Show t001laU Sketcljes I V I I Football as a Profession BY CAPT PHILIP TREVOR Pause awhile count the cost Such is the burden of the advice 1 would give to the young man who has shown an aptitude for the game whose whole world is for the moment summed up in lhti word football and whQ therefore desires to make his pleasure his profit by becoming a professional football player Nor for the purposes cf the application ap-plication of this advice do I distinguish played under the I between < < the games two codes though I admit that the I prospects of the association football I player differ considerably from those Of tht Northern Pnlon Rugby 1 football I player i No skllltul manipulation of the terms broken time and compensation compen-sation avails aught however In the direction of confuting the Common BenRlblllty of the advice as regards th > I latter It is given to IX w young men to have mon than one supreme object in life and In the case of the Northern union football player the mans Inlet I In-let eat in his trade or calling Is invariably invari-ably subordinated his Interest In the I game of football Now football Is vMpable of producing maintaining and l stimulating the healthiest possible interests In-terests but only so long as it Is regarded I re-garded as a gal no pure and Dimple s I long as It Is whether for playor or for spectator a healthy recreation a means of causing u much needed diversion diver-sion from the ordinary though sordid cares of the trivial round the common task football has a very Important part in the lives of many of us But then once finance marches upon the scene then come all the grimy camp followers of finance also It is I know l plausibly urged that the young man who plays footbail under the direction I of the Northern union authorities devotes de-votes a greater number of hours per week to his trade or calling than the huge number of young men who play the game as amateyrs devote to their I business However the fact remains that In the case of the former the interests In-terests of the trade are distinctly and invariably subordinated to the interests inter-ests of football I 1 But 1 may be asked If the employer i em-ployer of labor agrees if the man who i 1 accepts the employment agrees and If 1 I the football authorities agree why I 1 should not the agreed state of affairs I obtain I Jim not In this paper at pains to argue the general ethics of the I i case Ilm merely endeavoring to investigate j I in-vestigate and consider the matter as it affects the Individual It a man plays the Rugby game up to 2S years of age he may consider himself fortunate In the possession of a long football life Cases can be quoted of course of men of even more mature years keeping I their places in prominent teams but the large majority even of these lag I idly on the stage Now at 28 a mans business commercial 01 official habits are formed for good or evil and I repeat re-peat without fear of contradiction that there Is not room In the horizon of most young men for the average or ordinary young man at any rate for more than one object to loom large And the advice which I have ventured to tender Is for the average or ordinary ordi-nary young man The one strong man can In all branches of life afford to ignore advice altogether His own intuitive appreciation of facts and events as they occur will furnish him with all the advice of which he may i stand In need Of course the strongman strong-man exists here and there in the ranks of professional football players and I for the moment I am dealing particularly particu-larly with the Northern unionist Such l i ft one may indeed would find football foot-ball a ladder helpful in the ascent of life And more especially would he find l so did he possess or could he acquire I ac-quire a line sense of balance Foe when we climb we must keep our heads and it is only a sense of balance which will enable us to do so The strong professional football player will first of all appreciate the applause and commendation of overzealous friends and admirers at its true worth He will indeed at times take stepn to discover dis-cover the translatable value of the same for he will bear In mind that applause ap-plause and commendation are transferable t transfer-able commodities and that each year the date of transfer grows nearer I Notoilety let us be Indulgent and and say CameI tactfully used is of course capable of giving young man the very best possible start in business or commercial life The University l Blue who takes up scholastic work or who becomes a member of the London I stock exchange has only himself to thank If his previous successes In the I athletic field do not stand him in good stead And upon another plane of life similar state of affairs obtains In short the professional football player should to use a slang colloquialism always keep an eye to business But does he do so in what may be termed a thoroughly etalghtforward and honorable hon-orable way By too many people the expression keeping an eye to business Is legarded as synonymous with doing a smart deal or engaging In sharp practice And there is no reason why it should mean anything of the kind Skill like murder will out and when I some of us If only at a game of football foot-ball see a man display distinct skill we are not unnaturally apt to Infer I that did we trouble to make ourscves rrastors of facts concerning him we should find evidences of the same skill in other things for which he was responsible re-sponsible For skill usually embodies judgment and a capacity for continuous continu-ous effort I for one nm prejudiced In a mans favor when I notice his preeminence I pre-eminence in athletics I leave out ofI the question for the moment as being foreign to the subject all affecting af-fecting character Many Is the genius who has been hai the lady of fashion calls Impossible In private life The contention which I wish to urge is that one Is prepared to meet with other evidences evi-dences of capacity than those which he I displays on the football field in a pro fesslonal football player And It Is for I him not to disappoint those of us who are so prepared The one strong manor man-or the football field has therefore collected col-lected without expenditure of cash a clientele for the obtaining of which the ordinary trader or commercial dealer has had to pay and possibly to pay heavily to acquire Now genius and originality are not the usual requirements require-ments of commercial life o Sobriety steadiness moderation and strict attention to business are the best and the usual adjuncts of success These the strong man will be careful to preserve pre-serve And If I he can avoid the malady of the swollen head which prowess in the football