CHINESE TEAM DEFEATED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 18, 21 July 1924, Page 11

CHINESE TEAM DEFEATED

WELLINGTON WIN BY FOUR

DISAPPOINTING EXHIBITION OF

Only in recent years has sport became a part of Eastern civilisation. In China, for example, learning has for centuries teen the ruling passion, and to engage in sport of any kind was regarded as ungentlemanly, to say the least of it. Twenty years ago, however, the game ot Association football was introduced into the East by a party of British sailors, and prejudice against good, healthy, open-air exercise began to fade away. Before very long the game began to spread throughout the country, iind to-day it occupies jjride of place in China's growing list of pastimes. Several times China has won the Soccer championship at the Great Eastern Olympiad, and last year a further step forward was made, a representative team paying a- visit to Australia, where "the men from the Orient acquitted themselves, very well. The success attending that tour led the New Zealand Council' to open negotiations for a visit to this Dominion, and to-day we have ■with us the members of the Chinese "University team. The organisation is to tour New Zealand for close on three months, and on Saturday ■ they made .their first appearance in Wellington in the second match of the tour. A strong Wellington eleven was selected to oppose the men from China, and the match attracted the largest crowd ever seen at an exhibition of the Soccer code in New Zealand. Good reports that' preceded the visitors and the fact.that the fixture was a novelty in the. annals of sporfc in this country had caused the game to be rue. of the .main topics of discussion for some days past, but even in their fondest dreams members of the New Zealand Council "did not anticipate' the crowd that flocked to the Basin Reserve on Saturday afternoon. They expected ..a crowd. certainly, but expectations gave place to surprise when it was announced that 14,500 people paid for admission, at the gate, making the- total attendance over 15,000. Old records Were' thrown to the winds, and officials and other enthusiasts were glad. It was a perfect day. The dull clouds of the morning had disappeared entirely by 1 o clock, and in their place were blue skies and bright sunshine. It was a clay " out of the box," and for once at least fortune • favoured ithe round-ball game.' Any qualms in the minds of officials that the tour" might not prove a financial success vanished under the wand of Dame Fortune.

lE.the game itself had been as good as the, weather, the pictures would have' been completed, but unfortunately it fell far short of being even a good exhibition" of Soccer. ' It v; as not.the fault of -the : Wellington . players ;■ .they . were ready to do "their, part,sJ)ut\"the'game played by the visitors was disappointing to a degree. It may be/that the Chinese have not yet got properly into third stride—certainly they have not had much chance. Their game was so completely, different from that which Wellington" people are ' accustomed to that the local men were' at times bewildered at the freedom'- of movement allowed them by . the Chinese. They were not used to such treatment., , Practically without, exception members of the visiting team refused to tackle the 16cal men with a view to robbing them of the ball, and it was not an uncommon sight to see the whole Wellington vanguard moving toward thoir opponents' goal, with the Chinese retreating before them. •■ Play the ball, riot the man " may be "lie slogan of the visitors, but surely this_ was the " play the ball " i;lea carried to excess. The visitors also lacked speed, and there was little effort' at individuality. Team work, or combination, is a quality to be admired, ■' but to' rely on another player when he-is out of his place is a fatal'mistake. Several times' on Saturday' a', Chinese forward passed the ball to an empty space, or failed to carry on .by himself when lie had a reasonably good chance of scoring. The. Chinese certainly showed that combined play can be overdone in the same way as individual play. The efforts of the .visitors'in front of goal .were, also weak,, several chances being thrown away by faulty or weak .shbotHig. .. Despite the deficiencies mentioned above, there are players in the visfitrng team who are capable of very bright football. The goalkeeper, C. T. I'ao, is probably as sound a custodian as we have in New Zealand, and he should prove a very useful member of the *cam. He made some remarkably fine saves, and appeared to be able-to anticipate moves made by 'the opposing forwards. ' The captain of the teanf A. K. Ting, left full-back, did some very solid work; and was largely responsible for keeping down the score in the. first spell, which ended with Wellingtpn. one goal in the lead. C. S. YFimg did some . sound defensive work a< centre forward, and was really the only member of the team who w.as inclined to tackle with any vim. The forwards gave promsie of being capable oE belter things later in the tour, but as lias been stated, their weaknesses were lack of individuality and a lack of finish in front of the g0a1.,. H. E. Chan" did some good work at centre forward" and of the others Alex. Ting and B k' Jap were the outstanding figures. There were no apparent weaknesses in the Wellington eleven, but the game was not a real test of ability. M'Girr and Guest were a solid pair of full-backs and proved altogether too good for 'the forwards opposed to them. As centre Half, M'Kee did some excellent work and all the forwards did good work ' Those present at the match included t.ie Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright), the Hon. ,(.(.«..Goates. the Hon. C. E. Statham Mr.-T. M. Wilford, M.P Mr H F Holland, M.P., and Mr. C.' P. Skerrett,'

' During the afternoon some acceptable music was played by the Boys' Institute band.

