Roisterer: New article on now obscure Australian rules football law
In [[Australian rules football]], '''The Coulter Law''' was a ruling instituted by the [[Australian Football League|Victorian Football League]] (VFL) in [[1930 VFL season|1930]] that capped payments and outlawed signing-on bonuses and other inducements for VFL players.
==Background==
Named after former [[Melbourne Football Club]] VFL player [[Gordon Coulter]], who was the Melbourne delegate to the VFL and chaired the VFL Player Payments Committee which drafted the rule,<ref>"Old Boy", "The Coulter Law", ''The Argus'', 10 March 1930, p. 17.</ref> the Coulter Law was intended to stop the practice of wealthy clubs offering large inducements to the best players, leading to an uneven competition. Wages were initially capped at £3.00 (roughly the equivalent of $[[Australian dollar|AUD]]227 in 2013 prices)<ref></ref> per minor round game and £12.00 for a finals match, although players could be paid less.<ref>''Sporting Globe'', "And Now He's Cr. Coulter", 21 March 1951, p. 11.</ref> There were also a range of penalties for breaches, including fines, suspension of players and deduction of premiership points.<ref name=lyons/>
While the VFL was officially an amateur sport until [[1911 VFL season|1911]], it was believed that many of the top players were secretly paid.<ref name=wlad>Andreff & Szymanski, p. 557.</ref> Each [[Melbourne]]-based VFL club was allocated its own recruiting zone in Melbourne but players from country areas, interstate and the competing [[Victorian Football League|Victorian Football Asociation]] (VFA) competition were not covered by zoning and clubs could and did offer inducements to leading players to sign with them.<ref name=wlad/>
==The Coulter Law in place==
The first test of the Coulter Law came in 1930 when superstar [[Haydn Bunton Sr.]] from [[Ovens and Murray Football League]] club [[West Albury Football Club|West Albury]] was forced to sit out of VFL football for a season following breaches of the Coulter Law (it was claimed that Bunton signed a contract with [[Fitzroy Football Club]] for £200 per year)<ref>Slattery, p. 55.</ref> before finally making his debut for Fitzroy in Round One of the [[1931 VFL season]].<ref>Piesse, p. 64.</ref>
==Reactions==
From the time the Coulter Law was put in place, there were criticisms of it. A 1933 newspaper article complained that the good name of Gordon Coulter was "associated with such a travesty of the law."<ref>"Old Boy", "The Coulter Law", ''The Argus'', 12 April 1933, p. 9.</ref>
In [[1944 VFL season|1944]] several clubs were urging a rise in the maximum payments, arguing that [[New South Wales Rugby League]] players were paid up to £10 per game <ref>Taylor, P. "Increased pay for footballers", ''The Argus'', 31 March 1944, p. 12.</ref> but while maximum player payments were raised throughout the time the law was in place, by [[1961 VFL season|1961]] the maximum match payment was still only £6 per game.<ref name=frost277>Frost, Schuwalow & Borrowman, p. 277.</ref> As a result, many leading players left the VFL to play in other competitions that had no rules equivalent to the Coulter Law, including [[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]] superstar [[Laurie Nash]], who transferred to [[Victorian Football League|Victorian Football Association]] (VFA) club [[Camberwell Football Club|Camberwell]],<ref>Booth, R. (1997) "History of Player Recruitment, Transfer and Payment Rules in the Victorian and Australian Football League", Australian Society For Sports History Bulletin, No. 26, June 1997.</ref> and Melbourne full-forward [[Fred Fanning]], whose wage increased from £3 to £20 per game when he was appointed captain-coach of [[Western District Football League]] club [[Hamilton Kangaroos Football Club|Hamilton]] in 1948.<ref>Collins, p. 145.</ref>
As time went by the Coulter Law became increasingly difficult to enforce<ref name=wlad/> and by the late 1960s journalists were openly deriding the law as antiquated and demanding that the VFL scrap the law.<ref name=lyons>Lyons, P. "Grandstand View", '' The Canberra Times'', 3 March 1967, p. 24.</ref><ref name=frost277/> In [[1967 VFL season|1967]] commentator [[Harry Beitzel]] claimed "it was common knowledge that most of the star players
were under contracts that paid them many times more than the Coulter Law limit."<ref>Hess et al., p. 239.</ref>
The Coulter Law was scrapped at the completion of the [[1970 VFL season]], with clubs allowed to pay larger fees to players, two interstate recruits allowed for each club, and transfer and signing-on fees were introduced.<ref name=wlad/>
==References==
==Sources==
* Andreff, W. & Szymanski, S. (ed.) (2006) ''Handbook on the Economics of Sport'', Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham. .
* Collins, B. (2008). ''The red fox: The biography of Norm Smith: Legendary Melbourne coach'', Melbourne: Slattery Media Group.
* Frost, L., Schuwalow, P. & Borrowman, L. (2012) "Labour market regulation and team performance: The Victorian Football League’s Coulter Law, 1930–1970", ''Sport Management Review'', 15.
* Hess, R., Nicholson, M., Stewart, B., & De Moore, G. (2008). ''A national game: The history of Australian Rules football'', Penguin: Melbourne. ISBN 0670070890.
* Piesse, K. (2011) ''Football Legends of the Bush'', Penguin: Sydney. .
