Players' Union This was the second attempt at the unionisation of professional football players after the failure of the Association Footballers' Union which dissolved itself in 1901. This Union was formed because the Football League had ratified a maximum wage for footballers in 1901 at £4 ("2012: £") . This severely limited the opportunity to earn wages that allowed the best players in the country to forgo the need to take paid employment outside of football. Until then, individual clubs had set their own wage policies throughout the country. The Union, basically, led from where the previous AFU had left the situation:
Players' Union had not been for Tim Coleman of Everton breaking ranks with his colleagues and striking in support of what the press had classified as The Outcasts F.C. at Manchester United Coleman's intervention resuscitated support for the cause and the Union, having regained its strength of numbers, settled for official recognition and the allowing of bonus payments in order to supplement the maximum wage. These were essentially conciliatory gestures; the maximum wage remained a yoke under which players suffered for the next 50 years. Language: English Language: English Players' Union The Players' Union (1907) was the popular name for the Association