SOCCER

I»Y "VANGUARD")

AN APPEAL

MATTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

The question of providing some form of recognition for players who gain representative honouvs du-ring the season is one that should undoubtedly receive the attention of the Wellington Association. Jhe representative players have been much better treated this season in that they have not had to pay all their own expenses when travelling, as they have had to do in former seasons. Time, there used to always be the possibility of a refund if the funds would permit, but when the refund did happen to come along, which it did on rare occasions, it was generally so small that the Players would not bother to collect. Anyiww the system appears now to Belong t?. t? 1" Past, and,.players representing Wellington this season were not called on to pay their own travelling and hotel expenses. As has been mentioned in previous seasons, an even more important matter is the bestowing of caps and medals. _ What have players, say, like MKenae, Taylor, Ballard, Campbell, and a host of others who have worthily represented their province for years to show for the honours they have gained? It is idle to say that the players do not want or would not appreciate a memento of their prowess on the field. In every other branch of sport it is customary Hot representatives to receive some token of their honour. The plea of the W.F.A. is that they would be only too pleased to recognise their representatives, but the funds will not permit. This seems to be a rather poor ! and unsatisfactory excuse, and not quite fair to the players. The players provide the entertainment that draws the | gate, ■ and one of the first charges on ] the gate' should be to provide the players with some slight recognition The same remarks apply to the winners of the I\^ Division League Championship, and the winners of the Charity Cup. In each case the players should receive medals to commemorate the honours they i have gained. These things which to some may seem trifling are of great importance to the furtherance'of interest in the game. In England, the home of tne game, every league, however small, sees to it that the league and cup winners receive medals. The excuse for not doing it here is again finance, or want | ot it and another reason has been given [me by, a- member of their controlling body, and that is that if medals were given to the First Division it was only fair to give the same to winners of the : lower divisions. It is agreed that every division should receive medals for the winners, if the funds will nermit but told, and of course it is a fact, that funds would not permit of this'being done. The W.F.A., however might remember that it is to the First Division that they look to provide the main portion of their revenue, and the excuse of all. or none should not be raised. It it to bo hoped this matter will bo brought up at the next annual meeting of the W.F.A., and that senior players, at least, will in future be treated on a par : with those taking part in other sports. The writer has been informed on jg ood authority, although it seems hard to credit it, that the New Zealand team that recently touTed Australia received absolutely nothing to mark the high honour they had attained in Association football.- There were no caps or medals presented to the players, and all they have to remind them of the tour are pleasant memories. The whole thin" is w*ong and most unfair, and, as has feen said before, an effort must be made next season to have these matters altered and give the players a little more consideration. CHATHAM CUP. The successes of the Wellington V M.C.A. team in Chatham x Cup matches were continued at Nelson last Saturday, when the Wanderers eleven, who had the honour of representing the Nelson district in the competition, had to acknowledge defeat by eight goals to one. Young Men were m scoring mood, and if they are able to maintain their standard of play in succeeding games they should go very ! near to annexing the trophy. They nave yet to meet Dawbers (Manawatu), ! | who. defeated Waingawa (Masterton) a I month of so ago, and Huntley, who sur-! prised Aucklanders by registering a win : ; against Northcote. Both these • matches ZL bi P^y^at Wellington, and should I V.M.C.A. .succeed in both—and the chances are that they will—they will' have to meet the South Island representatives in the final at Wellington Their opponents on that occasion will probably be Seacliff (Dunedin). Referring to last Saturday's match, the 1 I?™ Pal>er of Tuesday . last cays : ' The weather was decidedly against good tootball, rain falling in the afternoon, also spoiling what would have attracted a good crowd. Wheeler kicked off for the Wanderers, and it was soon evident that the visitors would give a good exhibition of football. The combination of their forwards was good, and early in the .game the left wing scored. The ball went in across the goal, giving Lamb, Nelsons custodian, no possible chance. The V.M.C.A. soon afterwards scored again, the centre forward, Ballard, making no mistake from a good pass from Basher. The visitors were givinsr a good all-round exhibition of the short-passing game, but the wefc ground was against accurate play. The backs on both sides played well, and Lamb also'was playing a pood game and scored a hot shot from Ba lard, but was beaten on the return. Nelson wore beginning to play much better football, and from a corner kick Richards placed the ball accurately in front ol goal for Symonds to score. Play became more interestinc, but V.M.C.A. were too good, and certainly they played clever football. Hurst miskieked and ,Phillips seized the opening, making no mistake. At half time the score was sto 1. : | "The second spell opened with give and-take play, each side pressing in turn. Lamb gave a corner and Ballard scored from the resulting kick. Trott scored twice in quick succession, once going right through in his own. The final score was V.M.C.A., 8 goals. Wanderers, 1." FINAL BROWN SHIELD GAME; Auckland, havo earned tlio right to 1 hold the Brown Shield for tho 1923 sciimij, having fended uff challenges from

