MAJOR INTERESTS NOT SOCCER

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14299, 24 February 1947, Page 4

MAJOR INTERESTS NOT SOCCER

BRITISH MONEY PROBLEMS Players Demand Increased 'Wages Three Big Topics Engage Attention Major interests in English League Association football this season have not been Soccer itself, but the money problems relating to it. The demand by players for increased wages; the huge transfer fees now rampant; and the introduction of higher priced entrances as a voluntary contribution to club funds are the three big topics engaging most attention and certainly most of the space available for sports news. Until Christmas the clubs had settled down to a regular schedule of one match a week and so there is opportunity to take a look at what has been happening since the 194(147 season opened on the last Saturday in August. The demand for increased wages and the threat af the players to strike in order to get their demands is a survival of a dispute begun in the 1930'5; resumed when postwar Soccer began; and debated with increasing intensity that eventually led to the players asking the Ministry of Labour for compulsory arbitration. Right now the subject is peacefully shelved, at least in the meantime; later the joint committee appointed by the Football League Management Committee and the Players' Union meet in Manchester. The Players' Union is seeking, among other improved conditions, the raising of the maximum weekly wage from £lO to £l2 (with a, close season of £10) and the minimum from £5 to £7. The League- Management maintain that although some of the wealthier clubs may be able to afford to pay their players higher wages other clubs, mostly in the Third Division, are not in a position .to do so. Such clubs would be obliged to close down if the increase of wages is insisted on. . The players answer that with ground attendances up some 30 per cent on prewar figures the clubs could well afford to pay those whose individual skill has been responsible for the increased attendances. Throughout the present season spectators at the 44 League games on Saturday afternoons have averaged nearly a million —as against three quarters of a million in season 1938-39.

The players might be inclined to lend a more sympathetic ear to the League Management over their pleas of greatly increased costs were it not for the huge transfer fees now being paid. Two footballers recently changed clubs for £13,000 each. One club in early October spent over £'34,000 in securing the services of four players. This is proof that there is big money in the game. The players want a. bigger share in. it. Even Third Division clubsare making deals of several thousands of pounds and it would seem that any day, there will be a new record high in transfer fees. 'The highest yet, paid is reputed to be the £14,000 paid by The Arsenal to Wolverhampton Wanderers for Bryn Jones, who played such a big part in Wales' 3—l victory over Scotland at Wrexham, Denbighshire, recently. Bryn Jones prewar was Soccer's box-office attraction No. 1.. But that role is now filled by Stanley Matthews, whose name has been freely mentioned in the transfer market. England's twinkled-footed right winger was physically indisposed for a while, but when he.reported fit to Stoke City his club, rather than disturb a team which had won six matches in a row nominated Matthews for a try-out with the reserve eleven. This Matthews declined to do. The scribes got to work on the incident and even before Matthews had met the Stoke City directors they (the scribes) had placed him on the transfer list with a recordbreaking fee of £ 20,000. But Stanley after being hauled on the directors' carpet left the board-room with .a smile and said that he was pleased the whole six-day wonder had been amicably settled. Matthews got an additional week's leave of absence and was granted permission to continue to train at Blackpool, where he owns a hotel, and will report to his club on match days. <

It was because of his Blackpool connections that the Blackpool club was regarded as the one likely to pay the transfer fee that. Stoke City would require if Matthews requested a change. , But much as the seasides.would like Matthews they are managing] very -well without him. They have occupied the first place in the League championship standing for the greater part of the season and just now have a clear lead on Manchester United, Wolverhampton, Wanderers and Liverpool, the next in line. These three clubs, with 15 points apiece, are three behind Blackpool. Languishing at the bottom of the First. Division standing are Huddersfield Town, Leeds United and I'ortsmouth. The practice of certain clubs to charge one shilling and sixpence at some ci their turnstiles instead of the regulation one shilling and threepence provided a great deal of controversy when the scheme was introduced. Pioneer club was Crystal Palace which believed that supporters would be prepared to sacrifice the reduction allowed in entertainment tax by the Chancellor of the'.Exchequer for the benefit of a special fund to purchase highly skilled footballers. Supporters who choose to do this pass through a turnstile requiring the same money as before the entertainment tax was reduced. Critics said this was all right if sufficient turnstiles at the 'reduced price were made accessible. Now tiiere must be because all is quiet jn this direction, ■