ENGLISH TEAM “HYPNOTISED”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28981, 24 August 1959, Page 8

ENGLISH TEAM “HYPNOTISED”

Gloucester City Wins Match

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON. August 22. Gloucester City football team won its first match of the season 3-1 today after Mr Henry Blythe, a 61-year-old hypnotist, had given them "confidence treatment" in the dressing room before the start of the game. News-reel cameras disturbed the peace as Mr Blythe intoned in a soft voice “When you go oh to the field all nervousness will have left you. You will give of your best. ‘There will be no inhibitions at all. You are about to take the field and win this game. You will play as you have never played before and I shall be on the touch-line to help you." Mr Blythe was signed on as an “amateur player** earlier this month to help the team rise to the top of the southern league and fight their way into one of the national leagues. Mr Blythe, who proposes to visit the team about once every three weeks, claiihs to have used hypnosis to help children pass school examinations and nervous drivers to pass motoring tests. He also claims to have stopped more than 1000 people from smoking by playing them a. long-playing hypnotie gramophone record. This afternoon about 4000 people saw the "hynotised” Gloucester City players beat Merthyr Tydfil at Longlevens. Wales. Mr Blythe was Jubilant after the game. But the Merthyr manager, Mr Albert Lindon, said the hypnotism was "a lot of hooey.” He added: “Gloucester was simply the better team.”

Draw By Otago And Wellington Juniors

(Neu> Zeelono Press Association) WELLINGTON. August 23. tn the Junior National Cup soccer final. Otago drew with Wellington. 2-2. Scorers for Otago were D. Connor and K. Tansley. For Wellington D. Flett and A; Dobson scored. On balance, Wellington looked the better team.