The Association Footballers' Union (the AFU), formed in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in 1898, was the first attempt by
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
players in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to organize themselves into a union.
The AFU was formed in response to the introduction by the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
of the
"retain and transfer" system which restricted the movement of players from one club to another, and proposals to introduce a maximum wage of £4 per week.
The AFU was short-lived and failed to achieve any of its objectives. The AFU was dissolved in 1901, the same year in which the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
introduced the maximum wage.
Background
In 1885, faced with the threat of a breakaway
British Football Association by 31 clubs,
the Football Association
The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
(FA) relented to
professional players being paid by their clubs for playing. Even then, the vast majority of players had other
employment
Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
and only supplemented their
wages
A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', '' prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remune ...
by playing football.
Soon after, the FA introduced a registration system for players. Before that, a player could agree to play one or more games for any football club. After the FA recognized
professionalism
Professionalism is a set of standards that an individual is expected to adhere to in a workplace, usually in order to appear serious, uniform, or respectful. What constitutes professionalism is hotly debated and varies from workplace to workplac ...
in 1885, it sought to control professional players by introducing a player registration system. Players had to register with a club each season, even if he remained with the same club from the season before. A player was not allowed to play until he was registered for that season. Once a player was registered with a club, he was not allowed to be registered with or play for another club during the same season without the permission of the FA and the club that held his registration. However, players were free to join another club before the start of each season, even if their former club wished to retain them.
The need for regular fixtures to earn sufficient revenue to afford player wages led to the formation of the Football League in 1888. As the Football League grew in popularity, the leading players of the day were in great demand, and commanded ever-increasing wages. Players signed annual
contracts
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...
with their clubs. If a club wished to retain a player for the following season, it would offer him a new contract. If the player declined the new contract, he could sign a contract with another club, and the player would be registered with the new club. Major reasons a player might move to a new club was that the club was more successful, or that it was prepared to pay him a higher wage.
Smaller clubs became concerned about the growing imbalance in the game. They feared that bigger clubs would dominate the league as a consequence of being able to pay higher salaries. The Football League also took the view that a spread of talent was necessary to sustain the interest of spectators.
The Football League decided that restrictions had to be placed on the ability of richer clubs to lure players from other clubs. From the start of the 1893–94 season onwards, once a player was registered with a Football League club, he could not be registered with any other club, even in subsequent seasons, without the permission of the club he was registered with. It applied even if the player's annual contract with the club holding his registration was not renewed after it expired. The club were not obliged to play him and, without a contract, the player was not entitled to receive a salary. Nevertheless, if the club refused to release his registration, the player could not play for any other Football League club. The Football League's regulations came to be known as the
"retain and transfer" system.
Faced with such a situation, a player had the following stark choices:
# Move to a club in the
Southern League, a semi-professional league formed in England in 1894, or the
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...
(SFL) formed in 1890, where equivalent restrictions on movement had not yet been introduced. However, until the turn of the century, both the standard of play, and wages, were lower in these other leagues compared to the Football League.
# Quit playing football altogether and return to other full-time employment.
In September, 1893,
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...
proposed that the Football League should impose a maximum wage of £4 a week. At the time, most players were only part-time professionals and still had other jobs. These players did not receive as much as £4 a week and therefore the matter did not greatly concern them. However, a minority of players, were so good they were able to obtain as much as £10 a week. This proposal posed a serious threat to their income.
In 1897, the SFL introduced regulation to prevent its members from employing players still registered with Football League clubs, further restricting movement by players in the Football League.
Formation of the AFU
In February 1898, at a meeting in Liverpool, some of the top players of the day announced the formation of the AFU.
Jack Bell, the
Everton forward and Scottish international, was the first chairman.
John Cameron, also an Everton forward and Scottish international, was the first secretary. John Cameron, announced that the union had 250 members.
Other leading players involved in the formation of the AFU or who took a leading role included
Bob Holmes and
Jimmy Ross of
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
,
John Devey of
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...
,
John Somerville of
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...
