SOCCER NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 224, 9 June 1923, Page 19

SOCCER NOTES.

(By

"Goalie.”),

The Waterside-Thistle match pleased the spectators on Saturday last, and at times the excitement was intense. The Thistle forwards were very clever, but when near goal were weak, whereas the Watersiders missed very few chances Anton was at the top of his form. The Waterside halves and backs were very sound. Portequs was off-colour, and should have easily cleared the first goal. Ewing repeatedly earned applause and got it, too. Brown scored a nice goal and is coming along well under Palmer’s care. Cordinor was the best for Thistle. Pearce. Lennox, and Henderson got through a lot of work well. Ted Taylor did not do as well as usual. Smith, Taylor and Boadle were the best of the forwards. McLellan at outsido left gave a glimpse of good work at times, but was out of condition. The man with the whistle was, very good, and kept the players well in hand. They realised that he could not be bluffed, and that he did not stand for elbow work or anything dirty, and the consequence was a very clean game. The Canterbury representatives came and were conquered but not disgraced. They were simply out-manouevred by the Wellington team, who quickly settled down to well thought-out modes of attack. Time after time the Blacks swept down and crumbled up the defence. It was a right stubborn defence the visitors put up, and Wilson. their goalie, had a tremendous amount of work .to do. Although his charge fell eight times, it. by no means signifies weakness on his part, but emphasises the thorough and tenacious manner in which the home side stuck to their guns until success had crowned their efforts. The selectors of tho Wellington representatives are certainly deserving of the heartiest congratulations for their long-headed-ness in gathering together such a combination. With perfect precision the local team moved down the field of play, halves and forwards working in concert. The Canterbury front rankers on several occasions showed up and gave tho home defence one or two anxious moments. J. Frickleton and H. Chapman were really a good partnership and gave the opposing wing considerable food for thought. Chapple, who was given representative honours for the first time, did well at full-back for the visitors. He, with Gould, made mistakes, and had Wilson taking more than his share of the defence. The tactics generally adopted by the southern representatives were fatal to success. . Their forwards were too strong with the kick, failing to follow up, with the consequence' that they seldom riot to within striking distance of the Wellington goal. . Many of the players in the Y.M.C.A. v. Marist match at Kelburn were subject to criticism or pfaise from the side-lines. Criticism, in its . proper place, is a very desirable quality, but on a field a player is apt to be put off his game if he hears someone on the line criticising his play. It is always well to remember that there is a time and place for everything, and the time for criticism is certainly not when the player is devoting his attention to' the game in progress., lhe place for this is in the gymnasium or club house, and not on the field. One of the most promising backs in Wellington at the present time is Rudolph, tba Manrt full-back, and never, perhaps, has he . been seen to more advantage than in the match against Y.M.C.A. He was all that a full-back should be—safe, a good kick with both feet, fleet, sound in wind, and above all showed a capacity for directing the play all over the field. McGirr (Y.M.C.A.) was also eeen to advantage, although it was no ■ bv far the best game lie has played. Now that the winter is fully upon us, there is need that there should hrno delay in starting the later matches, as a start later than 3 p.m. means ft finish in the dusk, and for obvio™ reasons that is far from desirable. The Charity Cup replay, between Wclgasco and Swifts, at Association Park resulted in the former registering their first win; hopes are still entertained that they will ® a ’ or points in a championship fixture before long. Swifts have not been able to secure a win 'n the championship series of. the Senior B division, so that a win would have been welcome. Although beaten by a margin of two goals, they proved worthy opponents. Welgasoo were the better team. They were more aggressive and held together better when attacked. In Blackstock and Winter they have two excellent front-rankers, and with the finishing touches of Thompson were responsible for two of the goals. Swifts got their only goal from a penalty kick. Dalton, Swifts’ left-back, played a sound, strong game. In the forward line Reid was the most dangerous. Congratulations to Gasco on their win. , , , Scottish Wanderers, who head the Senior B championship table with two other teams, Institute and South Wellington, had another win last Saturday at tho expense of Island Bay. Both sides showed a good understanding of the game. The' Scottish Wanderers have a very sound half-back line, which the Bay forwards found hard to evade. This team will bo difficult to hold from gaining the premier position, at the end of the season, in the Senior B division championship. It is not often a good word is said for the referee. It is, therefore, all tho more pleasing to find that the Thistle Club wrote to the Wellington Association this week, expressing its appreciation of the action of Mr. Aers in taking charge of their junior game Brooklyn oU Saturday last, when the referee appointed failed to put in an appearance.. Mr. Aers had just finished refereeing an earlier match, but when ho heard that no referee was present ho unhesitatingly volunteered to officiate. Needless to say, his offer was gladly accepted, and the members of the Thistle junior team spoke in terms of the greatest praise of the way in which Mr. Aers handled the game. , To make any comments on tho individual merits of the local players would bo out of place. Each, and all had the team spirit resulting in every member playing his part nobly. Palmer did one or two fancy stunts which could have well been left undone-, but otherwise he worked in splendidly with his colleagues. The accurate passes sent across from the wing mon, McLeod and Smith, were a treat. One point worth noting by these two is that instead of working down to near tho corner flag before. centring when no opposition player is near, tfliey should swing in- earlier | towards the goal. To hold on right to. the last before sending across is all right when opponents are right on your heels and cannot easily be shaken off. It was natural that a close watch would be kept on how Smith and Stock acquitted themselves. They have every reason to be pleased. Smith’s flag kicks were marvellous in their unerring accuracy. Stock, at centre forward, rarely missed the passes from the wing men. Wellington’s star custodian, Ewing, saved the few difficult shots sent in to him in his usual brilliant manner. It was a great pity that the day was such a wet one, for undoubtedly the game would have been

of a much more spectacular character on a dry ground.

