Oxford City reckon they’ll will be insisting on TV appearance clauses in the contracts of all new players from now on after Finn Tapp’s success winning ITV’s Love Island!
Along with fellow contestant Paige Turley, the former MK Dons defender scooped £50,000 on Sunday night when they won the sixth series of the reality show after he went AWOL from National League South in January to fly out to South Africa and enter the Love Island villa.
National North Darlington may also be rewriting their contracts after attack-minded right-back Luke Trotman finished as runner-up in a one two for Non-League footballers.
Unlike City’s Tapp, Trotman had the advance blessing of the Quakers boss Alun Armstrong to join ITV’s hit show and first winter series.
Out injured since damaging an Achilles back in August, the 22-year-old hasn’t missed a single match and had been sticking to a rehab programme given to him by the club’s medical team.
Tapp, 20, has brought the Hoops a huge amount of publicity and they are looking forward to welcoming him back to see out the season after losing 3-0 at home to Tonbridge Angels on Saturday.
Commercial director Mick Livesey told the BBC they’ll be covering all bases, including reality TV shows from now on!
He told BBC Radio Oxford: “I can assure you that all new players we sign from now on, we will be putting clauses in their contracts. I think we’re going to have to.
“We’re an ambitious football club, we’re going from strength to strength and we’re looking to build. This hasn’t been ideal. It is probably disruptive to the club and results.”
“As a football club, we wish Finn all the best and I can understand everything that’s going on but we have a duty of care for Finn and we’ve got a duty of care for the football club,”
“He was [in breach of his contract] but I think you need to take a pragmatic sort of view: A 20-year-old lad, he’s offered all this reality TV stuff.
“He has a contract, so he has to finish the contract he has with the football club. He’s done very, very well for us.”
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Images courtesy of ITV2