Wireless telephoneMusic in Cyberspace John Logie BairdFootballTV / Games WHAT'S WRONG WITH FOOTBALL? "What is wrong with Association Football?" is a question constantly on the lips of those who are deeply concerned with the future of the great winter game. Today The Daily Mail publishes the first of a number of articles which will expose many of the evils with which the game is rampant - evils which, if not speedily remedied, will bring English sport into grave disrepute. CLUBS ALARMED. BUT TOO JEALOUS TO CALL A HALT. By THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER. Concern is felt for the future of Association football, which is now a national entertainment appealing to a million people every week-end as well as a pastime in which tens of thousands of players take part. The 1929 FA Cup Final There are ugly suspicions as to the morality of the amateur side of the game, and the unblushing traffic in men by the big professional clubs indicates how the sporting element is being subordinated to commercial interests. Sir Charles Clegg, the president of the Football Association, is expected to make an important speech at the jubilee banquet of the Lancashire Association tomorrow on the transfer of players. As the head of the game he has already expressed alarm that it should be considered that any footballer was worth as much as £10,000. A transfer system which sanctioned such a payment was bad, but he confessed that he had been unable to find an alternative. £10,000 FEE. The season is little more than a month old and already many thousands of pounds have passed from club to club for the payment of players. It has been stated in The Daily Mail that one definite offer of £10,000 has been made for a forward of a Lancashire club. It was refused, but the sum will still be paid for the right man. Unless restrictions are imposed fees will continue to increase. Next February when clubs will be threatened with the loss of their senior status they will negotiate bank overdrafts, which directors will have to guarantee and the bartering of men will be more indecent than ever. Professional football today is a huge financial undertaking carried on with the fiercest competition, and it is in danger of getting beyond control. The clubs themselves are alarmed and it is only their jealousy and selfishness which prevent them calling a halt in the drift towards out-and-out commercialism. The Football Association has no power to interfere. It is only responsible for the government of the game in a playing sense and for the fulfilment of the financial regulations. The transfer system, with all the dishonest practices to which it leads, is no direct concern of theirs. These matters are managed by the clubs themselves. A CUNNING TRICK. Some years ago transfer fees were limited to £350 and all the clubs pledged themselves not to pay more than this sum. But within a few months a cunning trick was exploited to defeat this regulation. Two members of the old Woolwich Arsenal club were transferred to Everton. One was a well-known player and the other was what is known as a "make-weight." In this way, Woolwich Arsenal received £700 for really one player and the regulation had to be scrapped because the clubs would not honourably carry it out. Three or four years ago another attempt was made to fix a maximum fee, but half the clubs insisted on having complete freedom of action and the other half were not prepared to sacrifice a substantial source of income. Players do not count as assets in a club balance sheet, but those who had paid £5,000 for a man were not willing that his value should be written down to, say, half this amount. So the system has gone on, every year setting up a more serious state of affairs and involving clubs in heavy debt. "LITTLE REAL AMATEURISM." The first duty of the Football Association is towards the amateur side of the game, and at the present time they are beset with a very grave problem. The professional clubs are in close touch with the amateurs, because it is from this source that they recruit their ranks, and they will tell you that there is little or no real amateurism. A short time ago a member of a London amateur club was invited to have a trial with a League club in mid-week. At the end of the game he was given 10s. to cover his train fare and tea. "This is no good to me," he said. "I can get three times as much from my own club for a match." It has been the experience in every sport that as soon as money to any considerable amount enters into it those concerned wish to share in the prosperity. Rugby Union football is an exception, but in this case, while the international matches produce thousands of pounds every year, there is the safeguard that the money goes to the governing authorities and not to the clubs. When the professional with his wage of £8 a week plays before a gate which he knows will produce £2,000, he thinks he is underpaid. It is much the same with the amateur. At any rate he demands that he should be compensated for any loss his taking part in a match may entail. He insists on being paid for what is known as "broken time." The Football Association has persistently fought against this principle, and to preserve it they withdrew from the Olympic Games this year. But members of amateur clubs draw money from the game every week, and the thin cloak that it is for out-of-pocket expenses does not cover it.