ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 257, 14 July 1926, Page 6

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

(By

“Goalie.”)

After A week*# npcll clubs were engngcA lignin on Saturday in their various grade competitions. Amongst the senior# the most important fixture was that in which Hospital and Y.M.C.A. were the contesting teams. It was the filial insofar as local clubs were concerned in the competition tor the Chatham Cup The honours of the flay fell, and rightly so, to the leaders in the League championship. Tn the A division Marist, Brooklyn, and Thistle added the major points by good margins against institute, Waterside, and Diamonds. Swifts, Seatoun, Hutt, ana Y.M.C.A. were the successful clubs in the B division.

The games generally were fairly well contested, and the standard of play on the whole was good. All the grounds were in wonderfully fine condition, and there was scarcely a breath of wind to Interfere with play. So far this season there has been no occasion for the Postponement Committee to declare games off, and on that account the various competitions in all grades are well forward.

Hospital’s Victory. It was a fine victory, and oa the day’s play Hospital’s achievement was a silencer to those who maintain that the Porirua Club are not at their best away from their home ground. To come to town and defeat a team of the calibre of Y.M.C.A. on the Basin Reserve, which is virtually the city team’s ground, belies the assertion that Hospital’s success in the league is in a measure due to their being able to meet city teams on the Porirua ground. The first minutes of the game looked ominous for Hospital. Y.M.C.A. started away in hurricane fashion, and before the Porirua players had stretched their legs the citv team were one up. Y?M.C.A., however, did not rest on that one goal lead, and it was not long before another goal w.as added. For a while Y.M.C.A.’s colours floated right merrily, and although their play was not convincing it looked as though the two goals lead was to be of some use to them. Hospital were a little slow in getting off the mark, but once into their stride there was no holding them back. By the time the interval came Newman had placed his side on level terms.

His two goals were good, and added to the already fine opinion that is held of’ him. Early in the second half Y.M.C.A.’s colours slid down a bit, while those of Hospital went right to the masthead and ternained there until the end, although t here

were troublous seas to sail over in between. Hospital weathered the stormy parts well, and were not behindhand in making things unpleasant wr V-M.C.A Tt was a good game to ’—■itch. There were many incidents m the play which brought applause. Somehow or other the Y.M.C.A. eleven did not go to the attack with their accustomed swing. Their defence was quite good, but there was something lacking when the front rankers started to move forward. It seemed to me that they found the Hospital halves at the top of their form, and that they put out of joint any plan of attack before it bad time to, fully develop. There was no doubt whatever of Hospital’s strength in this quarter. Brown, McKee, and Simon would have been a tough proposition for that great front line of Auckland’s which helped in the defeat of Wellington on tlie same ground the week before. Not only was Hospital strong in halves, but at least three of the forwards were up to or close to representative standard.

Newman was in great fettle, and his side’s three goals came ironhis boot. He kept up with every move of his wing men, and neithei Lambert nor Ferguson were sluggards. Newman s three goals were in a class by themselves, and gave

Ewing no chance at all. There was

not the slightest hesitation, and the direction of .the ball was so controlled that the saving part was made as difficult as possible. Thompson was a bit weak at full-back, but Gibb more than made up for his clubmate’s mistakes. There was no haste or flurrv about Gibb. His tackling was deadly, and when he sent the ball forward it’ went where, it would be of best advantage to his side. . Y.M.C.A.’s weakness lay in their forwards, who lacked cohesion. Not only was there little combination amongst the citv front-rankers, but they lacked punch. True, with the exception of one period in the second. half, they did almost as much attacking as their opponents, but thev seldom got verv far, and rarelv did thev get Hospital into serious difficulty. Ballard was their most aggressive front-ranker, but one mail could do little against such opposition. Stark was insistent, but he found Brown and

Gibb rather a big handful. He had great difficulty in collecting Ballard’s passes, as the latter did not direct them . square enough. Gibb, by keeping fairly close up to Brown, forced Stark to keep more in line with Ballard than usual. On occasions Stark disguised his inten-

tions and misled the vigilance of Gibb, and made great headway, but the V M.C.A. left winger did not turn H,e ball goalward as neatlv as usual. Had Ewing been less brilliant, Hospital would have won by at least another two goals. It was just as well tor VM C A. that Ewing was in such or x.jl.v.v. eoo d form, for both

Prince and McGirr have played better. The latter had to fill the full-back position owing to Roberts being unable to play. Robbins, who got a try out in the trial game at Kelburn on June 3, filled the vacancy in the halves. Although he has played

same fine club games tor the B team this year, and shows promise of better' to come, he is not vet up to the standard needed for a game like Saturdav’s. However, «t >s right hat the younger players should get them chance, and a few. more opportunities should be given this player. Taking ’’ all through, the game was good, and a tine sporting spirit was shown t ■ Au ole verr 'jf both sides.

