Page:Association Football and How to Play It (1908) by John Cameron.djvu/40

38 spirit will carry any club or player right to the front. I have been secretary to both amateur and professional clubs, and my sympathy goes out to the secretary of the first-named. The professional secretary or manager has only to say to the player "Do this," and he does it, like the centurion of old, but the man who holds the reins of an amateur club has to put up with many disappointments through the thoughtlessness of members of his team. I should like to put this point very strongly before these players, and ask them to consider their secretary in every way. Charles Reade wrote a very fine novel, Put Yourself in His Place, and this applies to the case in point. 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. It means a great deal of trouble to him which, for the sake of a little thought, could have easily been avoided. I am speaking feelingly now, and if any player happens to read this chapter I hope he will consider this matter seriously. Junior and amateur clubs have a few failings that I might be permitted to point out. I might start in the first place with punctuality. Although this is considered by many a virtue, it is not so considered by them. Probably