SOCCER

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 22

SOCCER

By ' Vanguard-

IN GOOD POSITION DIAMONDS RETAIN LEAD THISTLE SHOW IMPROVEMENT SENIOR A.

Diamonds continue to Improve their position in. the senior A competition, and tho team now has a clear twopoint lead from the next team, Marist. The leaders met Marist last Saturday week, and* secured the verdict by tho narrow of- one goal. They yet have to play V.M.C.A. and .Petone, two team's that will blo sure, to extend them to the utmost. Diamonds play a nico. stylo of football, and as long as they maintain their present combination their chances of winning .the championship will remain bright. V.M.C.A., who oh two successive Saturdays were beaten, fielded a much stronger side last Saturday, and gave an indication of what they aye capable" of doing. Petone also is another team that will havo to be reckoned with, and Thistle, who commenced the Beason rather badly, but who have shown considerable improvement, have given indications that they will yet develop into a strong combination. Alterations have been made in this side, and ,the result is (apparent. Thistle play pretty football, and may be relied upon to leave,nothing to chance. They are battlers from start to finish, and the team possesses a spirit that often makes a victory of defeat. One of their recent wins was that against V.M.C.A., who, together with Thistlo and Petone, have six points in tho championship table. It appears as though there -is to bo a struggle for supremacy among these teams. Hospital; who several seasons ago wore among tho leaders in the competition, have not been showing the best form so far. They havo one point more than Institute, who occupy the last position but one on the table. Seatoun, who are in their second year as ■ a first division A team, have been a disappointment. Individually, the team possesses merit, but the" members lack understanding. As matters are at present it appears as though Seatoun will lose their senior A / status this year. Institute are fighting' hard to maintain their position. It is interesting to record the ■ progress that Waterside are making' in tho senior B competition. If Waterside maintain their standard of play they will be seen in the.ranks of senior A teams next season. , •An improved standard of play is apparent- this year. Last season Was a season of weak teams.. V.M.C.A., who won the championship, and Marist, who were second, displayed' a good standard of football, but there was a considerable drop in the standard of play when tho remaining teams ' came to bo considered. This year there are five teams very much on a par, Diamonds, Marist, V.M.C.A., Thistle, and Petone. The exhibition of football given by these sides each Saturday is considerably above that displayed last season. It speaks well for the success of football in Wellington generally. Diamonds and Seatoun. Diamonds Jiad not much difficulty in registering another win last Saturday, their defeat of Soatoun by 5 goals to nil coming as no great surprise. Prom the spectators' point of View the, play was only ordinary. For tho greater part Diamonds had the game well in hand, being but little troubled by Seatoun's attack. Any interest in tho game was supplied by tho conflict botwoen tho clover' Diamonds forwards and the hard-working Seatoun backs, not forgetting Wyatt, the gpalie, who was probably the best man of his side. Wyatt played an excellent game. But for his skilful play Diamonds would have netted, oftener. The Seatoun backs were a sound pair, Newton in particular showing up. ■ Jenkins was the best of the halveß, although Kershaw, at centre, showed some pretty footwork. Of the forwards, N. Grimstone, the right winger, was pro-emin-ent. Time and «gai» he / broke away down the line, to finish 'up with a beautiful centre, which was usually not taken advantage of by the inside men. These other forwards played willingly, but not very effectively. On the .other side, Ewing, in goal, had little opportunity to distinguish himself. His backs, Guest and G. Wotherspoon, usually spoilt any scoring attempts on' tho part of tho Seatoun vanguard. Between the Diamonds' forwards and halves' there existed that combination and understanding without which goals come but rarely.. Anton, at centre forward, did, not appear to bo extending himself.' Stark and Smith, on tho left, wore full of vim and wore ably supported by their lialfback, M'Cormack. The corresponding

