SOCCER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 51, 28 August 1926, Page 22

SOCCER

BY ' VANaUAmO"

THE CHAMPIONSHIP

HOSPITAL'S GOOD POSITTGfI

NOTES OF INTEREST,

Present indications are that Hospital will annex the local championship for the 1926 season. Earlier in tho season they had formidable rivals in V.M.C.A., but in latter games Youug Men have not displayed their form of last soason,, and it seems fairly certain now that Hospital will play on to win. Their championship points total 19, and Marist, next on tho list, have 17 to their credit. It seems, however, that Hospital's position is fairly well assured, and with the limited games yet to be played, the chances of the other teamß do not appear to be bright. Institute Superior. After some of their performances earlier this season, it was not generally anticipated that Waterside would so easily be defeated by Institute as happened last Saturday. On more than one occasion "Waterside have demonstrated that they are a team not to be treated lightly, but they were certainly not up to form on Saturday, and Institute never had any difficulty in holding them. In fact, Waterside never once looked like winners, and the game was played for tho greater part of the time in Waterside's half. Waterside kicked off, but Institute made matters lively from "the start, and their forward attacks were launched with a vim which made the Waterside defence very busy. Watersjde ha.ye a pair of good backs in Bolton and TJrwin, and in the early stages of the game, had the defence of this pair not been so sountl, there is every likelihood that Institute's tally of goals would have easily exceeded three. Within tho first five minutes or so, Maddocks made a fair bid to score, but Cox was sure aud cleared after anxious moments. Institute were not to be put off though, and a throw-in gave Waterside little relief, till Bolton cleared. Institute continued to press, and a pass that came from Calvert on tho wing was almost put into the net by Maddocks. Cox was again safe, and kept his goal clear. Waterside only threatened once or twico in the . first spell, and one of theso movements, in which Garrard featured, was effectively stopped by the Institute' backs. However, Institute never let oft', and v passing movement was -successful when Jeffcry found the i.et. No further goals were scored in.thj first half. The second spell was a' repetition of the first, with tho addition that Institute had more of (the play, and Waterside's chances of scoring were less. Institute kept hammering away at the goal, and it was mainly the defence of Cox that kept the score down. Garrard got away once or twice, but tho only time that Institute's goal was seriously threatened Tarrant was up to the occasion, and cleared nicoly. Play went back to Waterside's half, and Institute's second score came when Calvert tried a long shot. It was not the kind of . shot that is usually successful, but this time it went over Cox's head and into the net —or at least where the net should have been, for tho teams were playing without, goal nets. Waterside were unable to stop the attacks of Institute, and the latter . secured their third goal, the result of a fine piece of solo work by Joffery, who beat Cox with a shot that any goalkeeper would have had difficulty in stopping. Waterside broke away once or twice after that, but found the defence of Institute too sound, and ,the latter left the field winners by three, goals to nil. Although Tarrant, in goal for Institute, was not called on like anythingto the extent that Cox was, he played up to form, and on one occasion brought off a first-class save. Bell and Gill were the backs, and a safe pair they proved, although their work on Saturday was not particularly orerous. Exton, Jeffery, and Bing niado up the half-back line, and of these Jeffery was by far the most prominent. If anything, he tried a little too much on his own. Smith filled the outside-righ'j posi-. tion with credit, though he did not shine. He couldn 't, because he never got the chance. Maddocks, Dawe, May, and Calvert completed the forward lino and worked well.

Cox, who played in goal for Waterside, was one of the busiest men on the field —and one of tho best. He had a great deal of work to do. Bolton and Urwin were the backs, and, like tho goalkeeper, wore kept very busy. Bolton, by safe and accurate kicking, did a groat deal to lighten the attack on the Waterside goal. M'Lellan, Haines, and Irvine made up the half-back line. Haines was prominent, and was instrumental in getting his forwards away several times. Garrard made a successful right winger, and had his centres; which were very accurately timed, been received in a proper way by tho forwards, there is no doubt that Waterside would havo scored. Several of them went begging though, and Institute were enabled to clear. The remainder of the forwards were Wellwood, Jenkins, Gilbertson, and Thorn. Marist and Thistle Both Off Colour. Marist and Thistle were both decidedly off colour when they met on No. 2 ground, Basin Beserve, la3t Saturday, and consequently • a very Plain Jano game resulted. It was not that there was a lack of energy on either side, for often tho play was of a fairly heavy order, but there simply was no finish to the work; that is, of course, summing up the game as a whole, for in any match there are bright flashes here and there,

