Two ‘Press’ football cups

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32634, 16 June 1971, Page 30

Two ‘Press’ football cups

Two cups to encourage junior footballers—one for Rugby, one for soccerhave been presented by “The Press,” and the competitions for them will be held this season. “The Press” Rugby Cup will be awarded to the club which has the best average of competition points in all the under-age and underweight grades. Schools have been excluded from this competition because their players already are part or strong Rugby organisations, they have ample encouragement to improve, and they already win considerable rewards within

the framework of the game in the schools. By making the competition one decided on a points average system, it is hoped to encourage every player in every team to play for his side, and, in particular, to offer an incentive to the smaller clubs, which at present have no hope of winning the Redpath Shield, which is awarded on aggregate points. In the new competition, clubs which can field only four or five teams will have an equal chance with those which have 30 or more; and it will mean that a team low in its grade can assist its club’s prospects of success

with every game it manages to win. The grades covered in the competition for “The Press” cup range from under 20 years to under five stone. The Canterbury Rugby Union accepted the offer of the cup and the competition at its management committee meeting last evening. SOCCER TROPHY “The Press” cup for soccer will be associated with an existing competition for penalty-kicking in the junior grades, the players being from 12 to 15 years old. Each club will hold its own competition,

to find two representatives; this makes a total of 46 competitors. That number is reduced, in a series of competitions, to six.

There will then be two-semi-flnals, each with three players taking part, and a final, in which the best three compete. These three final stages of the competition will be held during the intervals of Christchurch United’s final three home national league matches this season.

In the semi-finals and finals, each boy has six kicks at goal from the penalty spot, against a senior grade goal-keeper.