ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL TEST

Southland Times, Issue 23227, 16 June 1937, Page 14

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL TEST

Lessons From Englishmen’s Play

(By INSIDE-RIGHT)

Lessons to be learned by young Association footballers from the Englishmen’s play in the first Test match and a survey of the various aspects of the game are contained in the following review of the Test by “Rogoco” in The . Evening Star: — i What a shock the first Test match between England and New Zealand proved for even the least optimistic j New Zealand Association football enthusiast. Three goals to nil at half-time was not so bad, but 12 goals to nil when the final whistle sounded left some , speechless. Those who witnessed the English amateurs waltzing around the Wellington select at Wellington, also the Otago-Southland representatives at Invercargill on the previous Wednesday could not have imagined such a debacle as occurred at Carisbrook last Saturday, despite the changed ground conditions. The water or sleet-logged condition of the ground at Carisbrook was greatly in favour of the Englishmen, there is no denying, and they will probably be the first to admit this themselves. Nevertheless, the sloppy conditions, the heavy going, and the chilling blasts of the southerly buster cannot excuse the New Zealand representatives for then - poor showing. Perhaps the Auckland section of the team, because of the warmer climatic winter conditions in Auckland, suffered a little more severely than the rest from the wintry conditions, but despite the fact that they had every opportunity of running about to keep themselves. warm only the goal-keeper and Haggitt at right full-back displayed any real activity. The rest of the Aucklanders and the Wellington and Canterbury representatives adopted the role of “passive resisters.” The display by the Englishmen of body balance and positional play proved my oft-repeated contention that the finest example of Association football is not always seen on dry grounds. PRONOUNCED WEAKNESSES The wing half-back weaknesses in meeting the tactics of the Englishmen at Invercargill were even more pronounced in the Test match at Carisbrook, as the local players in those positions had only one speed at command, and simply could not or would not jump “off the mark.” In addition, they attempted the impossible—to ■watch two players at the one time instead of concentrating their attentions on one, and watching the opposing i player’s feet. I think that one might go to the extent of saying that if Todd and Gordon had focused their attention on Thornton and Eastham respectively and probably semi-eliminated themselves from the game as feeders, and had the inside forwards, Duncan I and Faman, filled the role of reserve I half-backs, there would have been no ! second-half cricket score. The sum I total of the old stereotyped style of play j indulged in by the New Zealand de- I fence was that the centre defences were I too frequently caught betwixt and be- | tween and thus had the mortification of witnessing passes by the Englishmen clipping their toes, that they were powerless to intercept. The system of “modern Association football” has been set out and enlarged upon in every sporting paper in the Dominion, and why our New Zealand representatives should show such a disinclination to adopt it is hard to fathom. There was more in it than that, however, as it was plain to be seen that the Englishmen in the outfield, without exception had body balance developed | to a very fine extent Their timing and anticipation, too, were perfect—in, marked contrast to that of our players, l who mostly seemed to throw up the sponge early in the second half. Almost all, except the goal-keeper, Cameron, 1 who stuck to his thankless job in grand style, did so. His fine example should alone have put heart into some of the others. With his half-backs and fullbacks overwhelmed, Cameron’s spirit was worthy of the highest praise; all the more because it was evident the Englishmen were out to score as many goals as they possibly could. There are some who have suggested to me that the Englishmen could have scored even more than the dozen goals they collected, but as a close observer I entirely disagree. Perhaps had their centre forward line been composed of men like Lewis, they could have done so, but the shooting of the five English forwards—as I know the term shooting—was far from being in keeping with their clever outfield play, even making allowances for the greasy ball. Most of the goals were scored from close in, and only one with a header—a very fine effort' by Thornton, the inside left, when he registered the second goal of the game. The best goal of the day was the eleventh, following shortly after a great double save by Cameron, when Lewis, the right-half, found the net with a proper pile-driver from the 25yds mark. Shot through the English forwards and the packed local defence, the ball was never sighted by Cameron, but probably, like myself, he heard it hit the back of the net. JOY DISAPPOINTING The feature of the game that appealed least, from a footballer’s point of view, in this good English side, was

the display of Bernard Joy, at centrehalf, from whom one expected great things. He was a “stopper” pure and simple, in this game, and he succeeded to that extent because Leslie, the New Zealand centre-forward, has apparently yet to leant that when he is not receiving the ball he must go and fossick for it. _ Had he showed some variety in shifting his ground ouickly he had a chance, of meeting with success, but without it he had none. Things were certainly not going right for him, and it was only occasionally he gave a glimpse of football ability. , , , While the other English halves and inside forwards impressed me with their ability to direct the ball cleverly and well with their heads, the attempts in this direction by Jo z y did not show good timing, but a stiffness in attitude Siat was surprising. To make my meaning plainer, it struck me that he allowed the ball to contact with his head on the few occasions it rose instead of “clicking” after the style of Thornton and others. That 'Joy was mainly a stopper was shown by the few forward moves he made, despite the overwhelming superiority of his side in the outfield. New Zealand will always be confronted with difficulty in fielding an entire team used to conditions such as last Saturday, and it must be remembered that some of its really good players are precluded from travelling and training for a week or more on end. I do not doubt that a good many of last Saturday’s side suffered from cold feet—not in the generally accepted sense of the term, but actually. It is seldom that our players are called upon to endure such severe conditions in New Zealand, and, while that is not put forward as an excuse for their lack of dash it should not be overlooked in the final reckoning. Cameron, in goal, gave a heroic display in the circumstances, but Sutherland at centre-half was the only defender who did anything worth while, and the breaking down of the moves he initiated was not his fault Duncan displayed some dash in the van at times, but at other times was overwhelmed by weight His partner on the wing, Wood (of Auckland Thistle), takes the ball well and gets it under control quickly, and late in the game gave proof of his ability. Faman and Kay on the left wing proved extremely disappointing, as they appeared jaded throughout, and Leslie was completely blanketed from lack of support, and centres from the wings never got near him. Haggett, at right-back, strove manfully, and was easily the better of the full-backs, Gerrard, his partner, having an off-day completely. Todd and Gordon, the wing half-backs, were willing enough, but on Saturday’s showing were out of their class, as they clearly lack that nip so necessary in a wing-half of getting off the mark quickly; and any judgment they possess was certainly not in evidence last Saturday. A course of training with spikes seems the best advice one could offer Gerrard, Todd, Gordon, Sutherland, Leslie, Farnan, and Kay. LESSONS OF GAME The first object lesson for the New Zealanders from last Saturday’s game was the necessity of acquiring the art of body balance. Travelling fast or slow the English players never floundered nor did they even slip, so certain were they of their movements. They each had a three-speed gearbox. The next object lesson for our younger players was their judgment of pace and distance, or, in other words, timing. Another was that they could direct the ball a given distance, with either foot by the way, with accuracy. The majority of them, too, could direct the ball with their head with the same accuracy in any direction they pleased, although this was not so much in evidence in the test match as in the other games, because they relied last Saturday chiefly on carpet passing to make ground. Probably the * greatest lesson our younger players would learn was the Englishman’s fine positional play, and the fact that each player while in pos-. session of the ball drew his opponent out of position first before parting with the ball at the psychological moment to his clubmate, who had moved into an open position to receive it.