Football as a Profession.
There are many young fellows who are inclined to take up football as a
profession, and to these the writer would say, "Count well the cost
before you do it." I have spoken to many players, and few would let
their boys take football up as the serious business of life. It is easy
to start; any club that has paid players will give you a trial, and if
you are capable will sign you on at perhaps a few shillings up to a
pound a week. The objections are that the career is very short, and may
be interrupted or terminated by an accident at any time, and then if you
are not master of a trade you are practically ruined. When boys used to
come to me and tell me of their wish to join the 'Spurs I always tried
to get them to learn some trade first and be master of it, so when
necessary they could fall back upon it. This provision for the future is
necessary, because you may begin your paid career at seventeen or
eighteen, before you have learned a trade, and play on till you are
twenty-eight or thirty, and then find you are too old to begin to do so.
I have known a number who had made no preparation for the future, and in
some cases they are starving. It is one of the painful duties of a
secretary's life to have to hear of appeals for help from veterans who
have neglected to acquire some trade before taking up football. No club
ought to be allowed, for the credit of the game, to sign on any players
until they have given evidence that they have a marketable knowledge of
some trade or profession. As I have said, many think L4 a week is a nice
income; so it is, but how many get it, and how many years does it last?
It may be that in the near future you may get as much as you can out of
a club, but even then only a very few of the thousands of paid players
will get more than they do now. Many a youth, talking of the matter,
has been under the impression that all professionals get the L4 per
week. That is not so. Many of the smaller clubs cannot afford to pay it.
There are many who never get beyond 50s. per week. No doubt the
organisation of school games has had a great deal to do with turning the
attention of promising lads at school to football as a career. It is
true that one out of a thousand schoolboy players may get signed on, but
I hardly know of half a dozen. Hundreds of young men apply to clubs for
a trial, and are soon convinced that they have not skill enough, but
those few who are lucky should weigh the matter seriously. I know there
are many who may argue that they can, after their playing days are over,
get a position as trainer or manager to some club. Such a place as I
had, for instance, for many years, but, like everything else nowadays,
there are only a very limited number of these positions, while there are
scores of applicants for them, and for every vacancy to be filled there
are generally one or two who have very strong backing, and there is
little chance for the outsider. Others have often pointed out to me that
after a certain number of years they will be entitled to a benefit. This
is quite correct, but even if the benefit comes off how much does it
bring in? I should fancy that an average benefit does not give more than
L300 or L400--indeed, a footballer is considered very lucky if the match
that he has chosen brings him L150. I have known a great many that have
brought in less. Mr. J. J. Bentley, who is now the President of the
Football League, once wrote an article on "Football Finance," in which
he stated that "not more than six professional clubs were solvent," and
he asked the pertinent question: "If only six of the leading clubs can
make it pay on a really lucrative scale, what is to become of the game?"
By the game he doubtless means the professional part of it. Fourteen
years have passed away, but I very much doubt if the situation is
altered now. A few clubs, a very few, make a profit on their year's
working. The majority show a deficit which annually becomes larger. For
a time collapse is avoided by the bazaar or by turning the club into a
limited liability company, but these are only temporary reliefs, and the
fact remains that in most clubs either the expenses of management or the
salaries of the players are larger than the receipts permit, and
sometimes the clubs go under. Another important point for the would-be
"pro." is the question of temperament. You must have exceptional
qualities of a personal character. If you cannot take hard knocks as
well as give them, and if you cannot control your temper, you are not
likely to be successful. The day of the blackguardly dirty player is
over, and the man with brain as well as brawn is needed for this work.
Education makes all the difference, and the incoming professionals will
have to be men of considerable culture. Neither is there any chance for
the fellow who cannot control his appetite in the matter of strong
drink. There arise before us sad and mournful pictures of men whose
names have been "familiar as a household word," but whose sun has set
years before it should have done, owing to the fact that they soaked in
beer. Some I have seen at the Palace in the Cup Final, the heroes of the
day; apparently the world was at their feet. The next time one set eyes
on them it was difficult to recognise in the battered specimen of
humanity that stood before you the sprightly player of former days. The
contrast is painful, but often, very often, has greeted my eyes.
"No," said a great Southern League captain to me, "my boys shall never
be paid footballers, but they must learn a trade. The prospects are not
pleasing enough." No, it is far better, unless you have superlative
talents, to take to some other calling. It is only a small proportion
who make their mark in professional football.
Some may make a better thing out of it if they are paid cricketers, for
they will have wages for both games. But here again the area is limited,
though the pay is good. It is not necessary to be a professional player
to gain the highest honours. Take England's captain, V. J. Woodward; he
is an architect, but from the first day I saw him there was great
ability, and it was bound to come out. So with many other amateurs who
have come to the front. They have succeeded because they had skill, but
also because they kept in good condition owing to their ordinary work,
which was well done. To boys I say stick to your job, and having worked
well go and play your best. But leave professionalism out of the
business.