SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 493, 24 October 1928, Page 13

SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

PASSING NOTES

(By

Perseus

Soccer Season Ends. —The lengthy Soccer season finally closed on Saturday with a hard-fought tussle between Tramways and Ponsonby in the concluding knock-out for the Falcon Cup. The Corporation Club retained the trophy by the narrowest of margins, and thus secured double honours in the senior grade by winning both the championship and knock-out competitions; the Ponies being consistent in filling the role of runners-up on both occasions. The Trams were warmly congratulated on their dual success, and the sincere hope was expressed that the high standard of the team will be maintained by future reinforcements as time takes its inevitable toll of the present players. The last season extended over seven months, and it is very unfortunate that there should be any overlapping with kindred sports. Many Soccer players and supporters are equally keen on summer sports, and the clash between cricket and Soccer on Saturday illustrates the need for a definite and limited season. Fixing The Limits —A fixed programme which would bo acceptable to all sports would be for the football season proper to open on May 1 and close on September 30. That would give a clear six months of competition games, and allow of players getting into condition for the start of the season. This season the players were not fit for football when the competitions started, and on Saturday many of the cricketers were not in form to start a summer championship series. Tho Soccer championship was unduly prolonged by playing a third round. An ideal competition would be eight clubs and two full rounds. That would absorb 14 Saturdays; 3 playing days each to Falcon and Chatham knockouts would occupy another six Saturdays, leaving the remaining six Saturdays of the half-year for replays and representative games. • Some such fixed scheme would appeal to the clubs and avoid much of the vague casualness of past seasons.

The Sensation of the Season. —There has been nothing in the 192 S season of special note from a football point of view. Except a solitary F.A. trophy match with Wellington, there has been no appearance here of outside or overseas combinations. But the past season will be remembered for many years on account of the local split, when Thistle withdrew from affiliation with the A.F.A. and engaged in organising a rival body. As the curtain falls on the close of the season it is gratifying to record that negdtiations are now well advanced toward a complete healing of the breach, and it is not anticipated that such a situation will exist when play opens next year. It is freely stated that a local agreement has been finalised, but as the affair had passed out of the hands of the local management, and probably been reported by the New Zealand Council to the parent Football Association in England, it will naturally take time for the necessary formalities to be completed for washing out the regrettable incident. There has been a mysterious atmosphere, a quasi-secrecy about the final negotiations, but the general opinion is that the clubs will not stand for any tinkering with the present constitution of the A.F.A. as a condition of settlement, and nothing final can be* clone without the clubs’ sanction.

Among the Juniors. —While it is generally recognised that the standard of club games among the seniors has not been very high, the showing of the junior clubs has been most encouraging, and augurs well for the future of the code in the years ahead. It would not be difficult to revive a senior B section next season with eight promising clubs, which would give the average senior team fielded this year a hard game. In the third grade W.Y.M.I. won the open competition without a loss, and Birkenhead put up a sterling performance. The third intermediate went to a promising team from North Shore which only lost one game in 21 matches, and has all the material for a smart senior eleven in the near future. Shore also stood out in the

fourth grade events by winning the double, and these lads gave a clever display of the code in the final on Saturday. Burnley, New Lynn and Tamaki all showed good form in this grade, and shoud provide good players for promotion. £shore also won the fifth grade double without a loss, while Onehunga put up a meritorious performance in only losing one match and scoring 48 goals to 4. Among The Schoolboys.—One feature of the school competitions has been the spread of the game in the secondary schools, six teams competing in the' senior competition and ten in the junior section. Mount Albert Grammar won the senior, but Auckland Grammar put up a great fight for tho honours, which was a highly creditable performance for a school in its first season at the code. The junior secondary schools provided a most exciting competition, Takapuna Grammar, Auckland Grammar and Technical College finishing level at the top of the ladder, with Mount Albert Grammar only a solitary point behind them. Takapuna Grammar won the play-off for the title, and is justly proud of securing the championship on its first appearance with the round ball. These school tennis will undoubtedly prove splendid feeders for the vitiated, senior clubs in the near future. A special word of praise is due to the Belmont School teams, which swept the board in the lower A.F.A. grades and cleaned up the primary school championships. In the sixth A and seventh A sections, the Belmont boys were undefeated, and after winning the seventh B section the Belmont B team annexed the honours by defeating its own A club. In the primary schools contests Belmont was undefeated in both senior and junior competitions. For five club teams to go through tho season with one loss, as Belmont did, is a proud and unparalleled record in the game, and thosw boys must take a lot of beating.