FOOTBALL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 17 May 1912, Page 6

FOOTBALL.

ASSOCIATION AS PLAYED IN TARANAKI.

(By Sideline.) '

It has occurred to the 'writer that it. might be profitable to review ''Soccer" as it is* played in Taranaki at the beginning of the season. Now Sideline has never played Rugby in his life, though he has seen it, and does still. On the other hand, he has played "Soccer" often, and in Taranaki, so that he humbly supposes himself to be a fair and ■ impartial critic. In watching the two games week by week two or three things show up very clearIv: ■•.■■■ ■■■••■ .

' The amount of talking—loud , acrimonious talking—indulged in by Association players, and earnest, soldierly silence of Rugbyites. That is my iirst point. I know at times Rugbyites will break out into fierce wrath and clamor, but nowadays —thanks \o good refeveing and good central management-—it is exceptional at a first or even secondclass Rugby match in Taranaki. Several Soccer players will at once say, give as good referees and good management, and we will show the same, spirit. But to such I would point out that it is not obtained by abusing the one or che other; they are both the product of growth and development, and players must learn in Soccer to foster this growth all they can, and not destroy it in a breath. i

Another weakness I notice as being general is the inability to take bumps, hard knocks, etc., in silence. The referee can't see everything, and if he knows liis business he Avon't penalise a player for what he has not seen, even though you appeal loudly and plaintively.

Players should expect —nay, rather delight in hard knocks, and not be too ready to attribute them to deliberate hooliganism. Such a spirit of deliberate rough play, in my .opinion, is a very fare commodity either among Rugby players or Soccer players. The bumps and knocks are the outcome of energy— force and circumstance —and not mere brutality.

One would hardly think it necessary to say anything about the language Used, but, alas, it is. For real bad language of a wholesale description I back the onlooker's of a Rugby game and the players of a Soccer, game against any other sportive gathering. The proximity of women or children lias no effect .on the sulphurous lips of sonic of tliese gentry,; and yet it is quite an unnecessary adornment to the field of play. lam sure those most disgusted with this sort of thing find it hard to support and encourage a really fine game on account of the unnecessary fire of a wordy sort brought into it by pevliaps only a few persons. It has always been my contention that officials of a club who are on the ground Should take steps to stop this thing. It is very easily done if it is done by the right person and in the right way. Turning to the Soccer game in particular, there is one endless source of misunderstanding and its accompanying squabble; 1 mean off-side.

Now, probably no one on the field is more conscious of the importance of understanding what off-side really is than the. : referee; and yet on every* occasion that lie gives it many on the other side pooh-pooh his decision, or do something wprse to it, while the supporters on the side-line blackguard each other about it. And yet it is a very simple matter after all. I don't mean that it is simple always to determine who is off-side, and who is not'; but that it is simple to understand that people at different angles see players in seemingly different positions to one- another. No one can really judge unless he is in line, and then" many things have to be-revolved in the mind before a clear conclusion can be arrived at, and the man who got "off-side" against him when he \vas not off-side can console himself with the fact that he was off-side many times .before without being penalised. ' In a nutshell these remarks amount to this —play the game (your game"); it will take all'your time, breath and brains; leave the crowd to do the talking and the referee to the refereeing.