A correspondent, commenting on the display of the team selected to play against Canterbury says: —“Congratulations to the selectors on their picking. Ono often growls .at you, so this time you have the laugh. It was a good idea allowing Jones and McGirr to change places at half-time. Both did fine work in whichever place they wore in. Do try and get this team up against tho team touring Australia, and if you do, given a fino day, a record gate will eventuate.” Some excellent football was shown in the junior match between Petone B and Johnsonville at Anderson Park on Saturday. The Johnsonville team played pluckily, but Petone gave the best exhibition, and with a little coaching, should prove a tough proposition.

How the draw between England and Scotland was accomplished is graphically described in an account of the match: “There was a punt down the centre. The ball travelled over the heads of the forwards, and should have been easily returned by Wadsworth. Andrew Wilson, it is true, was following up, and evidently intended to play on the back, but he,had no need to do so, as Wadsworth, taking the situation with almost nonchalant ease, simply kicked over the ball. He swung his leg, but the ball remained, and Wilson went away with it. He swept past the back, and had no one to stay his progress in the 40 yards between him and the goal. Taylor decided to remain at home. He did not advance to narrow the angle, and, dribbling on, the Scottish centre, retaining all his usual self-possession, shot from about 12 yards—a . ground, slanting drive which went away from Taylor s rigjht hand, and was fast enough to leave him helpless.”

The death of Mr Charles Crump, vice- ! president of the English Football Association, and the “grand old man” of Soccer at Home, took place with startling suddenness at Edinburgh on the morning of April 15, at the age of 83. He had been to witness the match between England and Scotland, and retired for the night. Next morning he rose and dressed himself, but had a seizure, and immediately expired., He came of a long-lived family, and used to speak of a brother m New Zealand older than himself. In 1874 Ke founded the Stafford Road Football Club, and played for Birmingham against North Wales in 1876, and did not retire from active play until he was 41 years of age, after which ho frequently acted as referee m important matches. The English Football Association sent teams to France and Belgium last month. Soccer has a great following m Spain, and the Barcelona Club numbers 7500 paying members, and its ground cost £35,000. King Alfonso takes. a great interest in the game. A -Birmingham team is at present playing in to the,Mew Zealand team a Sydney sporting paper states ttiat Kissock is one of the best centre-halves seen in Sydney, and- special praise is also given to Braithwaite. Discussing the question whethw bars or studs are best for football purposes, the “Weekly Times remarks; It’s largely a matter of personal taste „ to whether footer boots should be fitted with bars or studs. A good plan is to combine the two having the studs fitted on the bars. They are said to grip all ‘the better. “TOO MUCH WHISTLE” Replying to the article in last Saturday’s notes under the heading or “Too Much Whistle.” “Spectator writes:—“l read this article carefully and came to the conclusion that the writer wrote in total ignorance of the laws of the game and the spirit in which the football associations intends them to be interpreted. I have had many years’ experience, seen the best, referees in the Old Country and hi New Zealand, and never yet have I seen a promiscuous use of the arms and elbows go unpenalised. Ankle tapping is a dodge resorted to by Home players only, and I have never yet seen n colonial-born player do such a thing. It is a recognised trick amongst the English professional players. It is admitted that exhibitions of rough play are not attractive, but I would go further and say that they are not required. ‘Kick Off’ is unfortunate in his reference to the second Test of last year, as all the rough play that, went on came from the viistors’ team; they told the referee before the game that they were going to play a hard game. This Mr. Lithgow can confirm. Regarding tho penalties 'n Granville. ‘Kick Off’ is merely guessing. The ‘Daily Telegraph’ states that Campbell was robbed of his goal against Granville, and this has been confirmed by private advices. So much for ‘Kick Off’s’ guessing, but supposing that Campbell did charge the goalkeeper in the back as he turned round. Does your correspondent not know that law 9 says that a player can ba charged from behind when he is intentionally obstructing an opponent (which h« would bo in this instance), and does he not know that the referees’ chart says: ‘. ... It has been noticed that many referees construe the law more strictly than is necessary to secure fair play, and in consequence of such decisions the progress of games is unnecessarily interfered with. Campbell told the Australians in Dunedin that football was not a parlour game, but a game for men. _ Kissock says the same thing. This is my reply to what Home players think. The players who object to certain tactics are those who squeal for everything. The laws of tho game do not provide for blocking or obstruction being penalised, but they certainly do provide for charging being allowed. As ’ong as charging is not' violent or dangerous it is permissible, no matter whether a player is expecting a charge or not. .1 am quite at one with ‘Kick Off’ m my desire to see clever, scientific football played in this country, but laws are laws, and there is not the slightest doubt that there is' too . much whistle used in this country, and that the same fault is prominent in the Old Country is proved by the frequency with which the council of the Football Association calls attention to tho unnecessary use of the whistle. It is rather hard to quite understand what ‘Kick Off’ is really getting at. because he complains of heavy charging in one place, and says it is allowed in another. So much for that. Nobody is keener than the writer in seeing the Soccer code come into prominence, but what is required is a imf ficiency of really good referees who will quickly suppress all questionable tactics, which is, after all, what we desire.” ,