“DON’T SHOOT THE REF.- HE’S DOING HIS BEST !”
QUEER FOOTBALL CUSTOMS ON THE CONTINENT DESCRIBED BY JIMMY SEED, ONE OF THE ‘SPURS.
Below, Jimmy Seed, the famous Tottenham Hotspur and English International forward, relates some of his experiences in footer on the Continent. One of his exploits was anything but pleasant, for it might have resulted in the whole side being injured. You’ll enjoy this chat !
OUTSIDE the ranks of professional footballers, and those concerned in the management of League clubs, there is very little known of Continental Soccer. Therefore, my experiences of the game out yonder may make some sort of appeal.
People want to know just how the foreigner takes to it, how they play the game, and what chance it has of making further progress. My belief is that it has every chance, providing there is proper management and conformation to the rules that are so necessary to all bodies where thousands of men are concerned.
My experience has shown me that, taking them on the average, teams in Continental countries are about on a level, in playing strength, with the lower placed Third Division clubs. Mind you, it would not be difficult to get a Continental eleven together who would give our best teams a run for their money, as witness the defeats administered to Notts County and Bolton Wanderers last summer.
What the foreigners lack in ordinary football ability is somewhat counter-balanced by their great speed, but the pity of it is, they have not thoroughly grasped the correct reading of football laws. Of course, the laws of the game prove troublesome to us all at times, but abroad the players, spectators, aye, and referees too, do not quite get-the hang of what is legal and what is not.
In that vital matter of rough play the foreigner will tell you that it is not his intention to copy the methods of some of the English clubs who tour abroad and who, I am sorry to say, have got the reputation for dirty play. Whether that reputation is justified or not I will leave the reader to judge.
The Swiss Miss Us.
I WILL recall a certain match that took place in Switzerland between a chosen eleven of that country and the 'Spurs during our tour last summer. We had played six games in all without suffering defeat and had completed our series of games for the tour. The Swiss football authorities, however, asked our directors to remain in the country for a further two days to enable them to have another shot at us. This we consented to do, although I may add we were sorry for it afterwards.
Just before we went on to the field Peter McWilliam came into our dressing-room to warn us about what might happen, and told us to avoid injury at all cost. He said that the Swiss authorities had got together the best possible eleven (which included two Austrians and a German) in an endeavour to lower our colours.
Before the game had been in progress five minutes it was plain to see that our opponents were out to win at any price. They played in such a grim and relentless manner that one would have thought their very lives depended upon the result. The referee seemed to be imbued with the same spirit. Every time we looked like scoring, he would stop the game and give a decision either one way or the other.
When Alec Lindsay ran from his own half past everybody, including the goalie, and quietly tapped the ball into the net, that ref had no alternative but to signal a goal.
In the second half Mr Ref awarded his own countrymen a penalty for an offence which we do not understand to this day. When we tackled him afterwards he would not explain his action. The centre-forward, who took the kick, however, put the ball over the bar!
Getting Our Goat.
TALK about excitement! I have rarely seen a set of players so excited over a game as this lot were. In their eagerness to equalise, they fell over themselves in front of goal, and hustled and bustled into us whenever any of our chaps had the ball.
It is all very well for people to say that one must remember one's an Englishman when on the Continent, but there are times when the unruly antics of the foreigner "gets one's goat."
Anyhow, to cut a long story short, we left the field winners by the only goal, but I venture to say that it was not the result with which we were so much interested. We were mighty glad to leave the field uninjured. I can tell you, though, that we were a tired and sore eleven who travelled back to England that night.
Substitutes for Injuries.
TALKING of injuries reminds me of a curious law which exists in some of the Continental countries. When a player is injured his place is taken by a reserve player, who stands throughout the game in front of the grandstand. Bobby Archibald, of Stoke, said the same in his chat a fortnight ago, so I understand.
In one of our games the centre-half of the home side twisted his knee and was carried off. When the game was resumed we were surprised to find a strange face opposing us, and on inquiring into it we were told that it was the usual practice for a reserve player to take the place of a man who was injured during the course of the game.
This point, I think, has been debated at length in this country, but I do not think it would be advisable to try it.
Crowds, taken generally, are not very big. The average is somewhere round about 6,000, who pay two francs entrance fee—worth about 1/10 in English money. Although they cannot by any stretch of imagination be called partisan, they give plenty of encouragement.
