The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-01-24 00:00:00

PROFESSIONALISM IN FOOTBALL.

A meeting of the Football Association was held at
the Freemasons' Tavern on Monday evening, and
after a protracted discussion, the recommendation of
a specially appointed committee—to the effect that it
was expedient to legalise professionalism under
stringent conditions—was supported by 113 votes to
108. As a majority of two-thirds is necessary, how-
ever, to allow of any alteration in the laws of the
association, the motion was lost. The St. James's
Gazette, commenting on the meeting, says: The
decision will come as a great surprise to most of the
members of the football community. Some months
ago the managing committee decided to recommend
that professionalism should be legalised under
stringent conditions as to registration, and with
restrictions against the importation of professionals
from one district to another. This resolution, how-
ever, required the sanction of a general meeting
before it could become law; but the general impres-
sion amongst footballers was that the new arrange-
ment would be most beneficial, as it would suppress
the system prevalent at present, under which a
large number of those who really play for money
represent themselves to be amateurs. The old system
of repression had also created a schism in the ranks
of footballers, by the formation of a British Football
Association, composed of clubs who desire to play
professionals. On Monday a special general meeting,
held to consider the subject, was attended by more
than two hundred delegates. The new proposals were
advanced by the treasurer and secretary of the Asso-
ciation, and a violent opposition was made by many
of the provincial clubs; and most unexpectedly the
chief opponent proved to be a delegate from Birming-
ham, a district in which the evil of chequered profes-
sionalism is believed to be very general. Eventually,
as only the slight majority of five votes could be
obtained for the proposal to license professionalism,
it had to be abandoned, a majority of two-thirds
being required by the rules. It is to be hoped the
results of the meeting will not lead to a continuation
of the schism.; but it is hardly to be expected that
the losing side will submit at once.

A modern writer makes the assertion that women
have stronger attachments than men. Which is a
modest way of saying, we suppose, that corset lacings
are a shade stouter than suspender straps.
It was an ancient mariner, and the spirit (and
water—not tDo much water, but just water enough)
had been moving him to narrate his adventures to a
circle of admiring landlubbers at the bar of The Pig
and Whistle. "Talk about shipwrecks, indeed! he
exclaimed, with a contemptuous glance at the com-
pany. "Why, I've been shipwrecked seventeen
times, nine times left on desert islands, and three
times out on the open sea on a raft, with nothing to
eat but a tin of condensed and two cakes of brown
Windsor soap! And," he added, after a deep
draught from his glass, "I've been drowned twice!
That's where the young men came in, and wound
him up, and chucked him out.
A story is told of a man who insured a thousand
cigars valued at .C5O against fire and water. After
the lapse of six months he made his appearance at
the insurance office and demanded his money, as
the cigars had been burned. "But not on board the
vessel, sir ?" said the secretary. "for she is in the
dock now." "Yes, on board the vessel. I smoked
them, and therefore burned them all myself, and the
insurance says against fire." The secretary was taken
aback, but told the smoker to come back again next
day. lie called at the appointed time, but was met
by the attorney of the company, who told him that if
he did not relinquish his claim, he would be prose-
cuted as one who had knowingly and wilfully set fire
to goods insured by the company.