PROFESSIONALISM.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19610, 4 May 1929, Page 18

PROFESSIONALISM.

JOBS FOR FOOTBALLERS. MELBOURNE DIFFICULTY. (FROM OtTB OWN COBBS9FOXDEST-) SYDNEY, April 25. New Zealanders, with their freedom from professionalism as far as their footballers are concerned, will perhaps find it difficult to appreciate the problem that is facing some of the big clubs in Melbourne —that of finding work for their players. Football is a real business in Melbourne—more so than in any other part of Australia. There, of course, they play according to Australian rules—and Melbourne people say that it is the only real football there is. An effort is being made to introduce Rugbv, but it is surely doomed to failure. The All Blacks might be ableto tell us more definitely of the prospects ;ifter their visit to the southern capital this year. In Melbourne footballers are brought from the country if they are good players, and in 'most instances they make it a condition that they should be provided with work —work, of course, that will not interfere in any way with their training. In these days of unemployment the task of finding work for a country footballer is no easy matter, and there has been a storm at one of the Council meetings because it was revealed that an officer had provided work for a country footballer to the exclusion of all the local unemployed who had been clamouring for work for weeks past. In addition to the remuneration that comes from the position that is found for him, a Melbourne footballer also receives a fixed payment of, say, £2 10s or £3 10s a week from the club for which he plays, plus a bonus on the profits at the end of the year. This bonus in the case of one club— Carlton—last year meant an additional £6 a week to the players who took part in every match played by the club during the season. When employment is sought for a footballer, the municipal council is usually the first employer to be approached, and usually these councils are only too ready to find places for players of repute. A good football team in a municipality, it is said, adds a great deal of civic pride to the residents, especially if the club be a League club. Coburg has been trying hard for the last couple of years to become a League club. It was even said that when Richmond won the premiership for the first time last year the population of the suburb suddenly increased. "You can't find an empty house in Richmond now the Tigers are premiers," was the club's boast. Some of the "jobs" provided for players call for a little bodily or mental exertion. One League player was given a job in a brewery, but he left it after a while. He found it too trying. It was his task to watch the never-ending march of empties as they went past on a carrier to see that no corks had been inadvertently left in any of the bottles. In country newspapers in Victoria it is not unusual to see an advertisement running: "Wanted, a hairdresser. Must be a good footballer."