The 4th of the 8th and A VIOLINST.

 

Football On This Day, 4th August 1938.

Welsh International Bryn Jones joined Arsenal from Wolves for a fee of a little over £13,000. It was a British record fee at the time but only got a brief mention in the national papers - a far cry from the column inches given to the moves of Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo! 

AND 

In 1893 (note same "year" numbers but not in the same order!!) on the same day, Jack Southworth was transferred from Blackburn Rovers to Everton for £400. It has been claimed that this was the first-time that money had changed hands between football clubs for a professional player. Blackburn was very upset at losing their star centre-forward who had helped them win the FA Cup finals in 1890 and 1891. Southworth went on to score an amazing 36 goals in 31 games for his new club in the 1893-94 season.

He began his football career at the age of 7, when he helped form a junior club named Inkerman Rangers.

In the 1885–86 season, despite having signed professional for Chester FC earlier in the season, Jack turned out for Blackburn Olympic in their First Round FA Cup match. As a result of the subsequent FA enquiry he was suspended for four months. A keen musician, he took a job with a theatre in Chester and returned to Olympic, resuming his old position of centre forward. Having overcome his injuries, he became a great success as a centre-forward and the 1887-8 season saw him finally join Blackburn Rovers, together with his less-talented brother James. 

Both were involved in performances at the Royalty Theatre in Chester, with Jack playing the violin and James the conductor. He played violin with the Halle Orchestra. Southworth died in 1956 aged 89.

The First season of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE began in September 1888. Rovers' first league game took place on 15 September 1888 at Leamington Road, then home of Blackburn Rovers, when Rovers shared ten goals in an exciting encounter with Accrington. Southworth converted a cross from Harry Fecitt, to score Blackburn's first goal in the league.

Southworth was christened the "Prince of Dribblers".  Arguably the finest goal-scorer in the Football League during its early years, Southworth scored in all three of his appearances for England. He won his first international cap for England against Wales on 23 February 1889 and scored one of the goals in England's 4–1 victory. Southworth also scored in the other two games he played for his country against Wales (1891) and Scotland in 1892.

Good goalkeepers were also in demand. One of the best was Jack Hillman of Burnley. As Mike Jackman pointed out in The Legends of Burnley, Hillman was "one of the great exponents of goalkeeping during the Victorian period." In February 1895, Hillman was transferred to Everton for £200. He only missed one game that season and helped his new club to finish in 3rd place in the First Division of the Football League.

The Football Association was determined to keep professional players under its control. In 1893 a regulation was introduced that compelled all professional players to register annually with the FA. No player was allowed to play until he was registered, nor was he free to change clubs during the same season without the FA's permission.

The Football League then introduced a new rule that stated that any professional player who wished to move on to another club had to obtain the permission of his present club. The Football League also insisted that once signed, a player was tied to his team for as long as the club wanted him. Therefore, if a player refused to sign a new contract at the beginning of the season, he could not sign for no one else unless the club gave permission.

This measures introduced created the transfer system that still exists today. However, in 1893, the players were not free to negotiate a new contract on anything like equal terms with their employers. The Football League had in fact abolished the free market and clubs could now reduce player wages without losing their services. 

AND ON......the 4th August 2010,

an unusual pre-season friendly was played at Goodison Park - Everton v Everton. In 1909 a group of teenagers in Chile formed a football club and named it Everton after our Everton who had toured South America that year. As a delayed part of their centenary celebrations they made a pilgrimage to Liverpool to play a unique match against their namesakes. The English Everton beat the Chilean Everton 2-0 to win the Brotherhood Cup in a match that was shown live on TV in Chile.