* Slattery, G. (2010) ''The Brownlow: A Tribute to the Greats of Australian Football'', Slattery Media Group: Melbourne. .
==Background==
Named after former [[Melbourne Football Club]] VFL player [[Gordon Coulter]], who was the Melbourne delegate to the VFL and chaired the VFL Player Payments Committee which drafted the rule,<ref>"Old Boy", "The Coulter Law", ''The Argus'', 10 March 1930, p. 17.</ref> the Coulter Law was intended to stop the practice of wealthy clubs offering large inducements to the best players, leading to an uneven competition. Wages were initially capped at £3.00 (roughly the equivalent of $[[Australian dollar|AUD]]227 in 2013 prices)<ref></ref> per minor round game and £12.00 for a finals match, although players could be paid less.<ref>''Sporting Globe'', "And Now He's Cr. Coulter", 21 March 1951, p. 11.</ref> There were also a range of penalties for breaches, including fines, suspension of players and deduction of premiership points.<ref name=lyons/>
While the VFL was officially an amateur sport until [[1911 VFL season|1911]], it was believed that many of the top players were secretly paid.<ref name=wlad>Andreff & Szymanski, p. 557.</ref> Each [[Melbourne]]-based VFL club was allocated its own recruiting zone in Melbourne but players from country areas, interstate and the competing [[Victorian Football League|Victorian Football Asociation]] (VFA) competition were not covered by zoning and clubs could and did offer inducements to leading players to sign with them.<ref name=wlad/>
==The Coulter Law in place==
The first test of the Coulter Law came in 1930 when superstar [[Haydn Bunton Sr.]] from [[Ovens and Murray Football League]] club [[West Albury Football Club|West Albury]] was forced to sit out of VFL football for a season following breaches of the Coulter Law (it was claimed that Bunton signed a contract with [[Fitzroy Football Club]] for £200 per year)<ref>Slattery, p. 55.</ref> before finally making his debut for Fitzroy in Round One of the [[1931 VFL season]].<ref>Piesse, p. 64.</ref>
==Reactions==
From the time the Coulter Law was put in place, there were criticisms of it. A 1933 newspaper article complained that the good name of Gordon Coulter was "associated with such a travesty of the law."<ref>"Old Boy", "The Coulter Law", ''The Argus'', 12 April 1933, p. 9.</ref>
In [[1944 VFL season|1944]] several clubs were urging a rise in the maximum payments, arguing that [[New South Wales Rugby League]] players were paid up to £10 per game <ref>Taylor, P. "Increased pay for footballers", ''The Argus'', 31 March 1944, p. 12.</ref> but while maximum player payments were raised throughout the time the law was in place, by [[1961 VFL season|1961]] the maximum match payment was still only £6 per game.<ref name=frost277>Frost, Schuwalow & Borrowman, p. 277.</ref> As a result, many leading players left the VFL to play in other competitions that had no rules equivalent to the Coulter Law, including [[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]] superstar [[Laurie Nash]], who transferred to [[Victorian Football League|Victorian Football Association]] (VFA) club [[Camberwell Football Club|Camberwell]],<ref>Booth, R. (1997) "History of Player Recruitment, Transfer and Payment Rules in the Victorian and Australian Football League", Australian Society For Sports History Bulletin, No. 26, June 1997.</ref> and Melbourne full-forward [[Fred Fanning]], whose wage increased from £3 to £20 per game when he was appointed captain-coach of [[Western District Football League]] club [[Hamilton Kangaroos Football Club|Hamilton]] in 1948.<ref>Collins, p. 145.</ref>
As time went by the Coulter Law became increasingly difficult to enforce<ref name=wlad/> and by the late 1960s journalists were openly deriding the law as antiquated and demanding that the VFL scrap the law.<ref name=lyons>Lyons, P. "Grandstand View", '' The Canberra Times'', 3 March 1967, p. 24.</ref><ref name=frost277/> In [[1967 VFL season|1967]] commentator [[Harry Beitzel]] claimed "it was common knowledge that most of the star players
were under contracts that paid them many times more than the Coulter Law limit."<ref>Hess et al., p. 239.</ref>
The Coulter Law was scrapped at the completion of the [[1970 VFL season]], with clubs allowed to pay larger fees to players, two interstate recruits allowed for each club, and transfer and signing-on fees were introduced.<ref name=wlad/>
==References==
==Sources==
* Andreff, W. & Szymanski, S. (ed.) (2006) ''Handbook on the Economics of Sport'', Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham. .
* Collins, B. (2008). ''The red fox: The biography of Norm Smith: Legendary Melbourne coach'', Melbourne: Slattery Media Group.
* Frost, L., Schuwalow, P. & Borrowman, L. (2012) "Labour market regulation and team performance: The Victorian Football League’s Coulter Law, 1930–1970", ''Sport Management Review'', 15.
* Hess, R., Nicholson, M., Stewart, B., & De Moore, G. (2008). ''A national game: The history of Australian Rules football'', Penguin: Melbourne. ISBN 0670070890.
* Piesse, K. (2011) ''Football Legends of the Bush'', Penguin: Sydney. .
* Slattery, G. (2010) ''The Brownlow: A Tribute to the Greats of Australian Football'', Slattery Media Group: Melbourne. .
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