CAPS FOR REPRESENTATIVE PLAYERS

Wanganui, Wellington, and Manawatu. Easy wins were registered against Wanganui and Manawatu, and Wellington were defeated by a margin of two goals. The last Brown Shield game of the season took place last Saturday, and this is how the Auckland "Star"" gums up the contest:

"The fourth attempt to wrest the coveted trophy from the Auckland team was frustrated at the Domain. There was an attendance of about 3000 when the teams lined out. The weather was threatening throughout the morning, with every indication^ rain, and this no doubt was sufficient reason why the attendance was not very much larger. The weather v;*s fine though dull, and a light breeze favoured neither side.

"The game, on opening, promised to be fast and keen, but as Auckland began to put on "the goals, the game slowed down. The contest resulted in an easy win for_ the home team by 6 goals to 1. It is no reflection on the visitors that they were beaten by five clear goals, as .undoubtedly Auckland possess an exceptionally strong and well-bal-anced team, which, as a result of previous games, has developed combination, which is second .to none in the Dominion; " Of thp 1 players, it would be difficult to differentiate, ; but undoubtedly C. Dacre was the best forward on the ground. His clever openings for Innes and Woods accounted for at least four of the goals scored. Woods, at centre, showed up well, and his .-two goals were good efforts. When opportunity offered, Corbett and Neesham were as good as ever, and Braithwaite, at back, was playing right up to form. " Of the visitors, Dick, the skipper, played a hard game. The large crowd present was particularly pleased with the display Cutler, the youthful custodian, gave. He has a future. Smith, at centre-half (an old Otago 'rep.'), played a hard game up against firstclass forwards. I n the forwards, Griffiths showed up well, he and Bell combining nicely. The teams were: Auckland (blue and white)—Craxton, Braithwaite, L. Dacre, Clanachan, Corbett (captain), Neesham,- Innes, C. Dacre, ! Woods, Williams, Simm. Manawatu I (green and white)— Cutler, Dick' (cap- ; tain), Tantrum, West, Smith, Randall . Griffiths, Bell, Combes, Kobson Dauber." NOTES. Ccrtainly-the tw o games played on Association Park last Saturday had unexpected endings, for, even though there are always a few optimists among the supporters of every team, not many of them would have been sufficiently optimistic to give Scottish Wanderers quite so bright a lead over' Watersiders, or Institute their very well deserved win over Diamonds, nor, for that matter, ! will the keenest supporters of the. two defeated teams pass the wins over with a general remark about fluky victories, for there was nothing of the fluke ; about them. Certainly both' Diamonds and Watersiders turned out short teams, and that, without a doubt, had a great „, to. **° witla the match . results. Watersiders have a fairly strong re- ■ serve or, at any rate, they seem to be able to replace a man or two on'the sick list or away on tour without a general reshuffling of the'nine or ten men left; but Diamonds apparently have not that reserve, and chop and change* their men about to make them fit in great style. "The versatile player is a j useful man, hut there can b e almost too | many of him. j There is no need to go into the rights i and wrongs of M'Kee's case in this ; column, as the association has already dealt with the matter, and when I refer j m a general way to a marked tendency ;to doubtful play i n the case of certain ■ players—who shall be unnamed, though | those who played against them ' will | know them well enough—l do not write I of M Kee. Towards the end of last seaj son the association moved in the matter of putting a stop to unnecessarily violent tactics, to elbow work, smart foot play, and dangerous charging, and their recommendations had a healthy effect during the remainder of the season and the beginning of this,- but by now the recommendation ,is apparently being rather too generally forgotten; charging is commg into its own'again as'part of the game, as it may as well be played, and elbow and foot and ankle work is not commg mto his own, it is aheadv S« V" rfl ldeac* in M°*t senior game's plajed. Ihoso who get in th e way are quite well aware of that fact, and most folk who stand on the line arc not prepared to a rg ue honestly that there is not far too much of it, but it is shrewdly done, and passes muster with most referees. <& ome afternoon a player who considers himself aggrieved and injured by dehberately vicious elbow work will »„♦^' wnoi}?e* the referee, will put to on a side the rules of fair play as set out m the text-books on Soccer, and proceed to set a standard c Wl\ T'et; c- h3Ve b«n inat^e of that sort ot thing before now, and no more of them are wanted. The simpKbK^um^**-*'« The Marirt Club is working up a bazaar and general football carnival on a fairly ambitions scale, with a view of gathering „, f utlds {oi ; s v { r pension o the club, and to provide various facihtie* for training arid the like. Ono of the main items will he an iutei--club tug-of-war, five men a . sic £'^ a 60 ston B hmit, and other clubs are taking up the idea well, very s^sfac! toiy entries beinc received within the first few days after the announcement was made. Nothing more, by the way, seems to have boon done in regard to the carnival decided upon by the=W.F.A. as far back as 1914 and postponed from time to time. \ cry little can be done to put Association Park in attractive order without funds, and Soccer wiil not " S et

