FROM GOAL TO GOAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7445, 20 May 1911, Page 7

FROM GOAL TO GOAL

SOME UNEXPECTED RESULTS A GOOD DAY FOB THE GAME (By "Wicklow.”) The man who can forget his partisanship for a particular club in his desire to see Rood matches and to see the interest in the Rugby game sustained must allow that the games of last Saturday will add considerable interest to the championship rounds for this season. There are now two teams, St. Janies nud Petone, which have not been beaten; Oriental and Athletic have been beaten once, and Poneke have been beaten twice, but no man with any knowledge of the game and the teams can say that this'order is not likely to be changed very soon. •»• • ■ #

Tho meeting of the Athletic'•and Poneko on Saturday was expected to make an interesting game. Both clubs had been beaten by Oriental, but Poneko had made so much the better fight that it was fully expected that they would beat Athletic. This expectation was not realised, for tho blues outplayed the reds in practically• every stylo of play, and scored a well-deserved win by 6 points to 3. Tho blues made the pace a busy ono all tho way, and the fact that they stayed the game .through shows that they know something at least about getting fit. Their forwards were quite as clever in tho scrum; a great deal more clever-in the line out and in the loose, and a faster lot all round. Only in the back division were the reds on an equal footing with them.' •■•• # « * The game was what is usually called a "hard” one, and in a hard game players usually do as much, against tho rules or otherwise, as tho referee will allow.- There was no 'deliberate open fighting, although more than one player stopped a nasty jab or a swing, intentional or unintentional, on face , and head. There was a deni of butting and shoving and obstructing indulged in by players of both sides, but one cannot but admit that the opposing sets, of players kept most of their attention for the game and showed surprisingly little ill-feeling over , the hard knocks. Tho worst feature of tho game was tho frequency with which men wore tackled after having parted with the ball. The blues wero'certainly the worst offenders in this respect. They, oi\ some of them, never Tan to a man without bringing him down if possible. Some of the breaches of. the rules of the game in this regard were most flagrant, and such play, if permitted, would very soon make the game of Rugby not only a dangerous but a most disreputable pursuit. j «** * : *

Of the Athletic forward division Eanji Wilson was far and away the best, in spite of the fact that he was very well marked down, and occasionally roughly handled. Ha was always in the forefront of any attacking movement, his tackling was always sure, ‘he was as clever as a back in making,'a break for a passing run, and several times he joined with the hacks in passing rushes without spoiling them. Murray, on the wing, played a game that was invaluable to, his side, particularly ; in getting amongst the reds’ , backs , before they could get moving after a serum. The other forwards need not be particularised, for they played an equally Sound and useful game.

Behind the pack McVay showed himself to be a cl ever little half-back, handicapped as he must be by his light weight. He seemedi to bo everywhere, and very often ho was in the place where his help was most needed. Being only some 140 pounds in weight he looks fragile in; front o/' a bunch of charging forwards,, hut he always seems to get out of the way of 1 trouble and - take the ball ‘ with him. Evenson and C. McDonald played a very fair game at fiveeighths. The former was exceptionally strong in line kicking, and ■he ran well on occasion. McDonald also put in a good run or two, hut he did not kick quite so well, as his partner. So far as a spectator .could judge, was not the aim of the hal'.-back division to feed the three-quarter lino to the same extent as is common. L. McDonald whs the best of the three-quarters, but none of them were exceptionally good. S. Wilson did some wonderfully clever work, but, apparently because he lost his head when he most needed to keep, it and make it think, he gained much advantage for hisvjdde. : Gosling was tolerably safe and efficient at fullback. , ■ »•». * , »

The Ponoko forwards, by comparison with their speedy opponents, appeared to lack dash, but they worked hard in close play. Gardiner was the host of the lot when the ball was in the open. Elliott and Turner, in the front rank,; hooked the ball rather more than their fair share of times, which shows that the pack behind them was doing its work all right. Sothcrau, the new man played at the back of the scrum and played a decent game there. He seems to have the knowledge of the game necessary to good football, and he is generally close handy when there is on opportunity ready for the making. 4•* • ■ •

