LATE SIR JOHN CLEGG

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 208, 18 September 1937, Page 18

LATE SIR JOHN CLEGG

* 1 >- . i "j LOSS TO SOCCER FOOTBALL. In Sir John Charles Clegg, who died at his Sheffield home recently at the age of 87, the English Football Association loses its strongest legislator — a man whose firm grip of the politics of the game gave him an unequalled influence in the council chamber and on commissions of inquiry. No one connected with- Association football since it -became a great professional sport has carried quite so much weight — not even the late Lord Kinnaird or the late Mr. C. W. Alcock. Chosen as a representative on the council in 1886, he was made a vicepresident of the association in 1889, and a year later he was selected by the council as president. He 'had occupied that position cver since. When, many years ago, the council resolved that all local associations should admit to membership professional clubs within their areas, and the Middlesex and Surrey associations declined to change their strictly amateur status, Mr. Clegg (as he was then) sent in his resignation. This action on his part could be described as an astute stroke of policy. Taking the line he did, it was essential that he should lead a united party, and, apart from the amateur delegates, there was some doubt as to whether the policy of the council was. assured of undivided support, states the Evening Post. First-class Player; In the early days of Association football, when no one dreamed of the tremendous popularity the game was destined to obtain, he was a first-rate player, making his' riame as a member of the Sheffield Club, He assisted England in the first match against Scotland— played in 1872 at Glasgow. In the following year his brother, afterwards Sir William Clegg, was in the England team .. The game has changed so much in character that it is difficult to eompare the players of fifty years ago with those of the present day. Very fast and a clever dribbler, Sir' Charles held his own among the best men of his generation. In additi 6h to football, he went in for athletics, and without being in the first. rank of champions, was a capital quarter-mile runner and a good sprinter. Sir Charles received his khighlhood in ihe Birthday' Honours -of 1927. Last

year, to mark his fiftieth anniversary as a member of the Football Association Council, he was presented with a gold plaque by his colleaerues.