field too often causes the way should be plain By the time hat I he has packed away for good and all Jersey and shorts he will have acquired ac-quired enough frlendH and acquaint 1 aqces who are conscious of his general value and capacity to make business hold out satisfactory prospects But such will not be the case with tho ordinary and average young man The proverbial I proverb-ial difficulty of fitting the old head on r the young shoulders will here be Inordinately In-ordinately evident We all pass through various stages of conceit In the course of our lives bumptiousness In youth I unrestrained bu t inferred consciousness of our own merits in early manhood and garrulous recapitulation of the I same as we grow in years But bump S tlousness Is the most offensive form l most offensive that is to say to those whom we come In contactwhIch out I selfappreciation takes and we exhibit it at a time when life is before usa1d when we have our way to make In the world The young football professlona has often a double dose of orlgina bumptiousness He has not in boyhooc had the chance of experiencing thai I tha-i grand corrective an English publii II 1 school So he loses friends where hi 1 should rnakc them Again his OPportunities 5 oppor-tunities of acquiring a sense of propor I I tlon have been ruthlessly limited T < him the world Is football and football c Is the world while the halfpenny local paper which records his doings Is In his eyes the word of nations So it Irks him as a hero to be compelled to perform per-form In private dull and to him menial work and he longs only for the recurrence re-currence of Saturday when the public shall be reminded of his greatness His business prospects suffer In consequence conse-quence and parenthetically It was IIr Kipling I think who spoke of Un little tin god on wheels a I I turn to the narrower issue of the association player who when he receives re-ceives a money consideration for his services is a professional pure and simple Here the rocks which clog the path of the little tin god in his victorious vic-torious progress are larger and rougher than ever and he will Jolt a hit and disturb I dis-turb the general traffic In consequence be his wheels greased ever so carefully A strong strong man is wanted here If he would reach the end of the lane In I safety But the financial future of the professional association player Is distinctly I dis-tinctly good when compared with that of his northern unionist brother His football life Is longer his remuneration re-muneration greater his clientele about ten times as large But In one partlcu lar he pays a heavy price for his present pres-ent advantages and future prospects Independence we are all apt to regard I re-gard as an objectionable assertive quality when we recognize it in others though each of us Is wont to pride himself him-self on his own possession thereof But i however unlovely It be Independence Is the one trait In the national character which has made the Briton what he Is and the practical Independence of the proCessional player Is absolutely nil His lifo indeed has no counterpart i outside the cattle market and the slave I caravan He Is fed starved exercised bought sold rebought and resold at the will of his masters though unlike I I the heifer or the Nubian he hasa direct di-rect Interest In the transactions of which he Is the subject Ho must needs abandon all sense of Individual voll lion from the moment when he signs 1 away his freedom It Is the fashion today 1 to-day to pity Esau and to regard Jacob as a Jew dealer whose match it would j be dlfilcult to find even If we dallied 1 awhile in Throgmorton street and then i I proceeded to search Majfalr The birthright Is a matter of very little consequence I i con-sequence because the civilized world is daily learning to modify Its old limo views on the subject of birthrights birth-rights But Esau bartered away In jhe circumstances a large slice of his manhood man-hood and of that sin he stands convicted vlcted to the end of time After some six thousand years an own bcother has I been born unto Esau In the professional association football player If however the shackles of his gilded bondage do not gall him he may certainly cer-tainly regard himself In good case The possession of an athletic outfitters establishment or the proprietorship of a public house may not touch the peak I I of noble ambition but such desires I are not unworthy arc usually harmfess Innd may be fairly easily obtained if I Infection from tho I the aspirant escapes I epidemic of the swollen head At I i any rate unlike the politician he does not realize his day dreams at the expense I I ex-pense of his country and countrymen < I A professional who therefore In his i I retirement soon did a thriving commercial commer-cial business recently took occasion to I compare himself with a successful Cabinet Minister I We started life together the same I village Him at the HaIl mewell not at the Hall Weve both of us done a good bit of gutter work In our time I was his agent once you seebut I doubt if Ive swallowed the dirt he has and he added with smug though Justifiable Justi-fiable selfsatisfaction I doubt If the people he lives with respect him as much as the folk about here respect me Then he said abruptly I Know much about Parliamentary election trIcks I As much as I want to linow thank you youGood lord he concluded remlnig cently I though fifteen years as a league professional had taught me whats what In doing a guy But when I come alongside the Right Honorable Gentleman I found I was a baby Just a mere baby ft u I So when we hear of the darker side of professionalism we might do well to moderate our criticisms or cit any late to look elsewhere < for a comparative state of things But it isnot obligatory upon the mass of humanity to embark either upon football pipelines pi-pelines as a means of livelihood If Indeed I c In-deed we would wish to keep l sweet the lives of those over whom we may have influence we would bid them shun both as callings The football game and the Whig and Tory game are both excellent excel-lent as games So are bridgewhist and pingpong But when we try to exalt either Into something more than a game we cannot fall to make troqble for others and we may also hurt ourselves I I Into the bargain As a pastime second only to cricket football forms a huge and mighty factor I in the health of the nation The necessity neces-sity for It as a profession yet remains to be proved and the advice one would therefore tender to nine out of ten young mtn who wish to make the word football spell life Is the famous advice which years ago Mr Punch gave to those about to marry Next week How Jimmy Burke Saved the Match by C W Alcock |