SOCCER NOTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1929, Page 3

SOCCER NOTES

1 v t? -- g . " fFOR (By “Olympian.”;) . aiany referees,, will no ddtibt, * have beeh fttting £heir outfit during the.last few.daysi, and probably some of .them have already had a bit of useful practice ini ..controlling the practice games of the clubs in; their,.particular district, and in all probability, several new. “knights of. the whistle,” will be making their debut during the c.oming season. However, I hope this will’be a good, season, for everybody concerned, for those who contemplate using, the whistle,, and for those who patrol the touch-lines; thrit they will ep'joy the Work in hand, • and steer, clea'r of those* mistakes s’ome club officials find occasion to grouse, about. I am fibt fbr a moment suggesting that it is 'the duty df those who control ,th’e games to endeavour to please club officials, or placers either. I prefer fife Irish who goes on to the field determi'n'dd to do his b6st, find please himself. The referee who, is anxious to please everybody sdpn comes to grief.,. There are rid changes.or .law to bother about thiS.seaso'p. Wc start the, new seaSo'ri,. under .the same, laws fin'd conditions that, obtained last seaJ- _ nr rill/All 1/1 V\loiTl

son, so that everything should be plain sailing. . - „ The other day I. chatted with a well known club official and asked him if hp thought should see .better football this season than we did last season. He made a startling reply without hesitation. “It all depends on the referees/’ he declared. “It is in their power to make or mar the game, and I Saw them mar so many games last season that. I am not too sanguine about any marked improvement for the coming Season.” Now, rid referee heed take thfit view to heart. There fife some clu : b Officials only too ready to put the blame on to the shoulders of the referee when, things go wrong. They. are blind to the faults of the players., Rut so lorig as such opinions are held —I know many club' officials who will say “hear bear” to all. that this one said, it behoved every refer eo and lineSiiian, to .Stfive to .be as accurate fis in adminfstering their decisions. . If only chib, officials and public could be educated to support the referee, who ip doing his best to hold the scales of justice evenly balanced, there .would be precious little trouble.. But what do we find? .In the majority, of cases, the man with the.whistle finds tliat fie is rip against players, spectators, and jri .many Cases officials. Sometimes I think it would be better for football if the referee

was treated with the same respect that first-cla'sS cricketers extend to the umpire. The M.C.C. would come clown very . sharply upon a cricketer . who dflred tb treat ah. umpire with clfsrespebt, or openly qucsfibh'ed his . decisibh. Yet we see these tilings done almost every day in ail classes of football. The crowd can exercise a powerful influbhco for good or evil oii bpffi players arid refe.rbes. They can discourage questionable tactics, and hiake the task of the referee much more cbn'genial as a result. At a. time when one hears and reads so,.much Adverse criticsm of present-day referees, may I be permitted to say that in all pie games I witnessed last season 1 saw only brie exhibition that one could find, fault with. On the other hand, I have been impressed by several really good and capable expositions. Those “Star” readers who enjoy patching good refereeing quite as much as they do good football, .will note that the best referees are those who stand' .no “hanky-panky” as. it were, arid believe in being complete master ,of ceremonies. ~ .... Opinions, that carry weight.l—Charging does hot pay. A good back can tackle and dispossess an opponent. almost without touching him. Shoulder charging is becoming a thing of the past. The reason for this is not that p shoulder-to-shoulder charge is unfair, but simply that it does not pay. Ah alert forward can easily avoid a heavy charge. , . . The game, as it is now played, lends itself ipore to fleetness of foot. It is certainly so in the case of the wing forwards. ; The new offside rule has unquestionably made the play of the outside forwards a great deal easier. Centre-forward craft. 1 — ; First-class centre-forwards ought to be able tb outwit opponents. without even touching the bail with the foot. I mean they should have the knack of swerving with the ( body worked out to such an ; extent iliat no defender which way they are really going, and if

h‘b does., guess right,’then he ought not to know whether the centre-for-ward is going to take the ball with him or not. LAWS OF THE GAME. Westland, .at this p'resent juncture is well .btossed with having a large inihA'ux of Schoolboy teams'.and chiefly for that reasp'n, I . ppp. these . notes as a future guide with regard to the correct interpretation of the rules of the game,., to . those persons responsible foi 1 the coachirig of these juvenile teams, and others deeply interested in the welfare of these juveniles during the forthcoming competitive season. „As it is just as easy to learn cprrectiy, as incorrectly; from the. very outset, all coaches etc., should endeavour, to' impress 6ii these youngpupils’, minds,. the correct procedure to adopt fit all times,; and solely for that reason I proceed to outline the laws Of the game in all details. There are seventeeen laws dealing with the rules of the. Soccer code, and will be issued through the columns of , the “Star” from time to time aS space allows. . , 1, .... .. Law 1.; —The, game shall be played by not more than 11 players on each side. ; By arrangement made before flie commencement of a match, (but not in a,match played under the Rules of a Competition) substitutes may be allowed in place of injured playfers. t Tho field of play shall- be subject to the following provisions: The, dimensions o’f the field 1 of play .spall be. maximitm length', 130' yards; mini’m'ufli‘ length 100 yards; maxinium breadth',' 100 yafd's; minimum breadth 50 yards. The field of play shall be maWed ,hy boundary lines. The lines at each end are the goal-lines, and the lines

