Football club

“ Again, to show how pure professional clubs are, directors, whether they be five or fifteen, are not entitled to draw any money from the club, and this shows that the real sportsmanlike spirit prevails at the helm of professional football, and certainly no reform in this way is desired or required. ”

“ If they could speak they would tell you many a strange episode in the life of an Association football player, and how he kept his place in a leading club for nearly a dozen years. They have been old and dear friends, those well-worn boots, and although now somewhat curled up at the toes, have kicked many a good goal out of a hot and exciting scrummage in front of an opponent's upright posts, and even in an International tussle ”

“ Clubs and players shall not compete in any match or competition, the proceeds of which are not devoted to a recognized Football Club or Football Association or some other object approved of by this or by an affiliated Association. ”

“ The first final cup tie brought into prominence one of the neatest little dribblers and passers that ever played on the left wing of any club. Methinks I see him now, with his quick action, short step, and unselfish play, gliding down the side of the field, dodging an opponent close on the touch-line, and causing the spectators to laugh immoderately. Spectators are prone to make favourites, and while Mr. Campbell was assuredly one at half-back, Mr. M'Neil was none the less loved among the forwards. ”

“ We are shown noble examples of how in days gone by, peer mingled with peasant on the cricket field, strove with each other on the curling pond, and why should not such things exist in football? Let me hope that as each succeeding season comes round the noble winter game will in proportion show greater improvement, both in club and individual integrity, as well as higher scale of moral worth. ”

“ Organised cricket clubs, athletic clubs, and football clubs grew up, and in process of time clubs for the pursuit of every kind of athletic exercise have been started. Originally each club in College had a subscription, paid by its members, towards the expenses of the special game. About twenty years ago all the clubs in St. John's were united into one club [Pg 105] —"The Amalgamation." ”

“ The whole secret of success in football lies, it is almost superfluous to add, in the measure of a team's combination. A club eleven composed of entirely mediocre players will generally make a good show against, if it does not actually beat, a coalition of members of different bodies of vastly superior capacity individually. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Leven Crowers were a young and powerful club, possessing more speed in running than any real football ability at the time. The club to which my master belonged was the first to introduce the new ideas in the game, as they were then called, in Scottish soil, and as there were only three clubs in existence at the time of which I am referring, the contests, as a matter of course, were few and far between, and, consequently, looked forward to with more than ordinary pleasure. ”

“ There 's only one thing the matter with first-class football in Bursley," he concluded, "and it is n't the players. It's the public—it's yourselves. You 're the most craven lot of tomfools that ever a big football club had to do with. When we lose a match, what do you do? Do you come and encourage us next time? No, you stop away, and leave us fifty or sixty pound out of pocket on a match, just to teach us better! Do you expect us to win every match? ”

“ None hated unfair or rough play more. He could not endure it in a club companion, and this was particularly so if his team were playing a comparatively junior combination. Taught in the early school of Association football, when the rules were much more exacting than they are now, he had, along with his colleagues in the Queen's Park, to fight their preliminary battles, and overcome the prejudices consequent on introducing the "reformation," so to speak, in football. ”

“ Football now, however, has been reduced to something like a scientific game, and to the credit of England be it said, the Association Rules there first saw the light. Scotch players in the Western District soon emulated their Southern brethren, and from the Parent Club, which had a humble and unassuming origin on the recreation ground at Queen's Park, sprang hundreds of clubs, spreading over the length and breadth of the land with remarkable rapidity. ”

“ Be loyal to your club and clubmates, and do not forget that enthusiasm is the great thing that will carry you to the front in football as well as in other spheres in life. Unselfishness is also another great point. Should your captain or committee choose another man as your superior, do not grumble, but turn out for the second eleven, and play with all your heart and soul, and if you have the merit you will soon regain your old position in the first team. Above all, play the game fairly and squarely, and you will succeed either as a professional, senior, junior, or amateur. ”

“ The tradesmen had naturally searched for a cause in every direction save the right one, the obvious one; and naturally they had found a cause. According to the tradesmen, the cause was ‘this football.’ The Bursley Football Club had recently swollen into a genuine rival of the ancient supremacy of the celebrated Knype Club. It had transformed itself into a limited company, and rented a ground up the Moorthorne Road, and built a grand stand. ”

“ In football, of course, as in other things, I have found that the best men were not always in their best places, and when this was the case, what is known as favouritism came in bold relief, but in the end the club in which such stupidity was rampant suffered very severely. It did all very well when the club were engaged in ordinary contests with weaker opponents, but it came out in some of the big events, in which the guilty club predominated in the selection of men to represent a city, a university, and even a country. ”

“ Each club should consult with a recognised supporters' club as to the provision of pre-match entertainment aimed at attracting spectators to the ground in good time. Police Planning
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26. The Chief Constable of each police force in whose area there is one designated stadium or more should nominate a chief officer to liaise with the management of each football club and local authority concerned in respect of the safety and control of crowds. ”

