Players Union
On 2 December 1907, Roberts and Meredith were instrumental in setting up the Players' Union. The organisation was not recognised by the FA but it did attract considerable support from fellow League clubs. In August 1909, the FA threatened to suspend any player who admitted to being a member of the Union, following which Roberts and his Manchester United's teammates were summoned to a meeting with the club's management. The players refused to relinquish their Union membership, forcing the club to contact their first opponents of the new season, Bradford City to cancel the fixture, as it could not field a team. The FA's threat had seen the membership of the Union fall so that the only members were the Manchester United players, who called themselves "The Outcasts". It was only after Tim Coleman of Everton renewed his support by siding with The Outcasts that the FA relented and Roberts' Union was saved.
Read more about this topic: Charlie Roberts
Famous quotes containing the words players and/or union:
“Yeah, percentage players die broke too, don’t they, Bert?”
—Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)
“Thus piteously Love closed what he begat:
The union of this ever-diverse pair!
These two were rapid falcons in a snare,
Condemned to do the flitting of the bat.”
—George Meredith (1828–1909)