SPORTING GOSSIP

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 80, 5 April 1939, Page 8

SPORTING GOSSIP

BUYING OF PLAYERS TAIHAPE NEWS LONDON, Feb. 20. Soccer Problems in Britain. In Britain there are rich and poor soccer clubs. The wealth of a soccer club is determined by its locality, writes F. L. Mcllwraith, in the Sydney Referee. The Arsenal and Chelsea football clubs are comparatively rich. They are located in areas which are not, say, to be compared with Sheffield, where there has been very much unemployment. The rules of the Football League permit any club in a Cup tie to change the venue of any match it is engaged in, providing both clubs are agreed upon the change. A poor club which feels it has little chance of success, or in case of a replayed Cup tie, when the match is not being played on its ground, may bargain.

Turned Down £SOO. Runcorn, a small town club, was offered by Preston North End, a much richer club, the sum of £SOO if it agreed to play the match at Preston. Runcorn, being very patriotic, refused the offer, though it meant two years’ financial gains in terms of its own balance-sheet.

This week Sheffield Wednesday have surprised many by agreeing to play a. replay Cup tie match in London, when its opponent—Chelsea—is a London team.

London sports writers are trying to build up a case against Sheffield Wednesday. The supporters of Sheffield Wednesday, who are on the spot, agree with the change. The reasons for the change, and the reasons for agreement with it, are purely financial. The Arsenal football ground, on which the match will be replayed, is the largest in England, and the greatest financial results will come from it.

Part Played by Finance. The Football League may have to deal with this problem, but it cannot divorce it from other problems of a similar aiature. It is one, primarily, of finance. Few people seem to be aware of tlie important part that finance plays in soccer, and also Rugby League, for that matter. If a club is wealthy it can look after its players in time of injury or sickness. It will have an adequate medical staff, and the player, if injured beyond hope of returning to the game, will be compensated. If the club is a poor club it will rely upon the charity of the local doctors. If a player is injured and cannot return to the game he will be given a benefit match. The players in a rich club can afford to take chances. They exhibit more dash. They have less worries. Buying of Players. Obviously there has to be some solution arrived at if football is to develop. The question naturally arises, but poor clubs do have good players. Yes, but as soon as they show their form they are sold to the richer clubs. The soccer authorities are seriously concerned with this buying and selling. Clubs spend as much as £40,000 when the season is ending if they are in danger of being relegated to the Second Division. The poor club fighting a similar danger is thus unfairly handicapped because of its inability to buy players. One suggestion would be to debar any club buying any players during the season. This would mean that all clubs would start the season with their players and would only be allowed to recruit new players so long as they were not bought from other clubs. In a word, they could only recruit players within their own jurisdiction. Unless attention is paid to the financial aspect of soccer then football will be the sport of large cities where there is no unemployment. Players, obviously, will go where their playing is better appreciated (financially), and where, in case of injuries, they stand a chance of being compensated. Boy McCormick Dies, aged 39 years. Boy McCormick, former British cruiserweight champion, was found dead in his car at Newton Heath, Manchester, on January 22. He is believed to have succumbed to heart failure. Born in India on Christmas Day, 1899, McCormick went into pro-, fessional boxing from the Army, and soon established a reputation as a scientific hard hitter. After winning the cruiserweight championship McCormick went to the United States, where he had one setback —& draw—in eleven fights. On a second trip to America he had six contests—winning all, except a no-decision bout. It was McCormick’s proud boast that he was never knocked out.