,
Hugh McNeill of
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
,
Harry Wood of
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
,
Tom Bradshaw and
Abe Hartley
Abraham Hartley (8 February 1872 – 9 October 1909) was a Scottish footballer.
Hartley played for Everton as a centre forward for five years in the 1890s. He also played for Merseyside rivals Liverpool and for his local club, Dumbarton. His c ...
of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
James McNaught of
Newton Heath
Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883.
Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial ...
,
Billy Meredith
William Henry Meredith (30 July 1874 – 19 April 1958) was a Welsh professional footballer. He was considered one of the early superstars of football due to his performances, notably for Manchester City and Manchester United. He won each ...
of
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
and
Johnny Holt and
David Storrier of Everton.
John Cameron also stated that the AFU "wanted any negotiations regarding transfers to be between the interested club and the player concerned - not between club and club with the player excluded".
However, neither
the Football Association
The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
, nor
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...
recognized the AF
Failure of the AFU
In 1900, at the behest of
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
, the Football Association placed a maximum wage in its statutes. It was removed from the Football Association's statutes 1904.
In 1901, the Football League itself introduced the maximum wage of £4 per week in its regulations. It also abolished the paying of all bonuses to players. The AFU was dissolved in the same year, having failed to achieve its objectives.
One reason the AFU failed was the fact that the players of the day were not all full-time professionals. The vast majority of players in the Football League had other employment and only supplemented their wages by playing football.
An example of this was
Steve Bloomer
Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played a ...
of Derby County, who, in the 1890s, was also employed at the foundry near to the club's ground as a striker. Both the football club and the foundry were owned by
Francis Ley at the time. Only when he was earning a significant figure as an international player and Derby regular was he able to forgo his other employment and play football full-time.
Most players at the time earned less than £4 a week and were not have been affected by the implementation of a maximum wage. Further, players earning less the maximum wage did not want to offend their employers. If they were released by their club, there was no guarantee they would find another club willing to employ them, and they would have to return to other full-time employment.
Support for the AFU came mainly from the highest paid players. However, many of them, including members of the AFU committee, subsequently moved to clubs in the Southern League or the Scottish League, such as:
:Jack Bell and David Storrier to
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
of the Scottish League;
:John Cameron and Tom Bradshaw to
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
of the Southern League;
:Harry Wood and Abe Hartley to
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
of the Southern League; and
:Johnny Holt to
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
of the Southern League.
Charles Saer, who replaced John Cameron as secretary of the AFU, resigned in December 1898, "as his scholastic duties precluded the possibility of his devoting the necessary time to the office".
A former player with
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
, Saer was working as a schoolteacher. His negotiations with the Football League had ended in failure.
When Bob Holmes was interviewed by the Lancashire Daily Post, he stated:
:"I am not quite sure that we shall succeed in attaining all the objects with which we set out; it is not a certainty that we shall carry any... The break-up of the Everton team as we knew it last season may have a good deal in influencing the future of the Union. With John Cameron, Jack Bell, Robertson, Holt, Stewart, Storrier, Meecham of Everton as well as Hartley and Bradshaw of Liverpool gone, our centre has lost strength. Liverpool was our headquarters, you know, and our registered offices were there. But the secretary, John Cameron, has gone to London and Bell the chairman will not, as far as I know, play for anybody."
Aftermath
It was another 6 years before professional footballers in England tried to organize themselves in a union, with the formation of the
Association of Football Players' and Trainers' Union (the AFPTU, commonly referred to as the Players' Union), the old name for what is currently the
Professional Footballers' Association
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales.
Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sports trade union, with approximately 5,000 current members each seaso ...
.
References
{{reflist
External links
"Footballer Wages"article on "Spartacus" website
article on "Spartacus" website
David McArdle, LLB, PhD,
000
Triple zero, Zero Zero Zero, 0-0-0 or variants may refer to:
* 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number
* 000, the size of several small List of screw drives, screw drives
* 0-0-0, a Droid (Star Wars)#0-0-0, dro ...
2 Web JCLI
Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom
Football organisations in England
Association football trade unions
Trade unions established in 1898
Trade unions disestablished in 1901
1898 establishments in the United Kingdom