Football in the First World War
HistoryExtra podcast
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The Professional Game in the 1920s and 30s
When organized association football starts in the 60s and 70s you have everyone's an amateur. It's played me mainly by men who can afford to take time off to play basically. In the 1880s professionalism is legalized after some considerable debate. But it's also very tightly controlled so it's middle class administrators at the football league or the football association who keep a very tight control of that professionalism. Some middle class people are quite happy to to accept money to play they don't see anything wrong with it.
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