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The Association Footballers' Union (the AFU), formed in England in 1898, was the first attempt by football players in the United Kingdom to organize themselves into a union. The AFU was formed in response to the introduction by the Football League 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 introduced the maximum wage. ==Background== In 1885, faced with the threat of a breakaway British Football Association by 31 clubs, the Football Association (FA) relented to professional players being paid by their clubs for playing. Even then, the vast majority of players had other employment and only supplemented their wages 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 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 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: :1. Move to a club in the Southern League, a semi-professional league formed in England in 1894, or the Scottish Football League (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. :2. Quit playing football altogether and return to other full time employment. In September, 1893, Derby County 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Association Footballers' Union」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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