Soccer in England In Time of War

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 2, 3 January 1940, Page 8

Soccer in England In Time of War

The English Football League has .urned thumbs down on a proposal to .ncrea.se wages and grant bonuses for dayers during war-time. After nearly ,ix hours’ discussion the League de.ided that gate receipts under the presnt regional system do not warrant lereases, and bonuses for wins and .ed games should not be. paid. Supported by many clubs, the projsal had been made that players’ . ages should be increased from 30 lillings (6.67d01.) weekly to £2 J.OOdol). Representatives of several ;ams at the meeting emphasised that :cir financial position made increases Wolverhampton Wanderers, prime ..overs in the transfer market last ear, intend to pursue an adventuras policy. Manager Frank Buckley .elieves the war cannot last forever, .nd providing promising players of a aitable age are available, he thinks .iey should be snapped up as there . ill probably be a shortage of good :en when clubs rush to sign players .ter the war. Buckley made the first big trans,r of the war when he signed Fred .ing, Northampton Town outside.ght. The amount of the fee was noL jvealed, but it was said to be “a big In England, Soccer isn’t soccer any .lore. Impact of war has knocked all -he money out of the game. Except ust enough to pay the professional ootballers thirty shillings a match ana j cover—we hope—the bare mini.ium running expenses of the English .eague clubs. But the show goes on, .otwithstanding. And every Saturday ./ternoon the Soccer-watching public .11 over the country gets its enterainment. In short, the professional Soccer ommunity, whict normally makes its .iving out of the sport, shows how amateur it is at heart by continuing .vith the sport when there is no longer x living in it and when the main reaon for providing Soccer is the desire o give relaxation and amusement to he masses at a trying time when lese things are particularly appreciated. Public Safety. The reason why so little money is available to players and officials is .hat Government restrictions (imposed in the interests of public safety, the ;olice and the transportation authorities) have been placed upon the number of spectators who may be admitwO'l to watch football in the “evacuated” areas. In. such urban localities, .lormaliy the centers productive of the fig crowds for football games, no Joccer audience may exceed 15,000 in these days, and the police allow ro « ds to reach that size—evenly distributed in the stands and on the ter- . aces—only at the lb grounds listed by .he Football Association as being capable of holding 60.000 or more. For matches on t*sese grounds 'ackers .0 be issued in advance of the game. i!n all other cases the limit 8000 or half the spectator-holding capacity oi the arena, whichever is less. Celebrated Arsenal Club. It may be that the celebrated Arsenal Club, of London, can be regarded r.s a financially successful enterprise in Soccer. So it is. But if you study its working accounts for .ast season, when it did not fare very well in the League championships, you will see that its profit was only £66G, writes R. Maillard Stead, in the Christian Science Monitor. Gate receipts •n 1938-39 fell by nearly £12,000, tnoworking profit was £SOOO down on that of the previous winter, and the overdraft went up from £10,730 to £22,960. This state of affairs indicated the sort of fluctuations that represent only one of the problems spelling constant anxiety for Soccer concerns operating on a less spectacular scale. This seasen, by the way, the Arsenal’s ground is given over to national service and the tean* plays its “home” games on the near-by ground of Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. At the present moment, the manager of the Arsenal—my old friend, George Allison, probably the best-paiu figure on the managerial side of the game in normal times—is working full-time for the club without receiving any salary at all. And such of the Arsenal’s stars as are still available tc play do so for the statutory 30 shillings a match (one match a week) instead of the ordinary £8 a week plus bonuses. They do their playing, moreover, in time off from other work. At least 14 of the 20 or so who can be called on are occupied with national service, nine being engaged on Air Raid Precautions, two being in the Police War Reserve, and three being employed in a munitions factory. Most other clubs are in very much the same boat. Thus you can see that' the wartime difference between a professional and an amateur in Soccer is little more than just a matter of 30 shillings a match. Though in at least one team (Queen's Park Rangers) it is decidedly less, because the £lB paid to 11 players and one reserve each Saturday is pooled among the 26 playing members on the Rangers’ books, representing a weekly share-out of 13 shillings and 10 pence. Contracts Not Operative. Soon after war broke out, the Football Association, governing body for the game in all its aspects, ruled that the contracts between players and their clubs were rendered inoperative under a clause relating to emergencies. This meant that all professionals found themselves suddenly without wages and many without prospect of! either a game to play, playing-fee or a' job.