ASSOCIATION NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 52

ASSOCIATION NOTES.

Last Saturday's matches opened with a. perfect footballers' day, and the games contested' between the respective senior elevena five every indication of a nio3t, successful season, even more so than hitherto. The necines; of the clubs engaged in the senior x>mpotition can be easily geen by the fact :hat each match was either won or lost by ;he narrow margin of one goal. Wakari v. Southern was looked upon as ftie most interesting match, and those supwrters who wended their way to Montesijlo were not by any means disappointed rith their afternoon's sport. Southern played i hard game, but had not anything like the tombination of their opponents, who gave a really fine exposition of the game, considering it was the first match of the season. [ . O. Armit, at full back for Wakari, earned jt deal of applause by his dashing: play. If he sticks to it and" works hard, using just * little more judgment in his kicking and -tickling he ought to be amongst the lirst flight by the end of the season. By the *ray, Armit has a brother playing in the ISVakari Junior?. t Southern, a Home player at half-back tor the Beds, proved himself a man of pkill and resource, and is evidently quite able to • , hold his own. against attacking foi wards. Northern and Green Islaud had a clinking "go" at North- Eaet Valley, the former playing a man short right through the pine. Greens assumed the aggrest-ive in the irst spell, but Northern more than held their own in the second, eventually winning a ,yery fast and exciting game The Greens fere evidently pretty strong this season, and | piay confidently be relied upon to account For more than, one or two teams as they go Wlong. 3 Northern missed Siedeberg in the forward ■division. They didn't seem to realise they \vere playing a match until the second spell"; fcufc when they did wake up they mede up for loßt time, .and richly Reserved cxciy one K>f their four goals. I Mornington supporters had aci idea, and k»ot without reason, that their champions would down the Ro&lyn, but last year's preinienj opened the season with a win over Ihe blue-and-blacks by two goals to one. fThe game was extremely fast and few of the players were in fenn, consequently at limes things were somewhat erratic. > Clarke had a number of shots at Roslyn's roal, but each eae went wide. He showed the same fault that many ether players do — kdz.. shoot first and look for the pwts afterWards. I The Roslyn-Morningfon match was a hard fought one from start to finish. The final result — Roslyn 2, Mbfnington I—was1 — was never jure until the whistle eour.ded time. InJeed, had the Mornington any reliable kicks In their vanguard tl;ey would have surely had the satisfaction ,of turning the tables, rheir shooting at goal was very erratic. Morninjjton have about the best back team In Dunedin. As for their forwards, an is very much wanted, and when that is effected they should prove that they jrp a hard lot to beat. As hitherto, Dobson was the mainstay for Roslyn, and a veritable thoixi to his oppoEents. His partner. Ward, waj, inclined to c over-excited, which got his side into a na^ty fix morr» than once. Roslyn's half-backs — Smith. DoheTty. and Clark — played as well as could be expected, tho one mistako noticeable being a tendency to lie too far away from their forwards, which, if remedied, would be of more benefit to their club and themselves in particular. Hiddlestou in goal was very safo. One fine feature of his play wa-> his jEplendJd fisiing-our. His stopp-ng of th<» penalty kick given aeainst Ro=.'yn showed that his old-timp brilliancy is with him yet. " Tomrov " Arlidge, after a seaeon's spoil, displayed his abilities like a tradesman, and ho strikes reil form «hould prove as dangerous as of yore. In Robertson R»j=]yn have a strong left wine. Centrf-forw.ird Stables has not struck form yet, but this is only a matter of time. Isnjthusiasts of his club were pleased to see him battling for their honour and glory after a ccuplc of reasons' spell. Farquh-ir c o«i, at full-hack for Morninjrton. (played liVo a votornn. He had a laren anio7:r.t of work to do. ami camp through tho onloil with living i-o'cvr-. Alcxai uer was ov.t of Ms jlac^ a* crr.trc-lnlf, and rJthone;li 'h A Tjlnved a \cry cn r\iceabl? f or hi« eido' he didn't show to eucli arhan*a?o a* at ftiU-haek. So-irrow put .11 p-i i'.tnn : « amount of n-oi!c at loft half, and >\a, ccitairl/ th« lio=t half ba- k osi ih" ground. c<j£ n«i-> jii< .ii.cd to wan/lor ton much. Oaotain Eivwii vaa ''all out" fxom atait