"Walshe and Kelly were given a very rough handling,—so rough that they were scarce able to do ’themselves justice ,in the later stages of the game. The : bines* tackling was very deadly, and the instructions had evidently been issued that Kelly and Walshe must bo brought down every time. -The instruction was obeyed a little too literally, for very often both players were brought down after they ■ had given the ball away. Everybody who went for either of them went in very hard, and the Poneke five-eighths, stalwart as they both are, just had to come down. All this told its tale the end of the fray, for an hour and a half of this sort of thing will sicken the bravest man,-and these two players had had rather more than enough of it before the day was done. How effectual the tactics of the other side were is shown by the fact that these two players scarcely aver showed out in any exceptionally good play. Tillyard, the ! Poneke half-back, did some very clever saving. On one occasion, in front of his own goal he did some heroic work, to -keep, Bis side out of trouble, but he had to concede a free kick to save a try. An easy kick at goal failed, so that the penalty did not cost what it might have. Mitchinson proved to be a disappointment. Either he is not, in form, or he finds the company strange, for he never seemed to be in position to take his oasses, and not always to receive the ball when, it .was kicked his way. On the other hand it must bo admitted that he was given . few chances to distinguish himself. Morris and Elliott, oh the wings, gave only a moderate display. '

Petone were giveir a very rude shock by Melrose, and in the end they very nearly ‘had to put up with, a beating. The blues set off at a great pace and had notched eight points in about as .many minutes before Melrose set cut to play the game that suited them, confining the ball to the forwards as much as possible. The blues, on the other hand, instead of playing Melrose at this game in real earnest and making a stubborn effort to beat them at it, persisted in an endeavour to open the game up. But the backs were rarely properly protected, and in spite of their best efforts, they could not keep

out of the way of the Melrose forwards It was not an interesting game to look at, but the majority of the spectators were mightly pleased to see the old Melrose Club make a decent showing again.

The thing was no accident or fluke in any way. It must be remembered that tho Melrose team- is composed mainly of young players,, who are capable of improvement and of hard training. Their ranks are stiffened by tho presence of a few veterans, and they havo evidently been doing some work. They were apparently conscious of the fact that they were no match for the Reform men behind the scrum, and to provide against the dark blues having too good an innings there, they reverted to tha old style of formation, with two wingers. The two men chosen foi\ this duty were Mclnness and B. Sullivan, and both of them did splendid spoiling work. The rest of K the pack worked with a will. W. Sullivan and Reid hooked the ball out to their half-back from nearly every scrum, and the latter, swung behind his two wingers, was always able to jret a fair kick away. He seldom tried to do anything else, and the result was a Succession of scrams and line outs. Under such conditions individuals havo few opportunities to shine. ft . ■ ‘ ft • , •

Tho Petone forwards did not acquit themselves well. They are a burly but active lot, and they ought to havo beaten Melrose out of sight at any stylo of play. They did not do bo becausa they did not have tho grit or the patience or whatever quality it is that a team requires when they have to play a hard game against a team not expected to offhr serious opposition. The backs likewise soon became demoralised. Jim., Ryan did all that one man could do to keep them on the attack, but he was not supported as he ought to have been and his passes were dropped much too often, Corson soarcely made a success of the centro three-quarter game. Nunn played a very fair game, marred by one serious mistake. Daly used his pace" to good effect on the two ‘ occasions that lie had a chance to use it. but for the rest of tho game ho was left very much alone. ' • * * *: , • .