at the sides fire the totrch-lines. The touchdiriris > shrill be drawn" at right angles with. the. goal lines. A flag with a. staff riot less than five feet high shall be placed at each corner. A half-why lirie shall be riiafkdd out across the field of play. The centre of trie field of play shrill be jhd’icrited by ri suitable mark, arid a circle with a 10 yards radius, shall be made rounds it. The goals shall he upright posts fixed on the . goal, line’s^. equX distriht from tfip Corner flagstaffs eight yards apart, with a bar. across them. 8 feet from trie groumt The maximum width of the goal posts and maximum depth of the erdss-bar shall be five inches. Lines shall be marked six yards froth each. goal-post at. right angles to th 6 goal-lines fox- a . distance of six. yards, arid these shrill be.connected with each other by a llhe parallel to the gpallines; the. space = within these lines shah „bh the goal area. Lines shall be marked. 18 yards fro.merich goal- , post at right angles to the goal-lihes, - for a distaried of 18 yards,; so th|se Shall be cdiihecied with each other ; by a . line parallel. to. the .goa.Min.4s ; the splice witfiiri these lines shall .be i the penalty area. A suitable, mark j shrill be made opposite the centre of erich goal, 12 yards from the goal- j line;, this, shall be the penalty kick j mark.. The circumference of the ball 1

1 shall not be less than 27 inches nor more than 28 inches. The outer ; of the ball must be of leather, and no' material spall be Used in the construction of the ball which would condanger to the players.,,., . in International matches the dimenof t4xe. field of play shall be—maximum, length, 120 yards; minimum length,, 110. .yards; maximum breath, 80 yards;, minimum breadth,, 70 yards; arid at the corixmehcement of the game the weight of the ball be from 13 to 15 ounces. L ... Law 2.7-The duration of the game Shall be 90 minutds, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon. The winners of the, toss shrill have the option,of kick-off or choice of goals. The game fjhall be commenced by a place kick from the centre? of. the field of-play in the direction of the opponents' goal line; the opponents shall riot approach within 10 yards of the brill until it is kicked off, nor shall any player 1 oh either side pass the cenjtre of the gro'urid in the direction of fiis opponents’ goal until the ball iS .kicked off. LaW 37—Ends Slrall only be changed at half-tihi'e. The interval. at halftime shall not exceed five minutes,, except by coiiserit of the referee. After a £6al,is scored thq , losing side shall kick-off, but after fixe change of ends at half-time the ball shall be kicked off. hy the opposite side from that

' which originally did so; and always as provided in Law 2 A ~, . , , Question. —A penalty . kick is given ' arid a. player taking the kick, shoots over the bar. For some infringement '. the ref orders the kick tb be reanoUier . player take the lack, or must the same, play er take it? Answer. —It is quite in order for a : second player to take the kick. Question—Can a player be offside : if lie keeps behind the ball? Answer—- , No'. A plriyer canriot be. offside if he ' is behind the ball when it is last play- . ed, no riiatter how few opponents are ' nearer their own goal-line. DOBSON CLUB’S TRIP. Dobsdri Club' sent a team over to Christchurch. and played a match against Nomads’ Club, at Spreydon, on. Saturday afternoon. The ground was in good condition, and the weather ■was id'hai at the commencement of the match, but rain marred the final staged of play. ■ , An early attack by the Dobson forwards had Nomads hard t pressedFfpm a 1 melee near the goal-mouth, W. White kicked' a , goal., DpbSon I, Nomads 0. The Dobson forwards again pressed hard, but could, not , find an opening. Npma'ds then returned the attack arid a good shot by J'. Frickleton found the net. Dobson 1, Nomads 1. Half-time came with the scores unaltered, ...... . . . The play, at the beginning of the second half was uninteresting. After a short forward rush, Ffickleton again registered a goal. Nomads 2, Dobson 1. There was another period of uninteresting play, vyhile rain, which set in at this stage, did not iniprovp matters. Within a few minutes of time, the DObsoir forvVards again made a rally, and E, Henderson succeeded in shooting a, good. goal. The game ended with the scores: Dobson 2, Nomads The referee was Mr. D. Thompson. TROPHY GAMES.

Propably the first challenge trophy matches played this season in New Zealand were those on Saturday afternoon ill . Christchurch, when the Northern Club ; repiiese’ntatives, from Dunedih’, heat Thistle in , a game for the.puist Shield’, and the local TTechnichi'.College .Old Boys beat Dunedin Technical College Old Boys for the Tedhnichj’College Cup. . n New methods of management and ebntrof have been , adopted by the , Fdptball Association. . In piace of the foYmei: Management Committed the hmeiiflcd constitution proyidds tpr.a board of qontrbl,. and, a preiimin'ary meptin'g of delegates will he' held to oiect flve members of the new bo'Afd. Two of these yijl be elected by the f senior , club delegates, and phe. ed'ch by the minor and, junior cbmhiitteOs, with orie from ths Referees’ Association. , It is not yet clear which club's will be entitled to cli'im,senior status at the preliminary electibh, Except that all last, year’s s'enior team A will rank as senior. ..... , A v t the■ Ann'u'a'l ( rnebtlng ...following, the coihhihhd Cliib’ deieghtbs, will ,then efedt d further. ( five members, of the bhard pt ffn'd .the iptt- s'p elected will be\thb ihana'gifi'g hihhbrity. for the. Auckland Fb'ptbh'lT during, the next ,12 ninths. At. the preliminary meeting, thp club gd'tes,.jn the thfeb njsw ; divisions will ajso elbct.the; committees which will control the competition's the new groups, affd also select m&m'bers o?. the Grounds' . Cdmmfftee, which will arrange piayihg off the flxtu'fes.