A Thistle supporter remarked to me at half-time, Thistle having had the. heavy end of the stick throughout the opening spell on account of tho wind, that the side was doing very well to keep Marist out, except for one goal, under the circumstances:. Probably a .Marist supporter would have remarked, and more correctly, that Marist had done quite badly enough in not getting through, for more than one goal, under the circumstances, for they had very much in their favour, and through poor finishing efforts made very little of their chances. Galbraith, Thistle's substitute goalkeeper, had breezy moments, but was never exactly bathed in perspiration. Ted Taylor and Jack, particularly Taylor, who played his consistently solid game, had a deal to do with Marist's failure to make hay while the wind blow, but oven when thojo men wcro passed chances still went begging. ■ The forward lino was off colour, and that was all there was about it. A Lucky Win. Probably Hospital supporters will be tho first to admit that their team was lucky to win in their match with Y.M.-

C.A. on No. 1 ground at tho Basin Eeservc on Saturday. In a largo measure their victory by one goal was duo to the fino goalkecping of Portcous, who had a particularly warm time during the second spell, and emerged from his ordeal with ilying colours. Shot after shot he turned away, and no doubt V.M.C.A. forwards were heartily sick of tho sight of him before the game came to nn end. Hospital, with a strong wind behind them, finished up with a lead of two goals, and it was generally thought that tho advantage was not sufficient to ensure a win, under tho existing conditions. Nor would it have proved sufficient had it not been f*r Porteoua. Practically through the whole of tho spoil V.M.C.A. hammered away in fine style, but only once were they able to penetrate tho stout defence set up by Hospital. After their rather mediocre displays lately, it was very- refreshing to see V.M.C.A. return to their old form, and every man worked very hard. It was a pity that Wilkins was placed on tho wing, as that player has given a good account of himself in the centre forward position, and has proved himself a good scoring man. Dempster, who took tho centre position, did not show up in too favourable a light as the pivot, his great weakness being an inclination to shoot from too far out. One or two of his shots, with the wind bohind them, were dangerous, but there were numerous occasions on which he would have been done better to have passed to his outsides. Dempster's tactics hampered Ballard very considerably. Worth did good work at inside right, but his real position is on the wing, and V.M.C.A. should play him there. Stark, on the .left wing, did some splendid work, centring accurately and combining well with Ballard. The V.M.C.A. halves were in great foim, Pearson, at centre, playing one of his best games to date. He ta.cklcd splendidly, and kicked with judgment. Prince and Roberts played soundly at fullback, but Ewing, in goal, was not too certain at times. Anderson was one of the most dangerous of the Hospital forwards, and made many* openings for his side. Newman was always dangerous at centro forward, but he was well watched and was allowed few liberties. Lambert, on the wing, .ias played better games. Brown, M'Kee, and Simon made up a solid trio, and Gibb and Thompson were very effective at full-back. Thompson mado several splendid saves when his side was up against it. As indicated above, Porteous was at the top of his form, and besides clearing several hot shots, he saved a penalty kick. Generally, the standard of play was good, in spite of the high wind which prevailed, and spectators had no cause for complaint.

A Late Change Bound. A. Rudolph, played again at centre, was not given over many opportunities on account of tho, generally wretched centring of the wing men, but he wasted no time when Barton placed the ball just where it was wanted. Cudby was unable to settle down to tho style of wing play which has gained him a place in Wellington representative teams. The half line had also played better football than it did last Saturday. Burke was again the man most noticed by spectators, for he excels ;n neat tackling, but Thomas,' at centre, concerning himself with' the highly important business of feeding forward, played quite as useful, though an altogether different, style of game. Pope was less noticeable, and tho change round, with tho object of strengthening the forward line by moving Rudolph up to centreforward, was perhaps made rather late in the season. Fitzgerald was back between the posts, after a spell on account of injuries. y, :