the crowd" until better.accommodation is provided for the crowd when it gets there. My own opinion ig that the association would have been wiser to risk spending a few pounds extra on the Park during the coming close season and putting in seats instead of merely railing off the playing areas. Rails hold the crowd back certainly, but they cannot be sat on with any degree of comfort, and, as enthusiastic as any club supporter may be, comfort does not come amiss even on an afternoon out. It pays the big clubs at Home to cater most thoroughly for th 0 comfort of those who go to watch—not forgetting the players, of course; it pays Rugby handsomely out here, and it would surely havo a very healthy effect in bringing boccer along.

The conditions in the Hospital-Thistle match at Porirua last Saturday could not have been much worse, and the result, 5-1 in favour of Thistle, was, of course, not a true indication of the merits of the two teams. In the first roun/ when these teams met, the result was-5-0 in favour of Hospital, and this great reversal of form was surprising to fiay the least. The rain commenced, just prior to the start of the game, and never ceased throughout the match, and before long the ground was covered with miniature lakes. In these the already soaked players frequently rolled, much to the amusement of the more favoured spectators. The first spell was mainly m javour of Hospital, although the score was 2-1 in favour o f Thistle 7 at half-time. 1 his was mainly due to'the fine goalkeeping of Ewing, who made several fine saves and seemed quite at home in the ?Yj' c, P layers dW not leave the neld at half-time, but turned around and went on with what appeared at tunes more like water polo than Association football. The second half belonged to Thistle, and, apparently takin°the game more seriously than their opponents, they put, on three goals to HosK tel, s ""• • Houston and Taylor were the best forwards on the ground; and seemed the only ones able to control the ball and show any combination. The hye goals scored by their team practically all came from their play. Henderson and Cordner, considering the conditions, kicked splendidly, and what they missed Ewing smartly gathered in. Hospital made the big mistake of trvuig to control the ball, and got close in bflfore shooting. It was not the game on the _ day, and Thistle showed much better judgment in shooting at any old angle, or any distance. Trewick had quite an off-day, and did not seem to make any .attempt at some of the goals. The absence of Kissock, Gibb, and Shaw seemed to quite disorganise the rest of the team, and they were all sixes and sevens. Dick and Lambert were dmost continually in the thick of the fray, but it was very difficult, if not impossible, to tell what position on the field they were supposed to occupy.