trio on the vight also played up to their reputation. ' Diamonds won because they were the bettor side, both individually and collectively, but Seatoun wore not disgraced. They gave a good account of themselves against an unbeaten team. Better combination and more sho6ting among the forwards slfbuld soon gain some well deserved victories. An Improved Side. V.M.C.A., ivlio defeated the hitherto unbeaten Petone team on Saturday, were a much-improved side. The game was one of the best seen on the Basin for some time. From the moment' the first whistle blew till final time was called the spectators were treated to a bright and tit times pretty exhibition of the code. Petone made the pace very fast in ths opening stages, but the rate was not maintained, though it never dropped to any great extent. In the first ten minutes or so, Petone had matters very much their own way, and very nearly scored on three occasions. However, when Young Men settled down they evened matters, and from then the game was contested strenuously. On the day's play V.M.C.A. deserved the extra goal that gave them the win. Petone played n battling game and never let up. , V.M.C.A., who were recently beaten by Marist and Thistle, fielded a much stronger side. The result of the alteration was apparent. Dempster was included in tho forward line, and in r the inside left position gave a good account of himself. Armitage played at centrehalf, and Trott moved back to take tho left full-back position. Ballard, who formerly has been seen as a winger, played a great game at left half, and much of the credit for the team's success must be given to him. He made the openings for the forwards, and time after time sent the ball out to the right wing, where Dempster and Worth were waiting. They rarely failed to take advantage of Ballard's passes, and kept up a jbomba'rdment of the Petone goal. Dempster tried shots from all angles, and some of his attempts were very nearly successful. Worth'was on his game, and with Dempster, worked well. Armitage, at centre-half, performed well, and Pearson, the right half, was worth his place. Rigby and Lack played their usual bustling game in the forward line, and with a little more luck Rigby. would have scored. Stocks, on the left wing, played an improved game. He was responsible for some pretty touches when working in conjunction with- Lack. Lucas, who. was in goal, gave a very fine performance of goalkeeping. One of his saves was a brilliant effort, and throughout the game he gave a display much above the average. M'Girr, as usual, gave a creditable display, but Trott, who was partnered with him in the full-hack line, did not appear as comfortable as he might have been. - ■ Petono appear to bo a 'well-balanced side. Their forward line is strong, and their halves and backs, likewise, are not weak. In Hunter, the right winger, the team has a very fine outside man, who with a little more speed would be an outside right of exceptional ability. Leslie is the best man in the front line, ai.d his position as centre-forward gives him plenty of opportunity for displaying the qualities which he possesses. Ho was a thorn in tho side of Young Men, and had to be watched very carefully. James, the loft winger, played well, but was not as. successful as tho other winger. Campbell, at centre-half, gave a very fine exhibition of half-back play. M'Vean, who played in goal, gave a sound display of goalkeeping. He was called on frequently, and his work generally was Of a high-class quality. Thistle's Good Display. Thistle, playing at Seatoun last Saturday, at times played really good football, proving to be an' infinitely better combination than Institute, and winning easily by four goals to two. It was a case of real team work against wild kicking. Tho way the Thistle forwards, ably supported by the halves, indulged in snappy, passes was pretty to watch, these tactics being too much for the Instituto defence. Lothian, Campbell, and Smith proved to be a formidable right wing combination, Lothian in particular being outstanding. Tarrant, tho Institute goalkeeper, had plenty to do, and did it- well. It was not until the second spell, when Thistle had a lead of four goals to nil, that Institute showed what they could do in the way of goal-getting. For a period Thistle seemed to slacken off, and Instituto took advantage of ( this, scoring twice iv quick succession. After this, Thistle pulled themselves together and retained the upper hand, although they could not manage to score again. The game was a good one to watch, fast and played in the right spirit. Though well beaten, and it would not have been surprising to. have seen a bigger tally of goals by Thistle, Institute were by no means disgraced, being simply outplayed by'a better team. Too Many Senior Team's. Comment made in these columns of a couple of Saturdays back, and also a letter from "Arsenal," to the effect that there are too many senior teams in Wellington, has apparently struck a lino of thought entertained by quite 'a few supporters of tho gamo here.' "Now on the Bank" writes: "I must say that your contentions are well worth the consideration of the Wellington Association, not that they are brand new, by. quite a long way, but' they will bear any amount of repetition. As an old-timer, my opinions must naturally be discounted considerably right away, for your old-timer is always pictured as a decrepit old fellow who just harps and harps on the good old times out of sheer prejudice; yet that is not precisely my case. I am not as old as that, and have never played a gamo of Soccer in Wellington. Therefore I cannot lay it 'down that Soccer in this town is not what it used to be twenty years ago—if it was play-, o.d that long" ago—but must base.my argument upon plain, and, I hope, fair, observation during tho past few seasons. Association football, I say, is not played here as it might* very well be, and plain proof of that is given by the small attendances, at Association football matches. Now and again a real crowd rolls up, but a real crowd rolls up to Rugby every Saturday, and yet Rugby has not such a great many more . players. Give the public the goods and the public will demand some more of them. At Home the goods are offered, and look at the gate figures, i Not all Englishmen are so thin in the head- as to go Saturday after Saturday to watch a game that is not worth watching, but there perhaps, being an Englishmanl, I may be prejudiced. . "At Home,.the answer may be,, the biggest gates are reaped from professional matches, and New Zealand wants none of that, but that is really no sort of an answer. The crowd goos along bocauso tho professional delivers tho goods, not because he is a professional, and it should surely bo tho aim of every club to work up to as nearly as possible the standard of play of these men who make it their job. I do not suy that wo should expect professional standard play from young fellows who take up Soccer as a moans of recreation only, but they can aim at it, and

