Soccer Coaching Should Be Expanded

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28314, 27 June 1957, Page 15

Soccer Coaching Should Be Expanded

pRITICISM of the action of the council of the New Zealand Football Association in abandoning the coaching school and Junior National Cup competition, has been expressed by Mr T. M. McGuigan, secretary of the Canterbury association. Mr McGuigan considers that the action of the council is a retrograde step. “True, several associations have failed to support the coaching schools as they should, but last year Otago took over the job and conducted a school for South Island associations, which proved every bit as successful as the previous ones.” said Mr McGuigan. “From here, i. appears that the council does not pursue the coaching scheme very enthusiastically. South Island associations have always been to the fore,, and for them, anyway, the abandonment Is a retrograde step.”

For years the Junior National Cup contest had been the nursery for youthful players, and the benefits had been obvious, Mr McGuigan said. Many of Canterbury’s senior players had come through Junior National Cup football, one of them having attained national honours this year. Certainly it cost money to run the series, but that was a poor reason for depriving the youngsters of representative honours and big football experience.

“For progress to be made, our coaching schemes must be expanded, not curtailed. Our younger players must be encouraged and matured through representative matches. The council does not appear to be facing the future very realistically—eyes which at the moment seem ,to be peering over the horizon should be switched back to earth,” said Mr McGuigan.