A. IV. GOWANS IS SOCCER PLAYER OF OUTSTANDING PROMISE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30499, 22 July 1964, Page 15

A. IV. GOWANS IS SOCCER PLAYER OF OUTSTANDING PROMISE

T’NDER the new policy adopted for New Zealand soccer, the three national selectors are to give youth its chance. A Canterbury player who must be one of those earmarked by the selectors for close attention is the 18-year-old Christchurch City righthalf, A. W. Gowans. In recent years few other players in Canterbury have crossed the wide gap between junior and senior soccer with the same assurance and confidence as Gowans has done. He played his first four games with the Canterbury senior team this season, and progressed rapidly until he was one of the outstanding players on either side in Canterbury’s 0-0 draw with Auckland.

Tall, strong and with the stamina to last through 90 minutes of toil and sweat, Gowans has grown in soccer stature as his talents have developed. He has not yet reached the stage where by force of personality and ability he can impress his personal stamp on a game: few players ever reach such a standard. But Gowans is moving in this direction in every game he plays and the next two years will be exciting ones in his soccer career.

Gowans took the step from junior to senior midway through last season when he moved up to the Nomads’ first division team in time to share its triumphs in the Hurley Shield and Chatham Cup. The change was slow and painful —and once, at least, with Nomads he saw at first hand the gulf that exists between the professionallytrained player and the striving amateur. In the national Chatham Cup final

at Wellington Gowans was given the job of marking the former England international, K. Armstrong. It was not an enviable one, particularly for a youngster in his first senior season.

and it was a wiser, somewhat disillusioned but definitely more determined Gowans that left the field at the Basin Reserve. Before the start of this season Gowans moved to

City, to- come under the tutelage of another professional, G. Evans, and his advance has been spectacular. He is beginning to pace himself so that the last 10 minutes of a hard game do not seem likfe torture; he moves swiftly and surely into cover defence and plays close behind his forwards on attack: he thinks about the game and is beginning to read it: and he uses the ball intelligently.

There are still flaws in his play. For the first few yards when he breaks through a tackle his balance is suspect: occasionally in mid-field he makes a tackle without the certainty of winning the ball, a fault in timing that puts his team in danger when he is beaten; and as a predominantly right-footed player his ball control is not yet of the highest standard. But these are faults that he will iron out in practice and under Evans’s tuition, for none at his age is more dedicated to improving his game. From an early age it was obvious he would be a player to watch. Gowans has represented Canterbury in the under-age grades since he was 11. He has led the Canterbury Junior National Cup (under 18) team for the last two years, and has also played for the Canterbury under 20 team. In 1962, Gowans captained the Canterbury and South Island under 16 teams, the Canterbury team winning the South Island tournament at Christchurch.

After captaining the Papanui High School junior team in the third and fourth forms, Gowans was in the first eleven for his last three years at school. Last season, he was captain.