Wednesday, October 19 – 1910
John Maconnachie, feeling that idleness is emptiness, and that ignorance is the mother of all kinds of follies, last winter started a series of night classes for the education of the Everton players.
The classes, I hear, are just about to begin again. This is a wise occupation of time, for many of our footballers leave school at a very early age, and Maconnachie wishes to improve himself and them.
Jock Maconnachie.
There are experienced teachers, and the directors of Everton have been only too glad to give encouragement to such a scheme for the useful employment of the leisure of their players. Everybody has need of education, and unless we are born fools, education proceeds from the day of birth to the day of death.
Said a great writer, “Unless a man knows that there is something more to be known, his inference is, of course, that he knows everything.”
Let the footballers read, write, learn, and study. That is a good way to occupy leisure. Maconnachie thinks so, and it is pleasant to know that he is being supported by the majority of players. It is the duty of those who happen to be better educated than most of their fellows to join in the movement, and help towards achieving success.
And I hear, too, that John Maconnachie has started a book club for the Everton team. This is the way to encourage reading.
(Evening Express, 19-10-1910)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 