If such play were witnessed each week in Wellington as was seen in the Old Boys-Victoria College match, last Saturday. there would, not ,be much to complain about. It would be useless to attempt 'to criticise minutely the play of e- cry individual, because in the majority of cases the verdict would be a favourable one. Both teams showed that 'they had plenty of dash, although there were some players who need to be sunken to for inertness at critical moments. The most noticeable, in Ibis respect, was Daniels, of the Victoria College team. I bear that this man really belongs to the juniors, and is only playing as emergency in the first fifteen. That being the ease, I would advise his speedy return to the lower grade, because be is only prejudicing the prinspects of the seniors in future gamete. He has more than enough of advice ft proffer to Others (including those- playing on the bank), but, strange to say, he fails to take advantage of it jiimself. Both teams were strong in attack and little lacked as regards defensive tactics. Proof of this lies in the score, - 6—o, Old Boys’ total being obtained from two penalty kicks. The passing of Old Boys was really pretty, but, of course, it was their kicking which won the game. Grace was especially _ brilliant in , this respect, finding the line every time, he the kick long, short, against the wind, or with it. • • • • »

■The decline of Eugby, especially in the juni-br departments, is becoming very marked. The result of a' comparison with last year’s Eugby figures shows a tremendous shrinkage in the number of games and players. The senior grads this year shows , a total of ten teams competing as, against cloven last season., For the -junior grade the ;figures are the same. In the, third-class competition there are eighteen teams playing this season as against sixteen last year —an, increase of two. A big decline is disclosed in the fourth grade, last year there being a total of fourteen teams, and-this year only eight. There: is an, increase of one in the fifth-class, eleven this year, as against ten the previous year. It looks as if the Wednesday competition will become a thing of the past, lor last season eight teams were engaged, and this year there are only three, with every probability of Tramway dropping out at any time. 1 Three years ago there was talk of a sixth competition; now, however, the question of withdrawing the fourth grade is being considered, as two out of the four , teams in the competition defaulted last-'Saturday. Tins means that we have some 150 players less in Eugby this season and there is every likelihood of a further number of teams—as is usual when the season advances —dropping out. Some of the players are to lie found on the bank, others have gone over to "soccer” and hockey, where the chance of accident is very much minimised. Eugby is fast dying out in Australia. In Sydney, a fortnight ago, there were five Rugby matches (according to the ‘‘Bulletin’ 1 ) which drew in all 3000 spectators, while foun League games attracted 23,000, simply because the latter game is more spectacular; The outlook is, no doubt, gloomy, but it the game is fostered amongst the young all will ho well.

ASSOCIATION (By "Penalty.”) Last Saturday was the best football day experienced this season. The play all round showed a great improvement on the previous week's, and the matches drew a largo .number of spectators. Seeing there has been so much controversy over boys’ football lately, "Penalty" took the opportunity of spending last Saturday afternoon among the various boys' matches, and he can say without hesitation it was the best afternoon spent for many a long day. The football was all that could be desired, the refereeing was good, and the various matches were played with an entire absence of rough play and ungentlcmanly behaviour, it does the heart good to watch these boys play, and see how they strive to play the game as it should be played, and Jet me state right here that it would bo a lesson to many a senior player to watch one of these games played now and again. The first game I happened across was the Swifts v. Marist, played on No. 2 ground, Duppa streets the game resulting in a draw, each side notching a goal. The Marist Boys were a little heavier than theit opponents, but this was about the only advantage they held, all things being equal otherwise First one . side attacked and then the defenders would have a hot time for a while, but gradually wearing the attack out, would work the ball down field and set up an attack, only to; find the defence, as strong as their own. The .-most noticeable, feature "of this game, in fact of, ad the games, was, the way the ba.l travelled down the wing, and whichever side was defending they were particularly careful to keep the bail out of the centre. One particularly pretty piece of ploy was broug.it off. bv the Swifts in toe second spell towards the end. Ma ist had b-en a,-, i tacking strongly and aH of a eudden the Pi!] came out to Swills outside left, and he immediately set off for the Marjet goal. Bv the time the ball had arrived in Marist t-rrivrv ; t had travelled . right along the forward line. Somewhat of a surprise was , caused in the fourth division game. South Wellington v. Swifts, played on No. 1 Duppa street. Swifts, up’ to the meeting of the South Wellington team, had not tasted defeat, but they had to acknowledge defeat in this game by two goals to one, ,;

