BLANDFORD PARK GAMES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 238, 9 October 1933, Page 14

BLANDFORD PARK GAMES

Amongst the several decisions taken by the management this season that have baffled supporters, one of the most eloquent examples of an entire absence of sound judgment or knowledge of the game was that which resulted in the meeting of Thistle and Comrades as the principal game on Blandford Park on Saturday with I'onsonby and Abels supplying a curtain-raiser. The authorities must have been quite unaware of the fact that for nearly two months Abels have not been defeated ; that In that time their playing standard has steadily Improved; that on their recent form they would give any team iu the competition a hard and strenuous game; and that, whereas Thistle are the cleverest combination Auckland has today from tiie point of view of finished Soccer, Comrades are the most inexperienced. A poorer enatch could hardly have been chosen for the main attraction at the Park, and that is just what happened. The board is probably to be excused for not knowing these facts, for the members, those of them who attend matches, seldom,if ever,'go outside the city, and Abels, for instance, has not been seen on the Park much of late. The grounds committee must be afflicted by a similar disability to analyse the capabilities of the teams in the competition, though the board is responsible for its neglect in allowing such a programme to be passed. On Saturday the few remaining supporters at Blandford Park had yet another strain thrown on their tolerance and loyalty, and It was no surprise that long before time was called they trooped disconsolately from the enclosure. Few concerns nowadays—not to mention sports in dire need of money—can afford to treat their customers with a disrespect that turns them away disgusted.

The least said about the main match the better. Apart from the obvious discrepancy in the ability of the teams, and the onesidedness of the contest between Thistle and Cpmrades which cast an almost somnolent atmosphere over the ground, there was the added aggravation of the circumstances by the don't-care-a-hang-its-easy-meat way In which Thistle treated the game from start to finish. ,To say that they could have scored almost at wish is not exaggerating the facts, and it was a pity that Comrades, a team of promising boys, should have been forced into such an uncomfortable position through no fault of their own.