Three More Games. ' Marist will certainly have to show keener football in their forthcoming games, particularly against Young Men, if they are to give, Hospital a real run for the championship. They have also to meet Diamonds and Waterside, which games should not prove disastrous to their calculations, for though Diamonds not long ago had a surprise win over Y.M.C.A.—upsett-'ng all sorts of calculations, even of "gates" possible, which would be quite a" sore point—it was merely a V.M.C.A. team and not the V.M.C.A. team. Wild Shooting. Thistle were quite disappointing in fhe second spell, when they really had opportunities of doing damage to Marist's small lead, for their'shooting was very wild. If a player comes out one Saturday and bangs in a succession of brilliant shots and comes again and sends over all sorts of poor stuff, naturally he is particularly noticed, and that is what happened to Logan. He was quite off form. Daniells played a very lively game, and was one of the best forwards of tho afternoon. Studs and Bars. There has been a certain amount of controversy about the footwea*r of Soccer players. It is very noticeable that 7 many players persist in wearing boots not in accordance with the laws, and are evidently ignorant of the strictness of the rules relating to.footwear. Boiled down this means there must bo no dangerous metal, or other material, projecting from the boot or pad. Studs or bars must not bo more than half an inch high, or' le3s than half an inch in diameter at the top. If bars are worn they must run directly from side to side of tho sole. Any player has the right to appeal to the referee, at any time to examine any or all of 'the players' boots, but on tho field of play the referee does not have to wait for an appeal. Hero is the important point: If during play a player is found to be wearing illegal boots, he must be ordered off, and is riot allowed to return. If the offence is discovered during the interval, lie may remedy the defect, and go on the field.

Moral: If. tho player is doubtful about his footwear, he should ask the referee before tho game or during the interval. Another rule which must be given effect to governs the throw-in. The new rule states that tho player throwing tho ball in from touch must stand behind the line, and not have any part of his feet touching tho lino, as in the old rule. Fijian Football. Mr. F. C. Jacobs, who was wellknown in football circles a few years ago, playing many good games for Hospital, is now stationed at Suva. Mr. Jacobs has been a prominent referee in Auckland for many years and in a chatty letter he makes interesting reforenco to Fijian football. He says; "You will bo interested to hear that I have had an opportunity to watch Fijian football at close quarters, having rofereed a trial match between aspirants for representative honours at Levuka; and was also reque3ted to tako tho final for what is tho Fiji National Cup. While very fast and quick on their feet, the tackling and gathering of tho ball, also the dribbling, is very crude. They excel, however, in heading and volleying, being very good in those departments. They go from start to

finish, and with a complete absence of vice in their play, which latter is very gratifying. Teams came from outlying islands in cutters, not to eat each other as happened two generations ago, but to play the grandest old game in the world. The teachers of a large school for Solomon Island boys have asked the Auckland F.A. for the gift of a ball."

The Off-side Rule. It lias been noticed of late that referees are penalising players for being in an off-side position, although they do not affect the play in any way! The rulo relating to' this has not been changed in any respect except by the alteration of the word "three" to "two" when referring to tho number of opponents a player must have in front of him ■when receiving the ball. The rule was altered to speed up the game, but some of tho games this season have been spoilt through the referee stopping the gamo at a critical stage for what he considered to bo a fault. ,

Soccer's Tina Hold At Home. In order to show the hold that Association football has in the Home Land, a ballot on tho most popular sport taken by Yorkshire newspapers on behalf of the Leeds University Building funds, resulted in Soccer heading tho poll with 30,879 votes, with motoring second with 20,703; cricket, 19,107; tennis, 19,869; golf, 6072; Rugby, 5957; cycling, 2279; down to croquet with 282 votes. The total number of votes recorded in all sports was 112,870. . Soccer is also taking a big hold in the United States, where our American cousins appear to be taking steps to bring the same thoroughness to the adoption of the code as has been displayed in various other sports. „ One of the leading American universities has made a tempting offer to one'of the foremost managers in . the football league to transfer his activities to the States and take charge of Association football at the university. The. invitation was not r.ccepted because .the official was under agreement with his club,,but various advertisements in English sporting papers gave evidence of the intention of Americ-n enthusiasts to push Association football in j their country. Scotland seems to be a I favourite recruiting ground of America for skilled players, coaches, and managers to expedite the progress of players. A really high standard of Soccer was played in and around New York some 25 or 30 years ago and there were numerous strong and skilled "native born" teams in competition.