The teams were very evenly matched, and the game, from a spectator’s point of view, was full of incident. Tiro out of th« three goals scored were the result of lino combined work by the forwards o* both sides. 1 noticed ihc South Wellington custodian and left full-back were ;erv sound on the defence. Tho halfbacks wore also good, placing the ball -veil among the forwards, wnich is _ a :iiing conspicuous by its absence in the .cnior teams. AnotlTer fine thing in those •jovs’ games is tho absence 'of wild kickjig; tlio ball i.t genoiaily placed so as to be available to a club-mate.

The annual smoke concert of the Referees’ Association was hold last Tuesday, and the interest taken in this important branch of football work was ahown by t Jie largo number of visitors present. Perhaps tho most enthusiastic toast honoured was that of tbe Wellington Football Association. Air C. 'JO. Foidham, in proposing this toast, gave some very interesting particulars of the association, going as far back as 1892. lie also referred. to the pleasant relations which right up to tho present day existed between too W.F.A, and the .Referees* Association. On rising to respond to tho toast, Mr IF. X. Holmes was greeted with iuud applause, and in (ho course of hia renuuks referred to the valuable work tho referees were doing in trying to educate the young players and public in iiocccr football, lie alto mentioned, as showing the value of boys' football, that eight members of the A.M.C.A. senior team learnt their football in tho boys' division of (ho Wellington. Football Association.

The following is taken from a r.eceufc •“Athletic News’*: —Although neither England nor Scotland ha* sustained a reverse in tho little tournament between flic four “nations” ox tho British Isles, the Scots have forfeited tho championship, which for the ensuing year will be held by England, who virtually, as events have happened, made goed their claim to supremacy during their time of triumpji for about eighteen minutes against Wales at Millwull. By the same process of reasoning it may be deduced (hat (he Caledonians lost their chance of retaining the premiership by the weakness, of their* team and tho fortune of war when they only drew with Wales at Cardiff. The international table stands thus : Goals

The predominant partner has an unassailable position. It is interesting: to nofeo that the percentages ox gate money going to the Ties were as follow: JB First round . 910 Second round OilG Third round 441 Fourth, round T<6 Total X2G53* The balance of the gate money is divided amongst the clubs playing. Proposals are to bo submitted to the International Board, which meets next month, to have laws 5 and 17 altered fo ihat if law 5 is infringed a throw-in ehall be awarded to the opposite side.

A suggestion by a member of the English Council to consider the advisability of altering law 16 eo as to make it impossible for a goal to bo scored from a throw-down without a second player playing tho ball was not agreed -to, as

tho opinion of tho rules revision committee was that the rule need not be altered, as, a goal, is very rarely scoreo fiom a throw-down. '

There are over twenty-six school teams playing in the school com petitions under the Oiago Football Association.

At this week’s meeting of the management committee of the \\elhngton lootball Association a letter was received from .Ur A. Mortimorc. of the Maryborough Boys' Football League, asking whether the local association would .jo prepared to receive a Marlborough team to play on Juno 3rd. The matter yas referred to the boys’ subcommittee, who will.no doubt have the arrangements well under way in a day or two. in this connection a word of praise is undoubtedly due to Air Uortimore, a schoolmaster in Blenheim, for his undoubted enthusiasm m the boj's’ work-in -Marlborough. Twelve months ago ho started a schools* compotit.ou with five entries, which ho has increased to. seven tins season, and hopes to get more. timore’s keenness has finite driven Kuggor” out of tho Bionnoim and district schools. This in a stronghold of Rugoy is a wonderful performance, iho boys have taken very* JdndJy to Soccer, and in theur representative match -last season placed a very lino game against tho "Wellington boys’ team. We should see a goou exhibition on tho 3rd prox.