“ If these are allowed to continue on the club books simply because they are good players, the committee are doing a great injustice to the other members, it may be under a mistaken notion. Now, as football has always been looked upon as a purely amateur game, and played by young men for their own amusement, it is to be hoped that the day is far distant when the professional football player, or even worse, the professional football "loafer," who does not work, but preys upon his fellow-members, will appear in a general form. ”

“ As most of our men are only here preparing for the army, and do not remain any length of time in Richmond, it is useless our trying to form a regular club. We merely club together during the winter for the sake of playing a few matches. ”

“ Not the least important thing about football is the matter of training, and nearly every professional club has a trainer, whose business it is not only to get the men fit, but also to keep them so for eight months. ”

“ But the paid player, by reason of the leisure he has, shows the highest skill, and in that way has inspired the unpaid with a higher ideal of play, and it is a favourite contention of many that the best game is that played by the professional clubs. The junior who goes to see Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, or Newcastle is impressed by the play, and makes up his mind to try and put into practice what he has seen. It is good for the boy to go and see players of the highest skill, and if the ordinary club member would do this occasionally the average standard of play would be higher. ”

“ Each club must take every precaution to keep its ground in playing condition, and if necessary, either Club may apply to the Association, and the Secretary shall require the Referee or some other person to examine the ground and decide as to its fitness for play in sufficient time to save expenses being incurred by the Clubs of unnecessary journeys. Clubs shall not mutually arrange to play a match in lieu of a Cup Tie. If a match is played to a conclusion, it must be a Cup Tie, but if from any cause a match is not completed it must be replayed the full time of one hour and a half. ”

“ Football is again as old as the hills and there are hundreds of clubs in the town and district, the best meadow for the purpose (at the Lower Grounds) being about 12.t yards long by 75 yards broad. The Aston Villa is the chief club. ”

“ Other clubs had bought up the best men in the market, leaving only a mixed assortment of inferior Scotsmen, Irishmen, and Northcountrymen to uphold the honour of the London club.
And then, like a meteor, Clarence Tresillian had flashed upon the world of football. In the opening game he had behaved in the goal-mouth like a Chinese cracker, and exhibited an absolutely impassable defence; and from then onward, except for an occasional check, Houndsditch Wednesday had never looked back. ”

“ Clubs shall be entitled to retain players to whom they are prepared to pay the maximum wages, unless the players satisfy the Council that there are special grounds for allowing them to change their club. ”

“ A Club not having a private ground shall provide a private or enclosed ground, where gate-money shall be charged for Cup Ties, free of all charge to the visiting Club, or play on its opponents' ground. ”

“ Well Al I am going to break into a new game football. They are getting up a club here in camp to play against the Great Lakes navy and the Camp Custer club up in Mich. and they want all the men thats played football to come out and try for the club here. Well I never played but I told them I did and they won't know the difference when they see me because when a man is a born athelete they can play any game and especially a college Willy boy game like football. I seen one of their college games out to the university in Chi once and a man built like I could of made a sucker out of both clubs. ”

“ Something has been written of late about a goal-keeper letting his side down in a final tie, but I cannot believe that any player, whether goalkeeper or forward, could or would let his side down.
I do not care to enter into the year when my old club, Tottenham Hotspur, won the Cup, but one of the biggest officials in the Football Association came along to compliment me, and said that my side gave the best display of football since Aston Villa won the Cup—indeed, he implied that it was even better than that given by the Villa, which compliment I naturally appreciated. ”

“ The hon. secretary of an amateur club as a rule is a very busy man, and takes the position from mere love of the game. It must be admitted that it is rough on him to find on Saturday morning that many players cannot put in an appearance at the match and could have saved him all the trouble of wiring and sending round the district for another player if they had only let him know a day or two before, so that he would have had a chance of filling the places they had vacated. ”

“ A playing member is one who has either actually played for his Club in the current season, or who has, in writing, intimated to the Secretary of the Association that he is a playing member of that Club. The Secretary shall, in writing, acknowledge the receipt of every such intimation. A player qualified to play in any round, shall be deemed qualified to play in any subsequent round by virtue of his original qualification. ”

“ The Clubs after having been placed by the Council in their proper Competitions shall be drawn in couples. These couples shall compete, and the winners shall be drawn and shall compete in the same manner, and this shall be continued until the end of the Competition. Immediately after each draw is made notice shall be given to each Club of the name of its opponent, and the date and hour when the tie shall be played. All ties in each round shall be played on one date and at such hours as the Council may determine. ”

“ He, of course, grows older, and by and by joins an average club, and gets on very well. The crack football players, however, have many maturities. They generally come slowly, but surely, and leave behind them powerful impressions. They are like the occasional planets, not the stars which are seen every evening if you care to look towards the "milky way." They are mostly fine-looking fellows, with pleasant countenances and grandly-moulded limbs. They have just passed a severe course of probation in the football field, without even an outward trace of anxiety. ”

“ I wish now to say a few words about the one athletic club of these states that supports a football team. The Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, of Portland, stands for all that is best in club athletics. This year it turned out a team which, by defeating the universities of Washington and Oregon, won the championship of the Northwest. That, however, is not what I wish to commend—it has done that before, many times. What is worthy of special commendation is the personnel of the team, and the spirit which has been behind it. ”