In the days when quite a few amateur footballers played alongside "professionals" in quite successful but "smaller" clubs like Horsham, Lewes or Sutton United, there were murmurings about cheating as some clubs paid whilst others did not.
In 1974 the FA finally declared that clubs could pay players or not; paying players to play was no longer illegal! Whilst the fairy tales of "amateur" clubs succeeding in various cup ties no longer exists, we still look forward to the First Round Proper draw for the FA Cup, when non-league teams might be drawn against the "professionals", however there is often not much to choose between the two these days-they all pay something or the other.
Money has come into all areas of the game and even at my local level, there is a claim that some players have been enticed to play for a village team by having a few £s in their pockets. Non-league football has improved, coaching is better, facilities modern and the sponsors and paying crowd well entertained. Sometimes the sponsor lets a club down and indeed I was party to this at Horsham many years ago when the club suddenly became sponsored by a local business man who put pool tables into Spanish resorts. He invested in the club, we had new kit, overnights for the longer journeys away, more money in the professionals pay packets (not mine) until we failed to get promotion. He withdrew his support immediately and left the club with a huge "brewery" bill which he had failed to settle having paid the players etc with bar takings!
Micky Stewart, Surrey and England cricketer (father of Alec) was a fine Corinthian Casual who was flown home from a cricket commitment abroad to play for the Casuals in the 1956 Amateur Cup Final replay at Middlesbrough, after a 1-1 draw at Wembley against Bishop Auckland. The plane was late and he missed the game. Who paid for the flight? Apparently a local businessman who made it a gift to the club. Was that professionalism? The clip below shows the final at Wembley, in which Stewart did not play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCSejXJZSww
Later Stewart was picked for the GB Amateur XI at the Melbourne Olympics. Sir Stanley Rous, the FA secretary contacted Stewart to say that because he had been paid to play cricket for Surrey CCC, he was not eligible to play football in an Amateur competition, which the Olympics was in those days. Several players in the squad were undoubtedly receiving "boot money" to play, b ut of oucrse this was never declared!
Mickey got the "ump", turned pro with Charlton, but didn't quite make it, eventually settling at Guildford City, never to play for the Casuals again. He did however turn up to various "friendly" matches between the Casuals Schools XI that toured the schools of southern England (mainly) acting as ambassadors for the great game.
Rumours have it that if Stewart had accepted an offer and played for Wimbledon he would have been given a match fee and a job, which would have been worth £80 a week-about £1600 in today's money. Full timers at the time were getting a maximum wage of £20 a week!
Mickey Stewart is President of the Corinthian Casuals. But do they pay?
No comments:
Post a Comment