PROFESSIONALISM

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1929, Page 6

PROFESSIONALISM

JOMS FOR FOOTBALLERS. A! EL BOURNE DIFFICULTY. SYDNEY, April 25. Xew Zealanders, with their freedom from professionalism as tar 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 o'f Australia. There, of course, they play according to Australian ~u l e s_s _ and Melbourne people say that it is, tbe only real football there is. An effort is being mode to introduce Rugby, but it. is surely doomed to failure. The All Blacks might be able to tell us more definitely ot the prospects after their visit to the southern capital this year. J'n Melbourne footballers are brought from the country if they are good players, and in m st instances they make it a condition th t they should be provided with work—work, ‘of course, that will not interfere in any way to their training. in these days of unemployment the task of finding work for a country footballer, is no easy matter, and there has be n a storm at one of the Council meetings because it was revealed that an officei had provided work 'for a country footballer to tbe 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 lOs or £3 10 a week from the club for which he plays, plus a bonus on the profits at the end of the year. Tin's bonus in the case of one club Carlton —last year meant an additional £0 n week to the players who took part in every match played bv the club during the season. "When employment is sought for a footballer, tbe municipal council is usually the first employer to be aporoached, 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 had if or the last couple of years to become a League club. It was ov l ' 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 bouse in RHnnmid now the Tigers are ■miers,” was the clubs boast. Some of cue “ 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 tliej went past oil 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.