Chess Board Approach To Soccer

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 15

Chess Board Approach To Soccer

r pHOSE who have seen the polished football played by Blackpool’s left-half, John Green, in the matches between the two English professional soccer clubs in the North Island would not be surprised to learn that he is a keen chess player in his spare time. In chess, a player must think ahead, trying to read his oppinent’s mind and planning his own game accordingly. He must marshal his defence but be ready to attack the moment he spots an opponent’s weakness. A soccer field is just a larger edition of a chess board to this sft 10in, lOst 101 b Blackpool half-back, in his outlook to the game.

From the time he was a secondary schoolboy, playing Rugby in the morning and soccer in the afternoon, Green had his sights aimed at a professional soccer career, and on leaving school he accepted an invitation from Everton for a month's trial. A further month’s trial was offered Green but he declined, and shortly afterwards signed for the English fourth division club, Tranmere Rovers, as an inside-forward. In 1958 he learned that Blackpool was interested in him and he jumped at the opportunity to sign for the “Seasiders”. At Blackpool he was switched from inside-for-ward to half-back, and in his first three consecutive games in this new position he was given the formidable task of marking three of the best inside-forwards in the world—Denis Law (Manchester United and Scotland), George Eastham (Arsenal) and Jimmy Greaves (Tottenham), both English internationals. These were make-or-break games for Green, but he came through the ordeal with his reputation made as a good ball player and a quick thinker, who can now look forward to a long spell in top-class soccer. The crowd at English Park on Saturday, when Sheffield and Blackpool play the sixth game of their 11-match series, will be certain to appreciate the art of this quietly-spoken professional.

Green is not the only Blackpool player to have played Rugby in his young days; Another is the club’s South African winger, Desmond Horne, who at school in Durban had to play Rugby. But when he left school he soon made the switch to

and seven months later, when he was only 16, was invited to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“At that time the English club, Newcastle, was touring South Africa,” he says. “I saw them play—and that made up my mind soccer and not Rugby was the game for me.”

Horne transferred from Wolverhampton to Blackpool in 1961, and his speed and good shot with either foot made him a natural

winger. He has also proved a useful performer at leftback in an emergency.

Horne still watches Rugby on occasions, test matches in particular, but he believes that in South Africa soccer is already becoming a big threat to Rugby’s following.

‘1 think the only thing keeping Rugby alive in South Africa is the international matches. Soccer is catching on very, very fast. When I left it was only an amateur sport. Nowadays there are part-time professionals.

“Soccer is starting to get colossal crowds and the dark people are crazy about the game. They have their own leagues and play the game the whole year round.”