. The Thistle defeat of Hospital by 5-1 is the heaviest Hospital has sustained for many years; in fact, the heaviest ?inc.e they entered the First Divieion in 1911. After their splendid form during the season, it was a surprising result ° „>""«•. a pupil of the Palmerston North High School, who was goal-keep-er'for the Manawatu team that played Auckland for the Brown Shield last Saturday, is supposed to be the youngest representative Association goal-keep-er in the Dominion: ' .

Over four thousand spectators paid homage to the Soccer code at Auckland last Saturday, when the re-play took place for the season's championship, in which had prevailed, but were compelled by the rules relating to point deduction affecting the withdrawal of the Brotherhood team, which defaulted to contest the issue with North Shore, whom Northcote had previously defeated. The match at the Domain, while not very outstanding from a spectacular point of view, was interesting from first to last, and resulted in a win for North £c? re *y £ ne S°al to nil > sports the btar. This goal was scored early m the tussle, and, in -a sense, was a. Jucky advantage- in a. close contest of that nature. It enabled Shore to play a hard, strategical defence, which they successfully maintained, despite stronsr challenges from Northcote. North Shore had a b,t the better of the first half, with their opponents showing superiority after the interval. The JsW Shore team was somewhat re-arranged, and this was an evident advantage. With the exception of Baker and Treniain, the Aorthcote forwards were considerably outplayed. The three inside men for Shore played well together. Thompson and Metee were the pick of Northcote'a rearguard and Hanlon, Haycock, L Dacre, and Simpson (until he was inJ°red).«re outstanding for Shore, for whom Thomas in goal retrieved his bad peiformance against Ponsonby by a brilliant exposition throughout. Word j has been received from ihe Auckland Association that Wellington's share of the Brown Shield receipts wo "id be approximately £72. Canterbury is desirous of getting a Wellington junior representative team to visit the South Island before the season closes. It was suggested that the match could be played as a curtain-raiser to the senior fixture—Wellington v. Canterbury—which was to take place to-day, but the proposal was not favoured by the committee of the W.F.A., and received no'support when it came up for discussion at tine last meeting. The committee of the- W.F.A. has decided to draw up rules for the Victory Ciip competition. At present there is a good deal of doubt existing as to what teams are eligible to enter for this competition, but so far it has generally been agreed that all teams may compete for the trophy, with ■ the exception of the Charity Cup finalists. An order has been issued by the Minister of Health, England, instructing all football clubs employing professional players to insure them under the National Health Insurance Acts. Legally, the footballer is a "workman," and it is because he is employed by way of manual labour that, even though his wages' may amount to over £250 a year, he is liable to health insurance. Thus the order says: "Contributions must be paid them for any period for which they receive wages, or in which they {render services, either in training or playing." It has also been pointed out that the position under the 'Unemployment Insurance Acts is the same as regards professional footballers under the Health Insurance Acts, and an unemployed player is entitled to draw out-of-work pay. The professionals will not benefit under this order, for all clubs have their own doctor, and in the case of illness ov injury they are treated by him at the expense of tho club. Tniieed, it is the aim of every club to keep their men in tho highest state of fitness, and the fact that they are now to come under the national scheme of insurance's not likely to change their position. Clubs will continue tn havo their own doctors; and all the players will be under them.