A SUCCESSFUL SEASON EXPECTED

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 14

A SUCCESSFUL SEASON EXPECTED

Followers Of Association Football

(By

"Centre”)

The 1937 association football season in Invercargill promises to be a good one. The promise is contained in the increased number of players and spectators and. the improved standard of play shown in most matches. Moreover, the young players are beginning to assert themselves and may soon disturb those of the veterans who are resting quietly on their laurels. Five teams are contesting the senior competition. Of these, Thistle, Southern and Mataura can be classed as strong sides; Corinthians and Central, on the other hand, are on their showing so far this season, weak. It is to be hoped that Corinthians and Central can strengthen their sides before long, so that games between any two clubs can be depended upon to be keen and interesting. There is nothing keen and interesting in. a match between a strong side and a weak one; nor is there anything keen and interesting in the awkward fumblings of two weak teams. Value of Junior Players

“Centre” has seen several junior players in action who would do well in the senior elevens. It would appear, therefore, to be a good policy for the weak clubs mentioned to. gain strength by recruiting from their juniors. To popularize the code the association might endeavour to stage the principal match at Biggar street. This ground is certainly in the public eye, and to hold a poor game there will do more harm than good. Saturday’s game between Southern and Central is a case in point. The latter team, playing the first half with three men short, was in a hopeless plight. Batchelor (the Central goalie) was the means of holding a proportion of the spectators, but quite a number of people made for the show grounds in the hope of seeing something better. It is approximately eight years since there were six clubs playing under the Southland Football Association, and all were of fairly equal strength. Since then, one or two teams have been far better than others, with the result that cups have been won before they were competed for. “Centre” has in mind Corinthians, and, of latter years, Southern. However, the distribution of good players appears a hard obstacle to overcome—it is, therefore, up to the clubs to make their particular club attractive to players. As previously mentioned, the Biggar street ground is very satisfactory with one exception—the grass needs cutting. A third of the ground shows an abundance of long grass, which decidedly slows up the play.

“Cricket Scores”

Saturday’s games produced cricket scores. Thistle Corinthians by 11 goals to nil, and Southern accounted for Central by seven goals to nil—surely a local record for two matches; a tally of 18 goals. It is to be hoped that this type of football does not occur too often. Southern has a very powerful combination and will be hard to beat. Its game against Central on Saturday certainly did not extend the Southern team. However, when these two teams again meet the superiority of Southern may not perhaps be so pronounced—if it is at all. The match between Southern and Thistle will be awaited with keen interest. Central, as stated last week, badly needs a coach. lam sure it can do well. Batchelor, Walsh, Harvey and Adamson are heart-and-soul for the club and the game so Central players should pull together and endeavour to win a trophy. As was expected Thistle beat Corinthians, but very few imagined 11 goals would be scored against it. It must be said, however, that Corinthians is much in the same position as Central. It suffers from a shortage of players. Thistle’s worth was summed up last week—a very good well-balanced team. • , Mataura had a bye last Saturday and will play in Invercargill next week. This team will only have to produce last year’s form to be a difficult proposition for any Invercargill team. The assocation has agreed to a combined Otago and Southland eleven playing the English touring team at Invercargill. The choice of this team to meet the Englishmen may cause some concern. However, in C' en ta’ es opinion a game between Southland Possibles and Otago Possibles may be arranged, with a selector or selectors

present to pick the eleven. This game could be for the Otago-Southlana interprovincial trophy, which is played for annually. Sole Selector Appointed

At the first meeting of the new council of the New Zealand Football Association, Mr P. Neesham, Auckland, was appointed sole selector. Mr Neesham, who learned his soccer in Durham, England, and who played in Army Soccer during the war, when he was an artillery officer, is constdered one of the most skilful half" backs who have played, in New Zealand. In addition he is Auckland s most successful sole selector and has a happy quality of being able to “blend players into smooth-working cohesive units. He has been associated in the selection of New Zealand Test teams in the past and has a sound knowledge of the ability of most players in other centries in NeiV Zealand. His appointment will create much satisfaction not only in Auckland but throughout the Dominion, where his abilities as a player and a selector are widely known and respected. The English team, which is to tour New Zealand shortly, recently played a match against Wales. What is con- ' sidered to be the visitors’ best forward line took the field and England won easily by nine goals to one.

“AN INSULT TO A CLEVER GAME” THE REPLACEMENT RULE The recent decision of the Council of the New Zealand Football Association to introduce the replacement rule into soccer has caused consternation in the ranks of the older players who are agast at what they term tampering with the rules of the Football Association, London, writes “Hotspur in The Dominion. This conservative section contends that the English rules are binding on New Zealand, and that the New Zealand council had no power to make the alteration. Those in favour of the innovation point out that it is at present for one season only. They refer to the fiasco of the first Test against the Australians at Dunedin last season, when at one period New Zealand were playing with only nine men, and they emphasize that the public wants to see two teams of 11 men on the field, and not teams with one or two players in the dressing room. Describing the action of the New Zealand council as an insult to a clever and scientific game, a correspondent writes: “They have done the game a tremendous amount of. harm by giving people the idea that it is a rough game. The Football Association caters for millions of spectators, and the game has stood the test of time; yet it is left to the most backward country in the world at soccer to alter the rules of a grand game. I would like to know how many serious accidents have occured in our games during, the past five years—about three, I would suggest Our club has an injured players’ fund, but last year not one player in our four teams had reason to call on that fund. “Is it because we had such a whacking from that clever Australian team • when two of our players were unfortunately slightly injured—that we are making that an excuse? “Some of the members of the New Zealand council were responsible for Australia being so much superior to us. The first nail they put into the soccer coffin was when as members of the council they turned down the visit of the English team which put Australia so far ahead of us. Nail two was when they altered the playing area. The replacement rule is the third nail which will ruin the weaker teams.” The letter was referred to Mr. J. A. Milburn, chairman of the New Zealand council, who stated:—“The idea behind the whole arrangement is to make the game more attractive, and if you can do this by allowing replacements up to a certain time., then associations generally are going to benefit, and benefit very materially. Players are not going to leave the field because they get slight knocks—they will be prepared to carry on. “The whole mattei - was throughly threshed out at the annual meeting, and the council is simply carrying out the wishes of the majority of the delegates. Incidentally,’ the matter was brought up not by the council, but by the Otago delegates at the annual meeting.”