No Move With Pro. League

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30822, 6 August 1965, Page 13

No Move With Pro. League

“The Press” Special Service

AUCKLAND, August 5.

Very little agreement on the methods that should be used to introduce semi-professional soccer to Auckland, or even whether such football should be introduced at all, was reached at a meeting between the control board and the clubs of the Auckland Football Association.

Mr E. H. Ebsworth, on behalf of a group of clubs who have proposed the formation of a semi-professional league, explained the objects and suggested rules of what he said could be called “the New Zealand Soccer Federation.” “Something drastic has got to be done to bring the public back through the turnstiles,” he said. “We must re-establish the code in the public eye, divert profits back into the clubs, and we must improve our playing standards. “Professionals can be made

to train, they can be disciplined, transfers can be controlled and the best players will rise to the top.” Mr Ebsworth’s proposed federation would involve clubs holding shares in a limited liability company. The clubs themselves would be limited liability companies, which would probably have a sponsor, and in which the existing amateur clubs would probably have a controlling interest. The federation would draw up standard contracts and transfer fees would be controlled. Matches would be played on club home grounds, on a home-and-away basis, with revenue being divided:. 70 per cent to the home side, 20 per cent to the away side, and 10 per cent to the A.F.A.

Mr Ebsworth said after the meeting that the clubs interested in the semi-professional league would now discuss the various topics raised at the meeting, and he presumed the control board, of which he is a member, would also discuss them.