THE TEAMS.

The teams lined up as follow: ■Chinese Universities (maroon and p>ld).-Goal,.C. T. Pao; full-backs T L. Loh and A. K. Ting: half-backs L N". Lok, C. S. Wang, and lI.'X. Liang • forwards, Alex. Ting, Y. C. Wu, H. E Chang. B. K. Jap, and P. T. Lowe Wellington'(black).—Goal, J. Ewino- • full-backs, J. Gncst L. M'GiiT-half-backs, W. Thomas, D. M'Koe' and W. Browniie; forwards. E. Uarton M M'Eiligott, J. Lotl.ian, G. Campbell, and C. Ballard.

Rsferee, Mr. F. Campbell.' PLAY DESCRIBED.

After.the teams haxl exchanged cheers Che rival captains, A. K. Ting and o' Campbell, tossed in the centre of the field, and the luck of tho spin was in favour of Campbell, who elected to play with tho advantage of a strong sun. Xko fittV mku.iss of the same proved

an exciting one, the visitors starting oS with a great rush.' Prom the kick-off Chang set his men in motion, and a brisk attack saw an opening made for Jap, who sent in a shot which narrowly missed its objective. Wellington recovered immediately, and Barton was prominent in .1 nice piece of work, as a result of which Loll had to concede a corner. Ballard's kick from the flag was well placed, but M'Kee missed with his shot. Pressure was maintained by ihe local-men, and from some distance out ■M'ElligoU sent in a shot which brought Pao into action for the first time. The custodian made a good clearance, and Wu mado a forward movement. M'Girr was in the way, however, and his kick enabled M'Elligotfc to have another shot, which was again well stopped by Pao. Campbell shot unsuccessfully a minute -or so later, and then China received a free kick, which enabled them to take up the initiative. Jap had a shot, but Ewing saved well, and the ball was transferred .to the (ther end of the field, where Campbell just missed with a left-footer. Shortly after that the first goal of the match was scored. Ballard sent in a nice centre from the left wing, and Lothian, rushing • up, headed the ball into the net. Pao had no chance of saving. Wellington 1, Chinese Universities 0. Wellington attacked immediately after the kick-off, and M'Elligott forced A. K. "ing into conceding a corner. Barton's kick, however, went behind. From the goal kick, Wang opened up a promising passing rush, and the visitors found themselves with only one full-back and a goalkeeper to pass. A goal seemed almost certain, but Guest proved too solid and succeeded in breaking up the attack. After that play remained in the Chinese half for some time, . and the spectators were treated to a pleasing exhibition of passing by the local forwards. The visiting backs, however, proved solid enough to keep the Wellington men from scoring, some bright work being done by A. K. Ting, whose lacking was effective. Wang' eventually set his forwards in motion again, but Chang failed to take advantage of a 2,'00d opportunity provided by Alex. Ting. A little later the same player was at fault, passing wildly and allowing the Wellington backs to clear. Barton did some good work on the right vying, but many of his centres were robbed of their value by poor shooting by. Lothian and Campbell. The first spell ended with the scores:

Wellington Chinese Universities

SECOND SPELL.

The second spell opened with another brisk attack by the Chinese students, Lowe getting away on the left wing. He cleverly . eluded the opposition, but his kick was a faulty one, the ball going behind. Wellington attacked 'again, and Pao saved two shots in succession. One shot from Campbell was a good one, but the Chinese custodian .managed to turn the ball for a corner. A few minutes later Pao bought off another great save from Barton. An attack by China saw .a chance given to Chang, but the centre kicked too high. Campbell repeated the oftence a little later, but it was not long before Wellington increased their ■cad. Lothian was given an opening, but his kick for goal, was a weak one. Pao would have saved it, no doubt, but ho slipped in the attempt, and the ball rust trickled into the net. Wellington 2, .Chinese Universities 0.

The Wellington- goal was placed in danger shortly after the ball was set in' motion, but the attempts at scoring were weak, and Ewing had no- difficulty in Keeping his goal intact. M'Kee sent in a long shot soon after that, and Pao roused . great enthusiasm by jumping nigh and deflected, the ball over the crossbar. Wellington were' awarded a penalty kick, but Lothian took no advantage of it. Then came the third Roal, which was the result of a fine solo effort by M'Elligott. " The Marist pjayer ran rieht through-the opposition, and had no difficulty in placing the -bal ' f»ast Pao. . Wellington 3, Chinese Universities 0.

The visitors were plainly tiring at this stage, and Wellington had matters all their own way. * Before the game ended, Welh n gtp n scored aeain, Barton netting sfter a nice solo effort. Wellinston 4" Chinese Universities 0. The students Mew, with the scores: WELLINGTON A CHINESE UNIVERSITIES""":" 0