SOCCER TO-MORROW

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1935, Page 12

SOCCER TO-MORROW

SENIOR AND JUNIOR GAMES HAWERA’S CHINESE CUP Though it was the first competition match of the season and therefore probably not a fair test of subsequent form, the Soccer game at Hawera on Monday was an encouraging beginning, particularly for Hawera. That a club resuscitated after four years of inactivity should have been able to win the Chinese Cup from Stratford, last ‘year’s formidable champion team, suggests that the new club will be a force to be reckoned with in the Julian Cup competition. Both sides lacked combination, but that fault will no doubt be remedied before the season progresses far. The first matches in the Julian Cup competition will be played to-morrow and with interest spread between New Plymouth, Stratford- and Hawera it is expected there will be some keen contests. It is to be hoped this season will see greater individual concentration on the science of the game—the science of ball control and placing that is soccer’s peculiar attraction. Anyone who has seen the code played in Taranaki can recall with pleasure certain accomplished players—not very numerous—with the ability to send the ball accurately to the quarter from which it can be most effectively used against the opposing side. These exponents of the code, through long experience and practice and a complete understanding of the game, make possible the strategic passing movements that are so much more spectacular and certainly more effective than “hit and miss” methods in which the expenditure of much energy usually results in an unattractive scramble up and down the field. Some of the younger players could well study the methods of their more experienced colleagues and thus improve not only their Own play but also the general standard of the code in the province.