FOOTBALL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16911, 9 December 1922, Page 14

FOOTBALL.

THE ASSOCIATION GAME. UNFAIR TACTICS. (Speoiat to tlie Star.* -1 ) LONDON, October 5. The control of professional football tends to become even more difficult. Under the points system, by which the merit of teams is appraised, to win is counted more than to play well. Thus when local .rivalry enters into the game, there is an intensity of purpose on the part of the players’that sets up a most unfortunate state of affairs. Nc one obejets to the use of physical force. the honest shoulder charge which has always been a feature of amateur football, but it is hard to define a limit when robustness becomes unfair. The trouble is not confined to th<j player . There is greater respon sibiity resting on the referee. and spectators too can play a pare which hat an unhappy influence. Excitement behind the rails spreads with the speed of fire and the men out in the middleware roused to a state of daring when they lose the sens© of what is right. The tendency for football to be spoilt in this way has become greater as the game has grown in public favour and the authorities are set a complex and difficult problem to solve. Jmt they are alive to the danger which threatens and they have laid down most stringent regulations and have given the clearest indications of their determination to put them into force. For example. Af’Cracker*. who for twenty years has been an outstanding back in the Newcastle United team, was recently sent off the field for interference/' That is ro say he. disputed. a referee’s award of a penalty kick against his side. The result is that lie has been suspended from taking part in football for a month. During this time his club will not be allowed to pay him his wages, but it is an unwritten law' of the dressing-room that an> man who suffers in this way should, be compensated by his fellowplayers. Again the recent match between Tottenham Hotspur and the Arsenal, two North London rivals, was a discreditable affair. The Arsenal. with nothing like their opponents’ cleverness. sought to knock them off their game by forceful methods. but they went very much too far. Unfortunately in this case the referee .was very weak and in the hurly-burly lost control of the match. More than one man should have been sent off the held but the official took no action. Now, however. the Football Association have stepped in and ordered a commission to inquire into the conduct of the Arsenal players. Apparently the Hotsjmr players are freed from blame and there is no doubt that they should be. Professional football has grown to such an extent that it is now passing through a crisis. It is menaced by gambling-. Unruly spectators who by their unchallenged cojnments inflame the players and perhaps, a little by the clubs themselves, who, through their greed or points, insist that the team should win rather than that they should “play the game.” One reform is needed. There should be an end to the appeals by players against the referee’s decision. In cricket when the umpire puts up his hand the batsman walks away to the pavilion unhesitatingly. no matter how outrageous he may think the decision. In football, however, there are angry protests when men think the referee has erred, and these are the cause of much of the trouble.