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I’M A UNION MAN
You might think professional football is all big wages, big cars,
big lifestyles. You might think the footballers don’t need
a union. Think again.
Not so long ago, back in the 1960s, footballers in England were
only allowed to earn a maximum wage of £20 ($40) per week,
not a great deal more than he normal man in the street was getting.
And if a player wanted to move clubs, he could only do so with the
consent of the team that held his registration. If they didn’t
want him to go, he didn’t go.
Understandably, with football booming in the 1960s, the players,
the focal point of the game after all, were fairly cheesed off with
this state of affairs and the players’ union began to flex
its muscles, threatening strike action. Eventually, the maximum
wage was abolished, freedom of contract was agreed and the players
were given the freedom to negotiate their own wages and move clubs
once they’d seen out a contract - for a transfer fee in those
pre-Bosman times.
Given that we now live in an age where the sports pages tend to
talk of player wages more than their achievements on the field,
you might think that things have gone full circle and there’s
no longer any need for a union. But the fact is that for every David
Beckham, Ashley Cole or Thierry Henry earning telephone number wages,
there are hundreds and hundreds of professionals lower down the
scale earning sums much closer to the average wage, plying their
trade in careers that can be cut down in their prime by injury,
or which end at the age of 35 when the legs are not as willing as
they used to be.
There are plenty of footballers who can’t simply retire when
they retire, plenty of footballers who need help to move on in their
lives, or who need help while they’re still playing. The need
for a strong Professional Footballers’ association is as great
today as it’s always been. Fortunate then, that the Chairman
of the PFA is Chris Powell, a leader if ever there was one, and
an evangelical believer in the role of the union.
“I’ve been a member of the PFA since I came into the game
which is pretty much 20 years now and I’ve always been a big
believer in the union and an active member of it. A number of years
ago, I was asked to go on the Management Committee which is made
up of players from all four leagues.
Normally there’s about 12 players on that committee and we
represent the interests of all those players from the very top of
the game to those playing in the lower divisions, we discuss every
aspect of things that impact on members of the PFA.
To get onto that sort of body was a big honour for me because it
suggests that you are well thought of and respected in the game.
To then be named as the Players’ Chairman, taking over from
Dean Holdsworth as I did just over a year ago, that is the ultimate
accolade on that side of your career. In terms of being a player
on the field, the greatest recognition is to play for your country
and I was delighted to be able to do that too, but aside from that,
being able to represent all the players in the country, that’s
a real privilege.
“I think the fact that I’ve sampled football at pretty
well every level in this country does help. I’ve played for
England, but I’ve also played in all four divisions too and
that’s important because it gives you a feel for what kind
of demands and problems face players at either end of the scale.
I started off at Crystal Palace, I was part of their formative years
in the old Division One, before the Premier League days, I trained
and played with Ian Wright, Mark Bright, people like that. They
were wonderful times but I didn’t make the real breakthrough
and I eventually moved down to Southend United and really learned
my trade at the sharp end of football.
“Looking back, that was a wonderful grounding for me, something
that’s stayed with me throughout my career. We didn’t
have a training ground, you had to look after your own kit, you
had to be responsible for washing your own kit, looking after your
boots, those sorts of things that maybe you’d take for granted
higher up the scale.
That taught me how to be a professional I think, taught me what
your responsibilities were as a player. At Southend, we didn’t
play in front of big crowds then, but those supporters still place
demands on you, they expect you to have a pride in the shirt you
wear, and I think that has carried me through my career.
It doesn’t matter what level you play at, you still have to
do your absolute best every time you take to the field. I think
the lessons I learned there stayed with me and they’ve helped
me to a position where I’m still playing the game at the age
of 37. Now, in my role as Chairman of the PFA, that experience helps
me relate to what goes on in all four divisions. I’ve been
round the block in all of them and I understand the differing concerns.
It’s definitely helped me relate to players, and helped me
deal with various issues in the game.”
One of the challenges for the PFA is to give the right sort of service
to a very diverse membership. A union for accountants or electricians
has a membership who did broadly similar jobs for roughly similar
rewards. Football might be the same game in the Premier League or
League Two, but the rewards are dramatically different.
“Our members cover a very broad sweep. We’re all footballers
at the end of the day, but in all sorts of different clubs. I think
what’s wonderful about the PFA is that it really doesn’t
matter if you play for Manchester United or Macclesfield.
Each member is treated equally, with the same respect for what they
do and with the same level of interest in whatever issues they might
raise. Footballers are an important part of the game because without
them, what is there for fans to watch? But at the same time, if
the fans don’t turn up we don’t have a job to do, so it’s
important that we all pull in the same direction.
