ASSOCIATION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 150, 26 June 1915, Page 17

ASSOCIATION

(By "Vanguard.") Although a great number were disappointed at the turn the weather took last Saturday, the best face possible was put on the matter and good business was done at the stalls in the Basin Reserve. Maybe the postponement of the function was lucky after all, as the workers have now had a dress rehearsal, and things which were forgotten or overlooked last Saturday will no doubt be all right today. The postponement meant,, of course, that matches had to be put forward another week, but there was absolutely nothing else io/ it. Those pla-yers, fortunately few, who grumble at the de- | cision of the W.F.A., want to remember that greater things than playing football axe taking place, football only I being of subsidiary interest to the majority of players and members of the public. Football should be playedj and will be pla.yed, just so long as it does not interfere wfth patriotic movements. That seems to be the attitude of the W.F.A., and, of course, is the right one, and will be loyally supported by the' great majority of players. Watching the boys play at the Basin Reserve last Saturday was something of a treat, although the wet ball hampered their movements a great deal. Their splendid knowledge of the game and generally good physique was the subject of much favourable comment. They are

undoubtedly the class to encourage, and, with such a fine stamp of boys playing the game so excellently, the future of Association football in Wellington is assured. To my mind, the general public do not see enough of these boys, and it would do the game a lot of good if they were brought more prominently before them. We hear so much from time to time of clubs, aud especially losing clubs, grumbling about referees, that it is a pleasure to discover an instance to the contrary. Thus the chairman of the ■Chelsea Club, the defeated, be it remembered, in the Final Tie of the English Cup, has written to Mr. H. Taylor the following letter : — "Dear sir, — Will you kindly accept the hearty congratulations of my co-directors and myself on the splendid manner in which you controlled the F.A. Cup Final Tie 'between my club and Sheffield United on Saturday last.— Yours faithfully, W. Claude Kirby, chairman." Pleasant as the receipt of such a letter as this must be to the referee, the tone of the communication at an hour when the club has not only lost the Cup, but is also relegated to ihe Second Division, will stand to the j- everlasting credit of Chelsea. The English football season is over, and there is no doubt a universal feeling of thankfulness among the governing classes that such an extremely trying period has come to an end. The League, the managers, the secretaries, all acknowledge a sense of , relief that a campaign which has caused such bitter denunciations and which has entailed such anxiety and heavy loss in the majority of cases has been completed. The members of the great leagues were caught as in a vice last August, Machinery has been devised during -the last few months that will work for the relief of directorates. Now the game can bo_ stopped by order of the Football Association, a power voluntarily given to the parent body by the leagues. The association ! could not stop the playing of the game last September. Agreements between clubs and players were supported by the law of the land. j This ibtate of affairs is changed. The F-A. can forbid football — if it be deem* ed wise to do so. In all future contracts there will be a new clause which j cancels the contract if play is terminated or suspended, due to the action of the F.A., the Football League, or the Council of Management Committee. There never was any such power to intervene before, so that now the relations of clubs and players will be on an entirely new basis.