Onr old friend, Air If. Tackle, lately chairman and treasurer of the Auckland Football Association, is now settled in. a bookseller’s business in Bannevirko, where lie evidently intends to keep tho Association game alive. This week ho wrote to tho Wellington Football Association asking whether a team could bo sent to Bannevirko towards tho end of June. Tho secretary was instructed to report cm tho matter, provided a Jitti© formality—tho request to come through tho Manawatu. Football Association, of which Bannevirko forms a part —is complied with.

Xhiring a recent local competition match' a supporter cf ono of tho interested clubs ran foul of the referee ana got reported for exhorting his team to "never mind the offside game, the referee doesn't understand it/' Passing over the question of misconduct in tho matter, one of the management committee raised tho question as to what was tho offside game. !Xo ono could answer tno question, and I am not surprised at that. Anyway, it Ts as plain as daylight, according to the above enthusiast, that if you play tho offside gamo with a referee who "doesn’t understand it," this particular style of play won't bo a sueotss, while it is a delightful certainty that if you play offside with a rtrieroo who "does understand it" —well, the rejauc is much tne tamo, the wmstlc wut go. So 1 should advise this enthusiast to adopt some other means of leading h.s team on to victory. Ho might run tout of tho management committee otherwise. His bc&t plan to adopt to avoid .tins is to do his best to attend the fortnightly meetings of tho lietertcs' Associat.on. where ho will have olfsHe thoroughly explained to him. .

Ono of the little jokes the management committee have is when "Jimmy" Pa ton —who is also known as the Football Association's '‘Harry Lauder"—proceeds to explain why England could not beat Scotland. This year it was because tho Per. L. P. G. Hunt (England) was too rough for the opposing Scots' forwards. I am afraid the committee could not see their way to accept "Jimmy's" opinion. On going through some English foot-

banl papers this week I came across toe following interesting bit of news. It i» .rom that well-known paper, “Tho 1* cotball News”:—“l met a man tho otaev day who opined, in a pretty loud voice, chat Association football had not maao any strides forward since the aid days wlien Preston North End were in tneir prime, and, strange to say, a few bonis afterward 1 heard tho same, ci* very £.xiU.ar, view expressed. u util ibestua were in their prune there wore very tew clubs in tho League, and, I might say, tho North Enders were in a class by tucmscives —nobody could touch them ; consequently their displays, thougn ? c ? wore perhaps not as good aa those of the principal League teams of to-day, ana only showed up in magnificence because they had little to beat. Tncn came Sun-' dcrland —another great club of tho past and after taut the league ofcgan to g*ovr, until to-day we have in our three principal Leagues sixty first-class clubs who can all give one another pretty tight ‘'Now, you can fake it from mo, no matter whether a side is playing at homo or away, the teams have to put m their very ivst to win, because tuey aio ail more evenly balanced than tucy were. There has been a levelling up, and evert then an improvement, and not a levelling down. In years gone by it was quite a common occurrence for a forward to run through the defence on his own and score., but such a thing is nearly impossible now. The backs and halves* ♦ire better, aud tho passing game, which at ouo time was absolutely unknown, is now so cleverly played that it lias become almost perfect, in my opinion, ‘Soccer has improved wonderfully all round, and instead of one or two outstanding sides, wc now have a large number of evenlybalanced teams.”

X would take this last opportunity of reminding all “Soccer” ontousiasts of the “football night” to he given by West's and the Royal Victurcs next Tuesday night, for the benefit of tho Wellington Football Association. As the association arc in urgent need of funds, everybody cun. help to put the W.F.A. ox* a good financial basis by attending, besides spending a very pleasant cveu-

England Won. Lost. Brn. For. 0 16 Agst . Pts. Scotland ... 1 0 3 4 Wales ... 1 1 1 i G 3 Ireland ... 0 3 0 2 6 0