Thistle v. Diamonds. Although Thistle defeated Diamonds by 4 goals to 2, it was by no means an easy victory for Thistle.

The Diamonds were not quite so good in their defence as their op ponents. Lothian took full advantage of even opening, and three of his side’s goals were got bi him. Last yeai Lothian was m great form when playing for Scottish Wanderers,

but since the amalgamation o f 11.-L _ 1-t. ...24.1. o'l

that club with Thistle, he has not so far been quite so brilliant. If he is played in the centre position for the remainder of the season, it will be 1 AX'

io 1 IllStlC 3 UCUGfit, for that is the place he is most useful in. It is only taking risks to play a man tn any other position who has shown he is at his best as leader of the frontrankers. Diamonds, too, have been experimenting, and McLeod, I. who has played for the last few

seasons on the outside, has been played at centre. Oti Saturday he partner-

ed Stocks, while Findlay took the pivot position. Thistle changed over with a goal lead, and increas ed their score by two, while Diamonds could only reply with a goal from McLeod. There was plenty of sting in the Diamonds’ attacks, but Thistle’s defence was stubborn.

Makers of the Laws. New Scotland fought and won the le on the offside law, but for the genesis of the laws we are really indebted to England, who in 1863 drew up the first code of rules to govern association football (says a writer in an exchange). Naturally, as the other large associations came into being, the laws under which they plaved were based on those of the English Association. It will readily be admitted that the task which confronted the newly-formed English body was no easy one, and if any omissions were later found, or better proposals submitted, that does not in the slightest degree detract from the usefulness of the original laws.

For many years the laws of Scotland and England varied in some matters, but as a result of a round-table conference at Manchester in the early eighties, a universal code was drawn up for use by all the British Associations. This conference was the forerunner of the International Board, which was formed a few years later and vested with the sole power of making alterations in the playing conditions. But the laws, which were adopted universally in 1883, were far from perfect. Experience and altered conditions caused the introduction of new principles, and all the nations have played a part in amending the laws.

Perhaps the greatest innovation of all was the framing of the penaltykick law—one of the most important •ws in the book to-day, because of the issues involved. To Ireland belongs the credit for this great achievement, Handling the ball in close proximity to the goal had become a nuisance, but the proper reunedy could not be agreed upon. Various suggestions were brought forward, such as giving the referee discretionary powers to award a goal if the ball was deliberately handled within four yards of the goal to prevent a goal being scored.

This idea was, of course, discountenanced, but it is open to argument whether the principle behind that proposal was not sound. Even to-day such a rule might be of great value. To have a penalty kick awarded for a handling infringejnent within 18 yards of the goal is'altogether too harsh, when the punishment for the same offence, committed half a yard further out, is only an ordinary free kick. And when we reflect on the intention of the legislators as demonstrated by the proposal we have referred to, might it not be an improvement if the award of a penalty kick for handling were confined to offences committed within the six yards area ?

The original penalty kick law of 1891 was not identical to that of to-day. At first the penalty was confined to offences committed within 12 yards of the goal. Later on it was agreed that the kick should be taken from the spot where the offence occurred, but there was no area drawn out at this time. However, this followed, and with a few more minor alterations, restricting the goalkeeper to the goal area and later to the goal line, the present-day law was arrived at. Nor is it yet as our legislators would wish it, and' within the next year or wto important alterations may be made in an endeavour to remove some of the anomalies which exist to-dav.

One of the items which the eagle eye of the English legislators has closely followed is that relating to the goalkeeper’s privileges. Time was when it was a delight to many to see the goalkeeper go hurtling between the posts —ball and all—but now one hardly dares to approach the custodian or an infringement is signalled. But if they provided protection for goalkeepers, England also took measures to restrict their handling activities. At one time the goalkeeper was allowed to handle the ball unrestrictedly, but in 1901 England came forward with a proposal to prohibit handling beyond the centre line, and in 1912 the privilege was further curtailed to the penalty area. Last year, on a Scottish proposal, scoring direct from a corner kick was legalised, but Wales had forward, a similar proposal many years ago which did not then find favour. The new throw-in is England’s, and in submitting their latest proposal they are but following up their own activities with regard to this law. At one time, players could take a run and throw in the ball, but that was stopped. Then there was the one-handed throw, invariably coupled with the name of Hugliie Wilson, of Third Lanark fame. This style ol throw was perfected by the "Warrior” to such an extent that the punishment was too great for the crime, so the law was amended to compel the player to throw the ball with both hands.

Apart altogether from the controversy which has raged round this year’s alteration, it is recognised that something more will he required to adequately punish deliberate kicking-cut. It has been suggested that a free kick should be awarded if the referee considers the kicking-out deliberate, but such a ruling wpuld leave too much to the discretion of the referee.