Of course, the vocal encouragement given by the crowd differs very much from our own spectators. When a forward gets the ball and looks like making progress, the crowd will begin to shout something which resembles a succession of “UP's” and it will be continuous until he gets rid of the ball.
On taking the field the visitors are greeted with a lot of handclapping, which clearly shows the regard spectators have for Englishmen. Both teams invariably line up in the centre of the field, when a speech of welcome to the visitors is made in English by one of the chosen football authorities. A bouquet is then presented to the visiting captain as a token of friendship and esteem. The speech-maker then retires and the captain of the home team gives signal for a shout of welcome by his men, which interpreted means something in the nature of three cheers.
Other Opinions.
TOMMY CLAY, our right full-back, who toured the Continent before the war, and was also one of our party last summer, is in a better position to judge accurately the rapid strides our Continental friends have made during the past few years.
"Before the war," he says, it was just a matter of how many goals visitors would win by. The foreigners used to meet the ball with the toe instead of the instep, and rush hither and thither, regardless of position, in an attempt to get a kick at the ball. But now things are altogether different, and I am quite prepared to state that in the very near future clubs on the Continent will be challenging and beating us at our own game, as the Aussies have done at cricket." So says Tommy Clay.
There is need for much improvement in Switzerland and other countries with regard to the football grounds. They are badly kept and badly attended to, but that is all a question of money and knowledge, which will come in good time.
Billy Henderson, who toured Holland with West Ham United, tells me that the grounds in that country are wonderfully level and the turf spongy. " In fact," he argues, many First Division clubs in England do not possess grounds anything like them, which makes it a real pleasure to play on them."
The Dutch are unquestionably approaching our own general standard of play, and those who have toured that country are unanimous in stating that Holland possesses some of the finest players in the world. I know of three of them who have been approached by English clubs for their services—but nothing doing; they prefer to remain in Holland.
They are all amateurs, of course, and like most foreigners, view the game of football as a sport and not a means of livelihood.
JIMMY SEED.
(Look out for a racy cricket article by Walter Hammond, the smart young Gloucestershire batsman, in next week's FAVOURITE.)
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FOOTBALL AS A PROFESSION.
Are League Players Paid Enough?
When I left school I went to work in a coal mine, and I continued to work there until what I looked upon as a stroke of good luck altered my whole outlook. Often, and especially after a big match, I think of and wonder at the remarkable alteration that has been brought about in my life.
There is a time in the lives of all men when they pause to cast a backward glance over their careers. If they feel that they have chosen the right occupation and done just as well as they would want to do if they had their time to come over again, they may count themselves more than fortunate.
Sometimes I wonder if I have done right in becoming a professional footballer, and honestly, I think I have.
It is not easy to assess the economic value of a footballer. When I worked in the pit, I helped to get coal. I had resigned myself to that occupation - and it is coal which keeps the wheels of industry revolving. Then, I had a definite economic value.
Of what value am I, or any of any colleagues for that matter, now? We are professional footballers. We do not produce anything of commercial worth. Have we any economic value at all?
There are times when I feel that I can hardly find justification for the career I have adopted; I play football for my living —in my earliest days I worked down the pit for my living—¬ but this is all the benefit I get out of the game. Certainly I like football immensely, but playing it professionally is work all the same.
Thousands of other people get something out of the game which I can never hope to have. They get away from the work which they have to face on five and a half days of each I week, and the thrills and excitement of the football match enable them to 'forget their cares and worries', and provide something of a stimulant for them.
I find consolation in the fact that I am playing to entertain and endeavour to please the workers of the country, and I find the same justification for my existence as the music-hall artists, and the cinema stars do.
Not an Easy Job.
It is not an easy job becoming a professional footballer, even when a man has the ability and the chance. Football is alright for the man who can afford to spend years acquiring skill which has no commercial price put upon it, and who has a private income. He can go into the game free from troubles.
But let that amateur footballer find himself compelled to take up the game as a living. He sells himself to the moneyed public, and accordingly, he drops in the social scale.
He will soon find that there is not the same joy in the game when his living depends upon his play, as there was when he could play for the love of the sport. Call football work, and then half the pleasure is gone. It is nice to play in a match for the game's sake after a hard week's work. It is very different when football is a duty.
