LEAGUE FOOTBALL.
STANDARD DECLINING IH SYDNiY s I was speaking to a. prominent. League footballer on • Saturday—one who has represented Australia this season, and. who lias been 'in-the forefront of the Northern Union game for many years—and he informed me that he has definitely retired from the game (says a Sydney writer). He declared that he played football until he had become absolutely sick of it. Ho added that be did not think that tho standard wan nearly as high as it was before tho war, otherwise ■he would not bare been chosen so often in the big matches. “ I know' that I did not play nearly as well this season as before the war,” said the player to whom I refer. He also discussed the prospects of the next English tour, and said that his honest opinion was that Australia would not bo able to send a side strong enough to stand up against the rigorous English winter and win matches with the consistency of tho men led by Chris. M’luvattin 1911-12. Unless some unforeseen developments take place I must confess that I agree with him. People in this" couuttry have no idea of the severity of an English tour. First of all there is the bitterly cold weather to contend with, and the almost incessant rafn, which converts the playing areas into mud Reaps. If it is not the 1 rain, there are the snow' and frozen grounds. Paramount, however, is the fact that every match has to be won by, .good football. The clubs arc all strong, many'of them more dangerous than any English representative team that could be picked. They have combination aud play together, so frequently that each man becomes a section of the machine. When the last team from Australasia Was in England they did not suffer defeat by any representative team. The, clubs caused' the disaster, and the only reverses of tho tour were brought about by Wigan, Oldham, Huddersfield, and Batley. It will, therefore, be realised that a tour of the Northern English football counties is not exactly , a picnic.'
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 20057, 21 September 1920, Page 3
Word Count
348LEAGUE FOOTBALL. Star (Christchurch), Issue 20057, 21 September 1920, Page 3
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