they have a long way to go before they got near it. * - "The big trouble, I agree, is that as a result of the number of senior teams —not in fact, but in name —a player of quite mediocre capacity has no great difficulty in finding a permanent place as an A grade man, and none whatever in getting in occasionally, whereas should not the position bo that really good men should liave to strive to become just a trifle better than they could hope for that trial which would give a. chance of a permanent position? Cut down the num-. ber of senior teams and this would bo brought about. "It may be argued that the reduction in tho number of teams in tho first grade competition would discourage players, who, after' all, are in the game only for tho sake of the game, and so lead to desertions, but I do not think that senior men—senior in the head as well as in their present classification as footballers—would, fail to see that an all-round improvement would lie. brought about, not alone in' tho first flight of players, but,in those coming on. • As it is there is no great •honour attaching to. a place in an A •grade team, it' is too easy altogether of attainment; but make the job a good deal more difficult and, just_ because the average young .man is. a somewhat pig-headed and won't-be-beat sort of person, competition would be helped along on its way. "Prom the management point of view also, a reduction in the number of teams would ease things up a lot, for more than once we have been told of the extreme difficulty of working in the various cup competitions and visits with regular Saturday play. There would certainly be no need for a shortening of the playing season, for now single games count for two trophies, which is hardly the best arrangement if it is in any way avoidable. : "From the public's point of view there-is no question about the advisability of a rearrangement which would bring up the standard of play. Few games of the past two seasons, stand out in one's memory; the rest are merely drab, yet if Soccer is played as it may be played, by eleven men on either side who must keep fit to hold their i places, and who, moreover, are proud, |of those places,' there should be none which are not worth keeping in mind. Some day tho Management Committee may discuss this matter seriously, but there' appears to bo no hope of it this season." 1 "A Grader" writes in much the same strain, but makes his comment just a trifle pointed. Though "Vanguard" may agree with some of his remarks as, to the playing 'abilities of certain A grade team members, yet those remarks would make rather too candid reading, "Soccerite" is of the opinion that the Management Committee favours as large an entry in senior competitions as is possible, that the entry fees may likewise be large, but as there is no suggestion that the full number of teams, in'air grades, should be reduced, that suggestion has no very sound foundation. Another, correspondent, "Active Player," holds that if Soccer is not up, to the standard, which he'does not admit, the reason is that the junior players are not adequately c6ached, and therefore cannot develop into true senior form.

Goals. Clip. P. W. L. D7 F. A. Pts Diamonds 5 5, 0 0 23 5 10 Marlst 5 3 11 J5 8 7 Y.M.C.A 5 3 2 0 18*> » 0 Thistle 5 3.2 0 10 11 « Petorifc 5 2 1 2 11 . D 0 Hospital 0 'I'- 3 1 S 13 ' 3 Institute 5 0 3 2 .125 2 Seatoun .'. 5 .0 5.0 2 10 0 In Other Grades. ' The following tables show the J)«sitions of teams in grades from 1st B to 3rd B, inclusive, as at' 18th May:— 1st DIVISION B. Goals. Ch. P. W. L. D. F. A. I'ts. Waterside ....'.; 4 4 0 0 22 4 8 South Wellington . 4 3 0 1 lli 5 7 Tlilstlo 4 3 1 0 la 10 0 Swifts ■■-. 4 2 1 1 12 17 !> Brooklyn ...4 13 0 10 10 2 lllllt • i,. 4 1 S 0 9 14' 2 .lohnsonvlllc 4 1 3 0 5 10 2 Marlst ..- '4- .0 4 0 3 , 20 0' 2nd DIVISION A. Goals. Ch. P. W.- L. D. P. A. Pts. Y.M.C.A 3 3 0 0 ,7 I (i Island Bay 3 3 0 0 14 10 0 AVadcstown .... 3 2 0" 1 12 !). 5 Scatpun 3 2 1 0 10 2 . 4 Pcio'nu 3 1 1.1 8 ■!) • 3 Diamonds 31 2 0 8 8 2 Waterside 3 0 3 0 3 12 0 Brooklyn 3 0 3 0 2 13 0 2nd DIVISION B. Goals. Ch. P. \V. h. D. P. A. Pts. Johnuonvllle .... 3 3 0 0 15 3 (i Thistle 3 2 0 1 12 3 5 Institute 3 2.1 075 4 Island Bay A 3 2 1 0 10 8 4 Seatoun 3 2 1 0 14 8 4 Hutt .■. 2 1 0 1 10 6 3 South Wellington . 3 1 1 1 7 11 3 Marlst .'3 1 2 0 13 13 2 Eastbourne 3 1 2 0 3 9 2 Island Bay B „. 3 0 2 1 7 15 1 Swifts" 2 0 2 0 4 11 0 Diamonds .../.. 3 0 3 0 1 13 0 1 . 3rd DIVISION A. . Goals. Ch. P. W. L. D. F. A. Pts. Mira'mar Rangers . 2.' 1 0 1 5 3 3 South Wellington .3111053 Y.M.C.A 3,1 1 1 4 5 3 Seatoun 2 1 10 3 4.2 Waterside .3 1 2 0 6 8 2 Petono ....■ 3 0 2 1. 5 7, 1 Marist 2 0 2 0 4 4,0 3rd DIVISION B. i • • ' Goals. Ch. P. W. i. D. I\ A. Pts Stop Out ...3 2 0 1 17 3 5 Miramar Rangers .13 2 1 0 9 44 Hult ...3 1 0 2 8 4 4 Brooklyn 1 10 0 0 0 2 Swifts 2 110 4 7 2 Wadostown ' 3 "0 2 12 7 s 1 Eastbourne . .... 3 03 0 ' 1 25 0