 Bosman court ruling.
That ruling turned European soccer on its head by lifting restrictions on foreign players and outlawing transfer fees for out-of-contract players.
Since then, purists have complained about clubs such as Chelsea, who last season became the first English team to take the field without a single English player.
UEFA and FIFA are pinning their hopes on the ongoing revision of the EU's governing treaty.
The intrusion of politics into sport should be stopped and those bodies left to draw up their own rules and regulations to suit those who play and watch the sport.
MICHAEL MORTON
Bruce Street, Rodbourne, Swindon
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