ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23213, 10 June 1937, Page 4

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

By Corner-kick

THE ENGLISH TEAM In defeating New Zealand in the lest match on Saturday at Carisbrook, the English team of amateurs recorded its fourth win of the/tour, the total goals scored being 40 to nil. The visit to Dunedin was concluded on Monday morning, when the party left for Christchurch, where it was due to play a combined Westland and Canteroury team yesterday. Unfortunately for the day ui the lest match the cold, sleety rain showers which fell during* the day considerably affected the attendance, and where a £IOOO gate was expected had the weather been fine, the returns did not reach the £4OO mark. Apart from this, however, the play of the tourists was an eye-opener to those who braved the elements, and, provided the Dominion players lake the lessons to heart, the game should derive much benefit from the visit. In the provincial match at Invercargill and the test at Dunedin the difference in the standard of football displayed by the Dominion players was painfully evident, the Englishmen in both games seemingly being able to score at will. The heavy going and greasy conditions at Carisbrook on Saturday did not trouble the visitors, who displayed remarkable ball control and pace, whilst their short, snappy passing and interchanging play was a feature of their attacking movements. England’s score of 12 goals without response from the Dominion’s best clearly demonstrates the disparity in the standards of play, and it is apparent New Zealand has made little advance in the finer points of the game since the visit of the Australians last year. It must be recorded, however, that Saturday's representatives put up a much better fight than last year’s team. In every way the visitors were a vastly superior side: in fact, their play was the best exhibition of the game ever to have been witnessed here. Their team work and constructive play was rarely at fault. The side was never seriously troubled, and the low score of three goals at the interval was due in great measure to the brilliant goal-keeping of Cameron and the rugged defence of Haggett and Gerrard, the full-backs. After the changeover England’s quick interchange of passing and position, with every player taking his part in the scheme of attack and defence, soon over-powered the opposition, and the remaining nine goals followed in regular sequence. In contrast, New Zealand’s play was hesitant and without cohesion, and the wing-halves being outplayed, few opportunities were given to the forwards. The majority of the attacks, however, were doomed to failure by the poor passing and positional play of the van. These are two points on which New Zealanders can improve their play. The English wingers. Finch and Collins, played to perfection. New Zealand in these positions being poorly served by Wood and Kay. neither of whom crossed a worth-while, centre during the game. Leslie at centre was dominated by the heftv English centrehalf, whose play was one of the features of the game. He did not confine himself wholly to playing the third back game, but, using his pace to come through with the ball, he frequently set his forwards 'in action. The wing-halves. Lewis and Leek, were a power in defence and clever in attack, and the play of the intermediate line generally left the full-backs, Strasser and Robins, and the goal-keeper, .Huddle, little to do. The New Zealand inside players, Farnan and Duncan, were disappointing, although the latter in the first spell made some good play for his partner on the wing. Sutherland, at centre-half, played a hard game, but-lacked the speed to foot it with the opposition, and with the failure of the wing halves, Todd and Gordon, the backs had a bad time against the two elusive English wingers, as well as the shrewd placing of the inside men, Eastham, Mathews and Thornton, and it was only to be expected that the New Zealand defence would crumple up in the end The English forwards played with fine understanding, and Eastham’s nippy play was very popular with the spectators POINTS IN THE PLAY Some of the points to be learnt from the visitors were then fitness, keenness, positional play and ability to travel at top speed in any direction with the ball under perfect control about two feet in front. The players always met the ball, propelling it forward with either foot, player or ball never stopping, and at the same time showing perfect body balance, sometimes with the body at an angle of about 45 degrees to the ground Unselfishness was another outstanding feature, every player or the ball being played into the vacant space, and as Lewis, the right-half, demonstrated on numerous occasions, every player was capable of interchanging positions. Their action in doing the opposite of what was expected in going for the ball and allowing it to pass on the blind side, then turning and pouncing on it. had the opposition hopelessly beaten. They were adepts in passing, a direct pass

going direct to the player receiving, and a through pass being placed perfectly for the player to gather it in his stride. The visitors displayed wonderful ability to bring the ball to earth with head, chest or feet and make play at top speed with the ball always under control and, in their opinion, once a player places a ball two vards in front of him he has lost control of it. In a throw-in the nearest player to the ball, frequently the hajf-back, carried on the play as a winger, the latter dropping back to cover up. The wingers never attempted to score unless in a scoring position, being generally content to cross back from right off the goal line into the penalty area. The pass back to enable the play to go forward was also well demonstrated.

The play of Joy in the position ot what is now known as the stopper centre-half game was new to most local players, and when he was not in possession of the ball making play, he was to be found a yard or so from Leslie, as his one and only job in English "Soccer" is to prevent the centre-forward from scoring. This type of play, however, is not as spectacular as the old method, in which the centre-half was regarded as the spearhead of the attack Generally, a player for this position was an outstanding man, but the new move in the game has been forced on the English clubs in order to counter the change in the offside rule. It is understood that some clubs in England this season are experimenting to overcome the stopper back game by playing two centre-forwards.

The second test takes place at Auckland on June 19, and Selector Neesham has yet to announce what changes, if any. will be made in the New Zealand team. As New Zealand has not the players at present capable of beating the visitors, the opportunity should be taken of giving the most promising of the younger players an opportunity of playing against the visitors, which would give them a chance of improving their knowledge of the game. ~. Sutherland, of Old Boys, is worthy of a trial at full-back. In the game played against the Englishmen at Invercargill. in which he was partnered with Taylor, the pair were as severely tried out as Haggett and Gerrard were on Saturday. Both gave good displays. Sutherland proving he is the equal of Gerrard. and has. in addition, youth and stamina to stand a hard game for the full 90 minutes. FLETCHER COP COMPETITION Club matches for the Fletcher Cup competition will be resumed on Saturday, the present leaders, Old Boys, meeting Seacliff on the Northern ground, as the Seacliff area is not available. Mosgiel, which is one point behind Old Boys on the table, meet Mornington on the latter's ground The Logan Park game will be between Northern and Roslyn-Wakari, both of which have shown great improvement in recent games. The remaining match will be played at Prospect Park between Maori Hill and Technical. CHATHAM CUP COMPETITION Dear Sir,—l notice through the medium of your paper that there are only 13 clubs (out of a total of 60) entered for this competition this season. Surely the wise members of the New Zealand Council must be wondering what has become of the rest of the clubs. The New Zealand Council's idea of fostering this competition is to make four centres—Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin—find their own finalists, then the winners in the North and South Islands play the final in Wellington. Last year the Otago Association found its finalist, which was expected to play the final of the South Island in Christchurch. But much to the surprise of the Otago Football Association, and without explanation from the New Zealand Council, the Otago finalist was ordered to go to the West Coast to play a team, thus making a semi-final, which, according to the rules of the Chatham Cup Competition, was entirely out of order. "This decision showed very little consideration for the Otago team and it was unreasonable to expect players to lose time off work, irrespective of the expense. I therefore think the time has come when this competition should be dropped, or that the New Zealand Council get their thinking caps on (if any) and introduce a better system for the Chatham Cup Competition.—l am. etc.. Soccer Boy.