FOOTBALL AS A PROFESSION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 272, 13 June 1888, Page 6

FOOTBALL AS A PROFESSION.

Thisis whata London paper recently said - "While it may seem strange to some people to find the noble game of cricket a means of obtaining a livelihood, it will be more ineompienensible .-till to discover that what maybe called our winter national game— football, is turned into a profession. But so it is, ami a most lucrative one, too. In companion with cricket, football is of recent, populaiity : and two codes of rules are obser\ed in which theie is \evy little similaiiiy. These are called Association and Rugby, and it is among the adherents of the former that professionalism exists ; or, peihap?, it would be more correct to say that it is only recognised in the Association game, though a great many people have strong ieasons for supposing that the Rugby game is played for something else besides pure lo\e by a large section of its folio weis. It is moic than ten years since the Association sramc became popular in England But in Scotland it has put other games in the *hade for at lea=t fifteen years. Lancashire was the first eountiy to put the game before the masses, and it^'endeavours to do so initiated the professional movement. At fir-^t the system was known as an importation, and meant bunging Scotsmen of urea t leputeto assist Lancashire clubs Tin- was done by holding out the inducement of a situation : and it is not too much to say that the finest team* in Lancashire were made through the introduction of these Scotsmen. The system grew most ahum - ingly ,- and our friend*, from o'er the border complained bitterly about being robbed of their best men. Though these playeis ostensibly came to follow -ome luerathe employment, it is an open secret that they weie biought down to play football, and iecei\cd wages for doing so*. In fact, the w riter has known instances of clever phneis getting a« large a sum as £4 a week. For what ': Why, playing an hour and a half per week at their fa\onrite game. Unlike cricket, the football professional has no coaching to do. no bowling {practice to attend, but simply has to keep himself in trim for one, or 'sometimes two, football matches each week. About a couple of jears ago it. wa c found that professionalism had spread all through the Midlands, in addition to Lancashire. After a great deal of opposition, the Football Association was induced to legalise it ; and now weha\e at least three-fourth? of its clubt with professionals in their ranks. In the big organisations there are only to be found one or two amateurs ; the others being paid for their services. The average wages a man can earn are 3(K per •week In j addition to this they are paid a small fee through the summer months for the purpose of being retained for tho ensuing season. But during the last two or three }eai^>most professional organisations have begun in the middle of August and run to the end of May. The reason for this is ob\iou=. When there are, say, nine men in a team getting 30? per week each, it follows that the club must have a corresponding income : and the only means of getting this | is to play matches and obtain gate money. Besides their wages the professionals have all their clothing found, doctors' bills, and i railway and hotel expenses paid, and, in ! brief, ha\c their wages clear. The leading club-3 pay over £600 a year for wages alone, and ha\e to be managed in the most business-like manner to make both ends meet, This is very .seldom done ; and a Io(. of noted football clubs are on the verge of bankruptcy. To play in a country match is not thought as much of as in the case of cricket. But the height of the footballer's* ambition is to be selected in international matches, especially England v. Scotland. The football professional cannot last man) years, as> it requires both ■strength and agility to be worthy of a good salary ; and five years is rather more than the average life of a first-class man. To a large extent the Association game is patronised by the working classes, who cannot afford to throw away both time and money by taking part in their favourite pastime ; and the football professional is by no means the low-life person foine people arc apt to think. Of course, there are few black .sheep in the Hock. But, as a whole, they are very intelligent- and respectable ; and a clever player i.s us popular in certain districts? as the most noted politician. The greatest professional organisation in the country is undoubtedly in Preston ; and there a gentleman has spent several years in getting men, each of fine physique, and equally skilful. Birmingham also po.spes.seH good professional clubs ; and one of them has a system ot payment which might with adwmtagc be emulated by others. It pays the men 10s each per match ; and at the end of the year they di\ ide the surplus. The players, have thu.s an incentive to play well ; for in football, a.s in anything else, ' nothing succeed.-) like success.' ''