An amateur has not the same responsibilities as a professional. He had not the same desire for success, and I will go so far as to say that the professional plays more earnest football I than does the amateur. He has to.
Often one hears the remark: ' I wish I was professional footballer.” Some people look upon the life as one of the easiest and best. The professional knows that that view is quite wrong. Some men say: "Look at the money they get."
Underpaid ?
Let us look at the money they get. On an average, a clean living player who does what is right cannot save more than £1 a week all the year round, be he married or single. Statistics prove that the length of the ordinary footballer's playing career varies from eight to ten years'
If he has saved £1 a week during that period —he must consider himself extremely fortunate if he has— he will have, say, £500 in the bank. Give him a benefit of £500, and then when he doffs his jersey for the last time he may have £1,000 with which to start a new career.
This £1,000 represents the most the player can hope for under present conditions, though he may be one of the cleverest footballers in the kingdom. The amount is usually very much less.
Honestly, I say the professional footballer is underpaid. Our living depends upon the success we achieve in the game; but this very difficult to obtain, and once obtained it is very difficult to hold.
I know players who have given up the game —some because they could not stand the strain of the responsibility, and some because they were not suited.
Once a player enters professional ranks he gives up his former employment. He should be given a wage large enough to enable him to save sufficient money to make him alright when he has to leave the game.
A professional footballer should be paid according to his abilities. Team work, of course is the basis of success, but there are players with outstanding ability, and these men should be paid according to their value to the club.
The bonus system should be scrapped. I make bold to forecast that it will not be in operation next season.
One Man's Opinion.
Travelling from Nottingham to Newcastle recently, I found myself in a compartment along with four other travellers. The conversation drifted on to football, and then on to the "rottenness' with which they suggested the professional game was tainted. They accused footballers of being anything but straight, and one went to the extreme saying that all footballers were crooked, and that there was not one who could not hide behind a corkscrew.
I asked the man who made this assertion what his grounds were. His answer surprised ME, as much as it will surprise you.
"Look at the Newcastle United v. Liverpool matches," he said. "Newcastle beat Liverpool away, and then lose to them at St. James's Park. Surely that's proof that the bookies have got at someone."
Of course, such talk as this is very ridiculous. I mention this incident to show that there are people who are always ready to cause trouble if they can, and also to show that these people know very little ab6ut the game.
Football is much more of a business than it once was, but it is still a very fine game, and a game, I venture to suggest, which the country could not afford to do without.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP," says JIMMY SEED, the 'Spurs' famous International forward.
You're thinking of becoming a pro? You've had offers? Good! But don't rush things. Take the advice given by the famous 'Spur in the article below; he's been in the game long enough to know some of the pitfalls awaiting the youngster when he takes the step.
THERE is no doubt that, at the present moment, there exists amongst a certain section of junior footer players a keen desire to join the ranks of professionalism. This, no doubt, is a natural inclination. I, myself, have received several communications recently from young players with aspirations to a football career.
"How can I become known to football managers with a view to a football career?"
This is the question that is usually asked by them. They have the "football brains," and are willing to gamble their chances in the football world.
Of course, at this time of the year, the younger generation of players, especially the ex-schoolboys, are busy practising with a desire to excel at our national game, and for these youngsters who are ambitious, I purpose writing a few remarks which I hope will prove useful in more ways than one.
First of all, if you feel you would like to apply to some professional club in an endeavour to draw attention to your own capabilities, be most careful in the way you word your application. For instance, let me quote a couple of letters shown me by a certain football manager, which speak for themselves. The first letter, from a youth who shall be nameless, ran as follows:
"Dear Sir, -I have been playing football since I could first toddle. Since leaving school I have played with three different clubs, and occupied six different positions. I can play inside-left, outside-left, or full-back. My weight is 10 st. 9 Ibs., and I am 5 ft. 7 ½” in my stockinged feet, and only 18 years of age. Please can you give me a trial with a view to turning pro? "
Here's the other one. "Sir, I'm big and hefty. I was originally a forward and played in the various positions in the forward-line with much distinction, now I've gone between the sticks, where my friends tell me I'm a revelation."
Then came a detailed description of a certain match in which this fellow saved his side from defeat. "If you want a likely chap, then I'm your man, as I am only a youngster in the true sense of the word, being only 23 years of age.—
Yours hopefully, J. B."
