ASSOCIATION NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1431, 4 May 1912, Page 12

ASSOCIATION NOTES.

[Br "Centue-Half."] Settling Down; With two matches of the Wellington district championship series gone, the senior teams are beginning to. evince signs of settling down to the dutiful task of getting fit, which most of them were very far from being when the season opened. Tho smartest team in sight so far is the Diamonds, who aro playing a fast and combined game. _ They have evidently been well schooled in field tactics before donning the jerseys this season, and their education is producing highly satisfactory results. The Thistle men so far have shown more vigour than science in their style of play, and have already (last Saturday) invited a suggestion from the referee that a return to less boisterous tactics would be welcome. The other teams, appear to be "much of. a muchness," so far as comparative form may bo considered, but like "Brer Rabbit," some of them may bo "lying low," and any Saturday now may bring forth a crop of surprises. How tho Teams Stand. With only two matches gone, it is too early to talk of tho championship winner, but to date Diamonds, Mental Hospital, and St. John's have gone through without a loss. It should net be long, however, before at least ono of theso teams drops back a step. Tho table of the matches played is as under:— ft P g R C3<2o cU & Diamonds 2 2 0 0 10 4 i\ Men. Hospital ...2200611 St. John's 2 2 0 0 7 2* Swifts 2 110 5 5 2 Y.M.C.A 2 1 1 0 5 G 2 Rovers 2 110 5 3 2 Ramblers '.. 2 0 1114 1 Wanderers 2 0 1112 1 Corinthians 2 0 2 0 17 0 Thistle 2 0 2 0 1 C 0 Beaten by Condition. Condition played an important part in tho match between St. John's and Corinthians. At tho' half-way halt, up to which time Corinthians had played an excellent game against a gale of wind, it looked as though St.. John's would not bo in the hunt in the second spell. The condition of tho men was not reckoned with in this, however, and when tho battlo was resumed the less clever, but better trained St. John's forwards, literally ran over their opponents. The welltrained state that Bryant, Bruce, and Mawby were in enabled them to outstay the opposition, and every time any ono of the trio mentioned got away, there was trouble ahead for Corinthians. Bradbury did hi 9 best to stem the tide, and tackled with an earnestness which repeatedly upset St. John's attacking party, but the odds were too strong for him. If St. John's needed ■anything to impress on them the value of training, they got it in last Saturday's match. The score should also be an object-lesson to Corinthians. The Rugby Man at Soccer. Tho Rugby plnyor is apt to scoff when ho see 3 men manipulating the soccer ball, but there aro few less awkward-looking pictures to be •seen than tho average Rugby player trying to handle a soccer ball amongst a set of expert Association players. Such a sight was witnessed previous to tho start of one of the senior games on Saturday, when a Rugby follower was disabused of the idea that anyone can play soccer. All things being equal, the stranger would have had a difficult task, but when he had to check some high kicks and to shoot in the teeth of a gale, the figure ho cut can be imagined by any experienced Association player. „ Even the schoolboys giggled. It is not an uncommon thing to see Rugby writers deploring the fact that dribbling is now a lost art in their game. If a few Rugby forwards took a course of soccer for a couple of seasons, they would be able to surprise the Rugby public when they returned to that game—provided, of course, that they could tear themselves away from soccer once they took it up. Pluck in the Posts. It i 3 always a fine thing to witness tho performance of a plucky "goalie" when facing desperate ,odds, and to Hollis of the i'.M.U.A. team, which suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Diamonds last Saturday, is due a word of praise for his work on that occasion. When the backs fail, the success of the "goalie" in a lone fight against the rapid fire of the enemy is partly dependent on skill, and partly on pure luck—the luck of being just handy to the ball when it arrives from a shot at close range—and the more deliberate the aim of the shooter, the greater the "goalie's", extremity, for there are a good many feet of vacant undefended space between him and the posts on either side. At best,' a "goalie" can only get as near to the impossible feat, of being in two places at once as mortal man mav—a desperate endeavour, requiring pluck, determination, agility, and quick-wittedness, and all those attributes were evidenced in latent form in Hollis's plucky ttand against frightful odds on Saturday. Notes, At a moating of the council of the English Football Association on Jlarch. 15, tho suggestions to alter the offside law and to extend the eighteen-yard line from touch-lino to touch-line were lost, but it was agreed that the goal-keeper could only handle the ball within his own penalty area instead of in his own half of the field. A proposed new rule to be considered at the annual meeting of the N.Z.F.A. has evidently been prompted by the trouble occasioned by the transfer of Kelly from Canterbury to Otago at the close of last season, when he played for Mornington against Kaitangata (writes "Left-wing" in the "Otago Witness"). The proposed rule is to tho effect that no player shall bo transferred from one association to another in one season except with the sanction of tho N.Z.F.A. Tho ruling body is evidently going to take a close interest in the,proccediugs of tho various associations in future, for it is proposed that not only must disqualifications be notified, but a copy of the evidence taken in connection with each charge, must accompany the intimation. A sensation was recently caused in Welsh football circles by the arrest of Hansford, a Bristol plumber, and a member of the Wattstowu F.C., en a charge of murder. The charge arises out of a scene following a junior eup tie at Wattstown on February 17 last. The competing clubs wore Aberaman and Wattstown, and the mutch ended in a win for Aberaman. At the conclusion of the game, whilst in the dressing-room, Mr. W. E. Williams, one of the most popular referees in Wales, who officiated in the match, was, it is alleged, assaulted by Hansford, and so seriously injured that he succumbed tn his injuries. Hansford had hosii charged in connection with the assault and remanded on bail. Hut he has since been ehnrgod at Ihe Forth I'olice Court on tho charge of murder. ■ Since the occurrence he has visited .deceased's relatives, and expressed his regret for the accident.