“The media does talk a lot about certain players who are supposedly
earning very high wages and as a result, perhaps the public doesn’t
have the same empathy with players that they had maybe 20 or 30
years ago. A lot of the figures are bandied about are not necessarily
accurate and that does make it difficult because you can understand
the supporters feeling that players are untouchable.
But that isn’t the case. Every player is an individual, and
each one is involved in negotiating their terms and conditions.
Ultimately, those are still set by chairmen and financial people
at the clubs, and if they didn’t offer the money that they
did, players wouldn’t get the money that’s talked about
in the press, so there’s an issue for both sides of the coin
there. Perhaps a salary cap would help, I’m not sure. In the
finish, a club determines the money that any player gets.
“What I would say is that I don’t want players to alienate
themselves from the fans around the country. It’s a game that
belongs to the people, it’s a game that should be enjoyed and
embraced by everyone and players have a big role in helping to perpetuate
that.
I think it is important that players make themselves available to
their community through the club, that they integrate themselves,
and there is an awful lot of good work that goes on in that respect
which doesn’t hit the headlines and so goes unnoticed.
At Watford, we’re especially good at that I think, and at my
previous clubs, I was always involved in that area because players
have to be able to relate to the fans.
“People say players don’t mix with fans any more but I
don’t think that’s true, a lot of players get out there,
I’ve seen the great community work that a lot of players do
at various clubs. But it’s not so exciting a story as how much
players are getting paid, or if they’ve been involved in things
they maybe shouldn’t.
There’s no hiding place, we appreciate that. But players are
human beings like anybody else. For the most part, they’re
young men and they make the same mistakes that any cross section
of young men up and down the country make as a part of growing up,
and equally they do as many good things, but sometimes that doesn’t
attract the same coverage when I think it should be applauded now
and again.”
In many cases, the key role for the PFA comes in dealing with the
very young and with those whose playing day are sometimes a long
way behind them. They offer distinctly different challenges, ones
which the PFA embraces wholeheartedly.
“The PFA doesn’t turn its back on players once they’ve
finished. It continues to support players behind their career, gives
advice, helps with retraining, with education in different fields
because football doesn’t last forever.
Once you get to your 30s, you have to look at the next stage of
your life, be it inside or outside the game. The union helps any
member with that, whether you come out of the game at 21 through
injury or play through until you’re my age. Not every player
leaves the game having earned millions, so we help with pensions,
with career advice, help members add another string to their bow.
“One of the things that people forget is that we don’t
just look after the interest of current day players. We’re
very involved in looking after the health and welfare of footballers
who played the game many years ago.
A lot of players from the 1960s and 1970s for instance didn’t
have the kind of medical care we have today, a lot played through
injuries, had injections to get through games and so on, and that
has implications for your health later in life. It’s a sad
fact of the game that players have to retire through injury or subsequently
suffer the after effects of a career playing the game.
A lot of former players have problems with their joints, with knee
and hip injuries in particular as a result of the wear and tear
you get in the game and we look to ensure that they get the best
medical attention possible. People think that once a player retires,
the PFA has no role to play in their lives but that’s not the
case. I can vouch for the fact that the union will be there for
them to call on for the rest of their lives.
“Equally, the statistics tell you that the huge majority who
come through the ranks don’t make the grade past 21. The union
has a big role to play there, to make sure that they’re looked
after, that they’re helped to go into another field if that’s
hat they want to do. At Watford, we try to keep the young boys grounded
as they’re learning their trade through the Academy, to understand
what it means to become a professional.
The young boys are good at cleaning boots! I don’t mean that
flippantly because rightly so, the boss here wants them to understand
what the other side of life can be like, getting your head down
and working, so they appreciate the opportunities that are on offer
if they become professionals. It’s a good discipline.
“But at the same time, we look to mentor players rather than
just getting them to clean the kit. I’m Jordan Parkes’
mentor for instance because he’s a full-back life myself. We
spend time talking about the game, we relate to each other, I try
and pass on some of my experience and I think that’s a great
idea from the manager, something that could be replicated across
the country. But times have changed. I understand it when people
say, “It wasn’t like that in my day”, but life moves
on and football moves with it.
But certain disciplines, certain traits are important and we need
to try to pass those down the generations to young players and to
young fans too, so they have a love of the game and a respect for
it too.
There is a lot more money in the game, that does change the way
it’s approached, the way people think about it, but ultimately,
you come back to the same basics, that as a player you should always
want to better yourself and stretch your ability to the maximum,
you should have pride in your performance and a good attitude to
the game. That not only helps you grow as a player but as a young
person in life as well, away from the game.”
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