Page:Association Football and How to Play It (1908) by John Cameron.djvu/68

66 player is during that time between the devil and the deep blue sea, and has to entirely support himself during that period, and I have known many excellent players give up the game for this reason.

Turning next to the question of the limit wage of £4 per week for any professional, there are a great many pros and cons in this case, and once again I think there is a certain amount of room for improvement. Should the abolition of the transfer system become law, ere long the wage limit will have to be most seriously considered. The clubs themselves have the power to alter it at any annual meeting of the F.A. They brought it upon themselves to a certain extent, for at the general meeting it is the clubs that settle such points as these. It cannot be denied that much of the levelling of the clubs in recent years must be attributed greatly to this rule. Whether it has been for the good of the game is another question, but often a player knows that if he plays an ordinary game he can always secure £4 per week. He has no monetary incentive to improve himself, and this is perhaps the reason why "star artists" do not come to the front more frequently. Last year the F.A. raised the fee for playing in an International game from three guineas to ten, which, to my mind, was a step in the right direction, although the player should consider the honour of playing for his country above any mercenary reason. Again, if a professional footballer could have such a long connection with the game as a professional cricketer, a wage of £4 per week would not be so bad, but as his career is a short