The Game at Auckland. No game played this season under the auspices of tho Auckland Football Association has aroused more enthusiasm or produced harder football than the Falcon Cup contest at Blandford Park between Thistle and Tramways (says "The Herald"). It began in a sensational manner with the Scots scoring two goals in a few minutes, and continued at a breathless pace until the final whistle sounded, with Tramways tho victors by the odd goal in five. Defeat to either sido in such a sterling game meant no disgrace, .and, while congratulating the victors, the splendid fight put i!p by their opponents must not be overlooked.

Contrary to all expectations the first game of. the day, between Ponsonby and North Shore, resulted in a most decisive win for Ponsonby, who carried all before them, and finished up no fewer than six goals in the lead of Auckland's representatives in the Dominion contest for tho Chatham Cup. Excuses can bo made for the losers, particularly in regard to the fact that they wero playing men who had not ■properly recovered' from serious injuries. But with every man fit and well they would still have found Ponsonby a stiff proposition, for the city team had a real '-'day on," and played grand football.

For the semi-final, Tramways, Ponsonby, V.M.C.A.,- and Northcote are left in, and although, at time of writing, the draw has not been announced, two good games should result. Who B the finalists will be is beyond predicting, for it has been proved that form in the championship matches is nothing to go on. If Tramways should draw V.M.C.A. for their next. Falcon Cup match sinterest will bo extremely keen, as it was V.M.C.A. who eliminated the championship winners in the first round of the Chatham Cup. When the Referee Doesn't Know. Says an Auckland authority:—lt happens at time 3 that, in a melee in front of goal, the. referee is unable to.decide who kicks tho ball behind the line. "What should be'donc*? The same question arises when two playerj send the ball over the. touch-line simultaneously. Who,should get the throw-in?

In every game, there are two guiding principles governing such cases. First, if the ball is in play, the play should proceed; second, the defender should always get the benefit in cases of doubt, if a decision has tj be made. In the first case, therefore, the. correct procedure would be to award a goal kick; in the second, the throw should go to the side in whose half of tho field of play the ball went out.

These two' principles play a large part in refereeing, especially when there are no linesmen, and perhaps they will explain a few puzzling decisions. Notes. A chip of the old block! Colin Simon, who has. been playing during ttio week for the Wellington representatives in the Primary Schools Tournament, is the son of Colin Simon, captain of the Hospital team. The young fellow is a most promising player, and has a most excellent idea of correct half-back play.

Auckland's now IYA Broadcasting Station has started off in a very interesting manner. At half-time a description of the game i 3 telephoned from Blandford Park and' broadcasted to all listcners-iu. Later in the evening the entire gamo was described and scores given of both matches. The game with Hospital to-day will also be broadcasted. \

Hospital have met V.M.C.A. three times this season and on each occasion have scored three goals: 3-0, 3-2, 3-2. The last two matches have proved that, there is not a great deal between the two teams. .

A well-known footballer at Homo r«cently complained that the practice of putting a foot on the instep of an opponent when, a corner is being taken is becoming more common. It is a trick almost as old as the game, but that ia no reason why it should not be severely condemned. The -effect, of course, is that when the ball come* over, tho man cannot get up to head it. A story of Vivian Woodward, whilst playing in a match for Tottenham Hotspur, is apropos. An opponent made it his business to see that the amateur did not get a chance. More than once he oven held him by the shirt, a most effective if innocent way of preventing a player reaching tho ball. At last Woodward turned to tho follow and said: "Apparently you don't want to play; do you mind if I try to do so?"

In a casual chat the other day, the topic of ?'shooting" at goal and the power some players put behind tho ball, camo up (remarks "Custodian" in the Hawkes Bay "Tribune"). This brings to mind E. Whittingham, who died last June, at the early age of 37. Whittingham (who had played for Stoke, Blackpool, Bradford City, Chelsea, and South Shields) put such power behind tho ball that in a vital match at Gainsboro' in 1911-12 when Chelsea won, he knocked the goalkeeper over the line with a drive from 30yds range.