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
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PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
,
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 the ...
. 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 movem ...
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