ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 15

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

DRIFT INTO COMMERCIALISM. BARTERING OF PLAYERS. [FROM OCR. OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, Oct. 16. .Articles by a special commissioner of (ho Daily Mail go thoroughly and dispassionately into the condition of Association football in this country. It is unpleasant reading.

"The season is little more than a month old," says this writer, "and already many thousands of pounds have passed from club to club for payment for players. It lias been stated in the Daily Mail that one definite offer of £IO,OOO has been made for a forward of a Lancashire club. It was refused, but the. sum will still be paid for the right man. Unless restrictions are imposed fees will continue to incren.se. Next February, when clubs will be threatened with the loss of their senior status, they will negotiate bank overdrafts which directors will have to guarantee, and the bartering of men will be more indecent than ever.

"Professional football to-day is a huge financial undertaking carried on with tho fiercest competition, and it is in danger of getting beyond control. Tho clubs themselves are alarmed and it is only their jealousy and selfishness which prevent them calling a halt in tho drift toward out-and-out commercialism. The Football Association has no power to interfere. It is only responsible for the government of tho gamo in a filaying sense and for the fulfilment of tho financial regulations. Tho transfer system, with all the dishonest practices to which it leads, is no direct concern of it. Thcso matters are managed by the clubs themselves.

'"J lie first duty of the Football .Association is toward tho arnateur sido of the panic and at tho present timo it is beset with a very gravo problem. 'lho professional clubs aro in close touch with tho amateurs, because it is from this source that thry recruit their ranks, and they will Irll you that there is littlo or no real amateurism. A short timo ago a member of a London amateur club was invited to have a trial with a League club in mid week. At the end of the game he was given 10s to cover his train fare and tea. 'This is no good to me,' he said, 'I can get three times as much from niv own club for a match.'

"It has been tho experience in every sport that as soon as money to any considerable amount enters into it those concerned wish to sharo in the prosperity. Rugby Union football is an exception, but in this case, while tho international matches p,roduco thousands of pounds every year, there is tho safeguard that the money goes to the governing authorities arid not to the clubs.

"When the professional, with his wage of £8 a week, plays before a gate which he knows will produce £2OOO he thinks he is underpaid. It is much the same with the amateur. At, any rate ho demands that he should bo compensated for any loss his taking part in a match may entail, lie insists on being paid for what is known as 'broken time.'

"Tho Football Association has persistently fought against this principle and to preserve it it withdrew from the Olympic, Games this year. But members of amateur clubs draw money from the game every week and tho thin cloak that it is for out-of-pocket expenses docs not cover it."