deadasdillinger Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 A little bit of story behind this first. My grampa had 3 uncles as his dad was one of 4. 3 of the brothers played at a good level, the best being John A. Johnston who played for Hearts and was capped for Scotland (I always knew this but it was only later in life when googling him that I discovered he actually captained Scotland) Jimmy played for Third Lanark - see contract below. Needless to say the least talented of the 4 was the one I'm most directly related to, my great grampa, so no football talent to be passed down through genes. Anyway - my dad was showing me this contract from 1923 last night. I found it quite interesting, maybe others will. It turns in to legalese towards the end, but things I thought noteworthy - The player must be available for training or to "engage in any other occupation" which the club may approve. This puts me in mind of the things modern footballers have to do - media appearances, visits to schools and community projects etc. Can't imagine much of this was going on then, but interesting that clubs were already ensuring players would be contracted to perform other tasks if needed. The paragraph about good physical condition isn't all that surprising, although it is funny to think that probably as recently as the 90s (certainly the 80s) it would be very commonplace for footballers at the highest level to still be smoking or to be out on the piss the night before, yet as far back as the 20s clubs were trying to reach in to the personal lives and habits of their athletes. No sick pay - which mentions "illness" but I assume also probably includes injury? Which is mental to think about now, but would be commonplace back then I suppose. Paragraph 6 essentially says if the player turns out to be shite, they can be binned off The last thing of note is the wage. Apparently four pounds per week was a good wage back then - even by the 50s or 60s, many men in normal jobs weren't earning this. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Isn't it saying the club have to approve second employment elsewhere? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadasdillinger Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 Just now, Sergeant Wilson said: Isn't it saying the club have to approve second employment elsewhere? Aye, reading that again I think you're right! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 3 minutes ago, deadasdillinger said: Aye, reading that again I think you're right! It's either that or the club can make them shovel snow or sweep terracing as required. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 (edited) Standard contract in use by Scottish League clubs, and they've made it out from the Monday before the opening game (Sat 19th Aug) until closing day of the regular season (Apr 30th). Illness may not have been interpreted to include injury acquired by playing. Remember too there was no 'training' as we think of it nowadays; indeed part-timers only saw each other at games. I've got most of my great-grandfather's contracts from that era. He was evidently a decent but unremarkable player. He went full-time with Hearts for 1922-23 and got £10 signing bonus then £3 weekly from mid-May to mid-July, rising to £4 weekly mid-July to end of April, with £2 win/£1 draw bonuses. Next season joined Dundee Hibs and come 1924-25 despite being part-time his wages remained £3 - admittedly win bonuses halved to £1/10s. So he'd be even better off if he added a day job. He got shafted by Dundee Utd after getting injured... no coincidence that on joining Bathgate mid-season Clause 6 is struck out. Still decent £2 10s weekly now with travel expenses added (but no bonuses). Third Lanark paid £3 for a single game in spring 1925. This was good money for a working man supplementing a day job. It wouldn't be particularly special as your main occupation. Average weekly wages for bricklayers/shipwrights/miners/etc. in 1925 were £3-£4... for labourers/porters/carters/etc. were £2-£3. Edited December 22, 2023 by HibeeJibee 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadasdillinger Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 2 hours ago, HibeeJibee said: Standard contract in use by Scottish League clubs, and they've made it out from the Monday before the opening game (Sat 19th Aug) until closing day of the regular season (Apr 30th). Illness may not have been interpreted to include injury acquired by playing. Remember too there was no 'training' as we think of it nowadays; indeed part-timers only saw each other at games. I've got most of my great-grandfather's contracts from that era. He was evidently a decent but unremarkable player. He went full-time with Hearts for 1922-23 and got £10 signing bonus then £3 weekly from mid-May to mid-July, rising to £4 weekly mid-July to end of April, with £2 win/£1 draw bonuses. Next season joined Dundee Hibs and come 1924-25 despite being part-time his wages remained £3 - admittedly win bonuses halved to £1/10s. So he'd be even better off if he added a day job. He got shafted by Dundee Utd after getting injured... no coincidence that on joining Bathgate mid-season Clause 6 is struck out. Still decent £2 10s weekly now with travel expenses added (but no bonuses). Third Lanark paid £3 for a single game in spring 1925. This was good money for a working man supplementing a day job. It wouldn't be particularly special as your main occupation. Average weekly wages for bricklayers/shipwrights/miners/etc. in 1925 were £3-£4... for labourers/porters/carters/etc. were £2-£3. My dad reckons his Wikipedia page isn't entirely accurate, but a quick check would suggest my grampa's Uncle John was at Hearts at the same time as your great grampa. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 2 hours ago, deadasdillinger said: My dad reckons his Wikipedia page isn't entirely accurate, but a quick check would suggest my grampa's Uncle John was at Hearts at the same time as your great grampa. Here is John Johnston's page on London Hearts database: John A Johnston - Hearts Career - from 19 Sep 1922 to 02 Mar 1935 (londonhearts.com) They seem to have only played 1 game together, which was 2-0 win at Alloa on Tuesday 19th September before 3,000 in a testimonial for Wasps player Orrock. Incidentally the game featured an experiment with 1 ref in each half of the park! Sadly there isn't much in the papers as was the same night as Glasgow v Sheffield. My ancestor was only a first-team regular for first half of his season at Hearts and yours made only sporadic appearances in first 4yrs of his 13yr stint (!) - so they might have played together in the 2nd XI during second half of 1922-23. In those days it was Scottish Alliance and Scottish 2nd XI Cup... Hearts A actually came 3rd in league and lost the cup final to Airdrieonians A that season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parsforlife Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 35 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said: . Incidentally the game featured an experiment with 1 ref in each half of the park! Isn’t that what the original officiating was? Or something similar. Probably copied over from cricket. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 6 minutes ago, parsforlife said: Isn’t that what the original officiating was? Or something similar. Probably copied over from cricket. True... back in Victorian times each team had an umpire. Awkward if disagreed: so a neutral referee came in and they became linesmen. Since been various experiments with 2 refs + 2 linesmen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Nation Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Fascinating thread, many thanks to the OP. What particularly caught my eye was the postage stamp under the signatures on the contract. I can (just!) remember when very legal document, even a trivial shop receipt, had to have a 2d stamp attached, as a way of collecting tax. Not abolished until early 1970s. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Pennel Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Great wee bit of your family history, Graeme. Thanks for sharing that with us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 "you're palpably inefficient and you know you are, you're palpably inefficient and you know you are.....etc". Cracking piece of history. Sounds like your family were the McGinns of the roaring 20's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadasdillinger Posted December 26, 2023 Author Share Posted December 26, 2023 Another wee piece of history on John A. Johnston - newspaper clipping of him becoming Arbroath's record signing. Believe the fee was £3,000. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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