ASSOCIATION CODE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 121, 20 April 1940, Page 10

ASSOCIATION CODE.

ARAIY TEAMS AT PLAY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) PARIS, Feb. 10. The football match at the Parc ties Princes, on the edge of the Bois do Boulogne, between the British and French army teams, was the biggest Bports event since the war began, and tne crowd of do,(XX) spectators saw a hard fought game. It was generally expected tnat the British team would win, but while good in midfield play they were lacking in front of goal. This is generally a French fault. The result of one all was a fair result. It is curious to watch a Fran co-British | football match, as the Frenchmen seem to bo running all the time, while the Britisli seem to walk all the time they are not in possession of the ball. The French always play a fast game, and their spirited rushes often put an English side off its game until' it gets used to this style ot play. Perhaps it is the great temperamental difference that explains why British professionals have never been successfully fitted into a French team. One of the spectators was Mr AV. H. Sleator, a Yorkshireman who is really the father of football in France, in 1896 he got together a band of Britishers in Paris and formed a football club known as the AVhite Hovel's. He had to get goal-posts and corner flags from England, but they were held up by the Customs, who suspected the flags might be the emblem of some new political party. Air Sleator called on the Prefect of Police to get permission to withdraw the flags from the Customs, and after giving what he thought a very clear explanation of the game, the Prefect interrupted him with the question, “Is this game played indoors or in the field.” After a time, a number of Frenchmen joined the players. A year later, the Standard Athletic Club was formed, and still flourishes to-day, and wa6 followed by the Racing Clqb de France and the State Francais. .Englishmen working at Roubaix and at Rouen were inext to start football clubs in France, lit was the last war tliat gave football [in France its great vogue. British 'army teams showed how the game should bo placed, and the French caught- on with enthusiasm. .Up to that time Rugby had enjoyed the preference, especially in the South of France, but it was soon surpassed by the Association game. A\ hen the war was over, there came the series of international matches. Alore and more people were interested as spectators as well as players. Big gates brought professionalism, and soon France attracted star players from other countries, particularly" Austria. In Sunday’s match, four of the French side were of foreign origin and had made names for themselves in other countries, one coming from as far away as Uruguay. To-day they are all fighting for the country that gave them hospitality.