NOW right away let me say that this sort of stuff is mere "piffle", and in the general way consigned to the waste-paper basket. In the case of the first youngster it is perfectly obvious to anyone who knows anything at all about football that he is obsessed with the idea that, to be able to play in almost any position is the ideal recommendation.
This is not so. The lad who declares himself to be ''Jack of all Trades” generally proves, to be master of none. This is my advice so far as being versatile is concerned.
Don't bother a scrap about trying to "fit the bill" in every position. Find your position first, the position you consider best according to your abilities and physical structure. Then stick to it. I could name at least a dozen players in first-class football today who consider that their versatility has been a considerable handicap to their career.
Thus does the youngster who writes to the professional club manager in the above strain wait in vain for a reply.
In the same way does the youth suffer whose application for a trial game is full of praise of his own doings. The modern football manager bestows very little thought for the egotist. Never brag; it is fatal.
Millwall have adopted a very sensible attitude with regard to this question. All applications for trial games are now very carefully selected and filed. At some time in the subsequent future, the youths are then watched at play, with their own clubs, where their form can more easily be gauged.
This procedure, I think, is a wise one, for a lad is more likely to demonstrate his actual playing abilities amongst his own club-mates than playing amongst professionals, in strange surroundings.
Here is another little bit of sound advice. Once you have caught the eye of a big League club, and terms are offered you to become & professional, think very hard before you finally make up your mind. Some lads are so anxious and enthusiastic to turn pro, that they sometimes rush heedlessly along without giving it proper thought.
Before accepting and setting out on their great adventure -for it is nothing more or less- youngsters should so arrange matters that everything is in order at home, and that if they don't "come off “ in first-class football, they can return and take up their former life where they left it.
League football is so very different to junior football, and the tragedy of it all is that the promising youngster from the small club doesn't realise how great the difference is until he has experienced the change.
# # #
GENERALLY, the first offer which comes in the way of the young player is in the nature of a month's trial. Well, I do not want to oppose this form of trial altogether, because I myself "fell for it" in my early days, a step which I have never regretted. Yet, I have seen many cases of boys who have failed to stand the test. At the end of the probation period they have been quietly told that they were not wanted, and they have had to return whence they came. What then would happen to these "not wanteds” when they arrived back home, if they had not prepared themselves for this emergency?
That is why I am not afraid to advise all young men not to throw up their occupations entirely when the chance eventually comes along.
A friend of mine not long ago was offered a month's trial with a First League club. He was I8 years of age, and so sure was he that he “fit the bill" that he at once threw in his job.
You can imagine his surprise and disappointment when, at the end of the month, he was told that his services would not be required. As he had no job to go back to, you will see his folly!
Before I close, I would also like to warn all youngsters who are serving apprenticeships, not to give them up for the sake of becoming professional footballers. Any thinking manager will see to it that an opportunity is given to "finish your time" if you insist upon it, even though you may sign professional forms in the meantime.
“Look before you leap, lads!" - JIMMY SEED
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How a “Double Dream” Vanished.
By Jimmy Seed, Sheffield Wednesday
- (The Football Gazette and Telegraph, Saturday, February 14th 1931)
Last Season, as you may remember, Sheffield Wednesday had ideas about winning the cup and the league, and when we got to the semi-final our hopes ran high. We had Huddersfield as opponents at Old Trafford. We got a lead in the first half, and, as we were playing as well as we have ever done, I felt confident we should win. Then, just before the interval, came stark tragedy in the shape of a goal which I think will always be a nightmare to me. From the Huddersfield left wing the ball was swung over towards our goalmouth.
Lewis, the Huddersfield centre-forward, and Blenkinsop both went for it. Our full- back missed it completely, the ball being diverted, so we thought, by Lewis's hand to Jackson, who was standing alone a few yards from the net. We all appealed for hands and Jackson actually stood still with the ball at his toe in front of goalkeeper Brown, hesitating, and seeming to think that the whistle had gone. The referee waved for play to be continued, and Jackson, unimpeded, placed the ball in the net. That goal was the subject of much controversy, but it doesn't matter now. It had a disturbing effect on our play. We were not so good in the second half, and Jackson got another goal to knock us out. Thus ended that "double" dream.
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