jto finish. He was too well watched, liowe\er, by Sparrow, the opposing half, to do much destruction , but nevertheless he played a serviceable game. Percy Peters, manager and coach of the Rangers, stripped last Saturday in the interests of hi 3 club, and could be seen battling and lasting out the allotted time in fine style. Owing to the non-appearance of tho eleventh man he was eagerly snapped up by his followers to fill the vacancy, which he did in something like the came style as the Peters of five or six years ago. Unity lose a good man in J. Rodger, who leaves this week for Christchurch. He w?8 the backbone of their back division, and they'll find it hard to fill his place. Those interested in starting Wednesday Association teams will note with satisfaction that a meeting is to be fcrld at the Coffee Palace on Friday evening to consider this matter. Several years ago teams used to play regularly on Wednesdays, and there's no reason why they should not be going now. ELaitangata send two teams to Dunedin j next Saturday — a senior one to play Roslyn at the Asylum ground and a junior to meet Sawyer's Bay at Montecillo This will necessitate tho postponement until later m the season of the Roslyn-Green Island fixture. Sawyer's Bay have drav/n a bye for Saturday, so that their game with the Kaitangata Junior will not affect the fixtures. Wellington championship matches commence on Saturday next, while Auckland do not start until the following Saturday. H. il'Keowen, last year's secretary of the Wellington For-tball Association, has beea elected captain, secretary, and treasurer of the Marist Brothers' Old Boys' A&seciation Club in Wellington. A man of parts truly! In Wellington the run Association football first, second, third, and fourth class. In the near future the Otago A.ssooi.ition will have to adopt seme such classification scheme. Harry Goldie, manager of the Auckland team that visited Dunedin la=t season, has left on a visit to the old country. This seaton Wellington are arranging fixtures for seven senior teams, six junior, fix third class, and urobably about 11 fourth clas*. " Umpire," in the New Zealand Times, gays that Kober. who kept goal for the Auckland team last season, will be " keeper " for the Sv. sfts this y«ar. Locally practice ie still being kept up amongst tho schoolboys, whose interest in tbe ! game shows no abatement as yet. Altogether there arc about a dozen teams at practioe each Saturday, and the timp will soon be ripe for commencing matches. It rests with the association to see that the competition is carried through successfully, but that body must have the active ce-operation of players — and tho best players at that — otherv. itf the boys will only half learn the game. In such a state of affairs they could not reasonably be expected to keep up an interpst in Association football, so it behoves all players, and eepecially senior men. to do everything 10 their power to assist the O.F.A- in carrying out the task ie has undertaken. The Albany and Normal Seheols> held another practice on the Asylum ground on Saturday, and the improved form shown by the boys is proef positive of the theory tfcat the younger a boy starts at the gam© the smarter he picks- it up. Several of the boys put in good work- Claude Irvine (b: other of Bobbie of that ilk) couJd show i some of Tttir senior centre-forwards how a«d when to pass the ball. Smith, at full back, is a fine kick, but being somewhat large he is a little inclined to '"skeer'" the opposing boys. Of the Albany street boys. M'Kenzie (captain) was the best bad- and Douglae> the best forward. Referee Archer ais.de p huge mistake in upholding the Greens in their endeavour to keep Ihe Northern from putting on an eleventh man offer nlaying a man short all through the fir't spell. Such action on the ■part of Green Inland is unsportsmanlike and out of sympathy with the roadiug of the lows of the game. : "Player" writes: — " The match Green: Ifil&md v. Northrrn, clayed ai North-East Valley on Saturday, «i 3 played under very | unfa\ourabl«! conditions, tl c homo team's bftrrackers sef min^ t<> enjoy themselves by throwing mud at the goal-keeper and hooting the visiting team. The captain of the , home team, on being told about it, only j sneered and never tried in the least to stop it. It is not the first time the same bhjsig \ has happened to a -waiting team on that ground, and I hope the Northern Committee will take it in hand to have this matter put a stop to, as it greatly interferes with the game and makes the goalkeeper's poeition an unenviable one." . A correspondent writes: "Tho Green 1 Inland team topm to have ?ivon v t p their rough s^tyle of play, wh'Vh has been so characteristic of the-m during the past few years. Thoro i* no doubt i? they adopt a gentlemanly kind of Lramc and resort to scientific pat-ing they will be a hard nut to track. "I heard that the Green Island captain objected to the Northern taking on their eleventh man at half-time. I did not be lieve that ?ny captain could be so unsports1 manlike, but on making inquiries on Saturdny night found it to bo- only too true. The Green" had a s-übstantial lead when the Northern wished to take on thr>ir eleventh man. Considering the Northern had only i bof-n playing 10 men I fail to see what obiection could be raised. I was also told that the referee instructed the Northern captain to order his eleventh man off the field. If the Association game infuses such urfpcrt=manlike principles in its players, then the >ooner it becomes extinct the I better. '■Haynes for the Northern relayed a good game, but is hardly yet up to- his old form. 1 "The Northern's centre-half played one I of the hardest e:ames on the ground, but he must get out of the habit of roaming. He not only makes unnecessary work for himself, but hampers his wing half " Grant, if he wishes to retain his placo in i the team, will have to get into better form I and bo a little quicker, and also try to pace the ball to his forwards. " Irvine was not shootinc as well as I have seen him. M*Nair and Clark at back play very well together There is no doubt Clark is a tplcndid tackier, and kicks with | judgment. Kilgour, J. Clark, and ChadI wick all played a vory hard game. Kilgour, at half, put in a lot of work. The other two. oncf they livened up on Saturday played with great dash. In accordance with the agreement entered upon by the various provincial associations, the Otaoto "socJcer" representatives will visit • Auckland thir> season. i Harry Mayer, the ex-Otago Association jJayp-r, who h?s of late years been playing I the '"pockcr" pame in "Wellington, has left I for a Y1B1& tO Kn.trla.ntl,