Herbert Charles Lawrence Kingaby (1880-1934) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, an

outside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, ''FOOTBALL PROFESSIONAL'S LAWSUIT''; 27 March 1912 for

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and Peterborough City. He played part-time for Clapton Orient, in the Southern League before

being sold In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

to Aston Villa for £300 (''2012: £'') in March 1906. At the time the fee was undisclosed even to the player. Villa signed Kingaby for the

football maximum wage A maximum wage, also often called a wage ceiling, is a legal limit on how much income an individual can earn. It is a prescribed limitation which can be used to effect change in an economic structure, but its effects are unrelated to those of minim ...

of £4 a week but after two months were unimpressed with his ability. Villa was not willing to lose the £300 by allowing a free transfer. They offered to sell Herbert back at half price but neither Clapton, nor any other club were interested. Kingaby's wage was stopped but he was placed on Villa's retained players' list effectively preventing him earning a living in the English League, so he joined Fulham back in the Southern League.David McArdle,

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

PhD,
The Football League's player registration scheme and the Kingaby case
'', accessed 16 December 2012 He rejoined Clapton Orient at the start of the 1910-11 season. That year the Football League and the Southern League agreed mutual recognition of each other's

retain-and-transfer system The retain and transfer system was a restriction that existed in England from 1893 until 1963 on the freedom of professional association football players to transfer from one Football League club to another. The system remained in place until t ...

. Villa now disclosed that Kingaby was still on their retained players' list and demanded £350. This prevented a move to

Croydon Common Croydon Common Football Club was an amateur and, later on, professional football club based in Croydon. History The team formed in 1897 as an amateur church team competing in local leagues. They turned professional in 1907, joining the Southern L ...

but he eventually joined Peterborough City.

Kingaby case

In March 1912,

Charles Sutcliffe Charles Edward Sutcliffe (8 July 1864 – 11 January 1939) was a British lawyer, football administrator and referee. Football career In the 1880s Sutcliffe played for Burnley. One of the more notable matches he played in was an 1885 FA Cup tie ag ...

helped establish the legality of the league transfer system when he was successfully retained by Aston Villa during the Kingaby case before Justice A.T. Lawrence.Matthew Taylor, 'Sutcliffe, Charles Edward (1864–1939)',

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, Oxford University Press, 2004 Kingaby had brought legal proceedings against Villa for preventing him from playing. The

Players' Union The Association Football Players' and Trainers' Union (AFPTU), commonly known as the Players' Union, in the United Kingdom was the original association that became the Professional Footballers' Association. Their stated aims were freedom of move ...

funded his legal costs but an erroneous strategy by Kingaby's counsel resulted in the suit being dismissed. The Union were almost ruined financially and membership fell drastically.

References

Aston Villa F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Peterborough & Fletton United F.C. players English footballers 1880 births 1934 deaths Association football outside forwards {{England-footy-forward-1880s-stub