SOCCER CORNER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17864, 4 June 1926, Page 12

SOCCER CORNER.

NOTES, ANTICIPATIONS AND GENERAL NEWS.

BY

FULL-BACK.

Next Saturday’s matches are due to arouse a lot of interest. Kaiapoi and Tech. 0.8. will be the most even contest. The confidence of Tech, may have been somewhat assailed by last Saturday's result, while Kaiapoi will not be desirous of another defeat. Kaiapoi are a good lot now, with a moderately fast team that has one or two outstanding men. Their defence is tight, and Hirst is a useful man between the. sticks. Tech, have the advantage of youth, and are well trained. Phelps, their centre-forward, is a goalgetter if he gets half a chance, while the team as a whole is well balanced and speedy. It is impossible to forecast the result with any degree of confidence, so it must be a case of wait and see.

:5: >2: =i< =:< Nomads and New Brighton is an easy one. New Brighton got jarred badly last week, and will get another one. tomorrow. The Brighton team are a band of triers, but no amount of keenness will prevail lacking combination and team work against the calculated play of a more experienced team. Nomads will surely pull it off; the number of goals which will ornament the tale of victory is the only question. There never was a team to vary its form like the Blues. Playing a. top-noluh game one day. they will be as slow as they were bright the next match. Unless

they fritter away their chances by taking things too much for granted, however, Nomads will go up two points. * * * * Lyttelton really ought to win this time. They have shocked their followers every time so far, but St Albans is not exactly a first-class League, team. The St Albans win last Saturday, however, will probably have some bearing, on the result, of. the match io-morjpw. A taste of the sweets of victory is a great thing to buck.a team .up. * * * * Playing at English Park, Western .will drop a blot on their , practically stainless escutcheon if they let Thistle beat them. Comparing all things, however, the match assumes by no means the aspect of- a foregone conclusion. Thistle may not.be brilliant .as a team, but they are stayers, and have at least two first-class forwards who are as clever as any in Canterbury, and are opportunists. The fast Western line is well known, and their defence is usually -admirable. The balance of favour is for Western. * * * * Sunnyside and Villa have byes, but the}' arc playing a friendly game at Sunnyside. That ground will be getting worn out. Villa are insatiable. Is there any truth in the rumour that Sunnyside are playing four men—goalkeeper, centre-forward, Mr R. 13. Walker, and the groundsman ? * * * * THOSE WHO PLAY. .Tim M'Dougall, Nomads’ invaluable custodian, who is undoubtedly the best goal-keeper in the Dominion at the present time, first learned to play goal, or as- a goalkeeper, with a foundry boys' team called Lorne Hall. While with that club he was elected to represent the Foundry Boys against the Churches League, also against the Y.M.O.A. League. That was in 1914, then M’Dougall joined up in 1914, and did not return until .1916. On his return he played for a first-class juvenile club known as Govan Waverly;

while with this team he gained a Glasgow Consolation Cup medal. M'Dougall only lasted half a season with them, when he was offered £5 to play with a junior club in the Glasgow Junior League, known as Saint Anthony. He was in all good faith on his way to their

playing ground on the Saturday as arranged when he was stopped just as he was leaving his home by a member of the PetershiH Club, playing in the Glasgow Junior League also, who offered, on behalf of his club, £6 to M’Dgugall to sign on. and a bonus for that Saturday’s game. Being Scotch (James said this himself. Full-Back had nothing to do with it), he accepted at once, and wired the secretary of the Saint Anthony's to that effect at once. This was .in the 1916-17, season. With this club M'Dougail collected a Maryhi’l Charity Cup. n Glasgow Junior Cup medal, and a medal for the competition. At the end of that season lie resigned with PetershiH for the next vear. “ During that season they lifted the Mary hill Cup, the Scottish Cup. for which 432 clubs competed, in a knockout competition, and were runners-up in the Glasgow Cup. The following season he was lured from, his first junior club bv that all-fascinating gold. Ashfield Club (in the same league) offering increased money. By this time M'Dougail was not playing for fun. but for money, and meant to get the best he could. While with Ashfield he picked up another Maryhill Cup medal, and two or three five-a-side prizes. He was also selected to play against the Scottish League, at Ibrox park Glasgow, also the East of Scotland,’ plaved at King's Park, Stirling. He came into contact in play with the famous Hugh Gallacher, then of Bellshill, from which club he transferred to Airdrienonians, and from there to Newcastle United lor £IO,OOO. M Dongall was then selected to play for Glasi gow League against the Irish League i (juniors), in the 1919-20 season. The

game was a draw, 1 all, and was played at Cliftonville. Belfast. After this lie signed on for Saint Roche’s, a Scottish Junior League club; then he got the fever for New Zealand: everybody had it for somewhere, he says. Before he left he played one game for Third Lanark Reserves against Queen’s Park Strollers, at Cathkin Park, and he was approached by Mr A. M’Farlane, manager of Dundee Football Club, who asked M'Dougall to turn professional proper, playing at. £7 a week in the first team and £0 a week in the second team. But M'Dougall was booked for New Zealand, so were the family, and here they are. Nomads are very glad they are, so are the Canterbury selcetors. M’Dougall is a picture to watch in action. ITis anticipation is marvellous, and while some of his tricky moves may seem rash, he never fails. He always knows what the other man is going to do, even before the lattcr docs. Ted Norman is one of the best known figures among Soccer players in Christchurch. Arriving in Canterbury some twenty years ago. he at once carried on with the game that had been his before, and although it was then still in an infant stage. Norman threw himself into the furtherance of the code with zeal. Though now not quite so

1 young as he used to be. Norman is a } clever forward. Lanky and lean, he I plays some funny tricks with the ball, and leaves on occasion the most clever of his opponents guessing. Norman commenced playing in the Old Country for Park ~ehool, West Ham, London, which won the championship in 1599 with a record of 163 goals for arid 7 against. He placed for West Ham Schools and London Schools, and nr. woe

at eighteen was playing in London senior for Ilford, one of the best known amateur clubs in England, at a time when they had only four teams and two grounds. Norman came to Christchurch in 1906, and played for several clubs. Latterly he piloted the Rangers front line, until the club disbanded last year; he now plays for Nomads. At different times Norman, who is extremely versatile, has represented Canterbury in each of the five forward positions, and captained South v. North on the two occasions in which they met.

THE COMPETITION. Last Saturday’s series of matches had a salutary effect on the competition. It is apparent now that the teams are finding their balance more evently than before. The positions of the teams is now as follows:

Technical collected their first defeat, and will he hard put to it to avoid staying where they are next Saturday, against Kaiapoi. Sunnyside’s non-stop run has continued and they still hold the lead. Western may ascend to eleven points, putting them one behind the leaders, and Nomads also will, in all probability, go up to ten, which will make them equal with Technical Old Boys if the Old Boys are defeated. The remaining teams are now more or less out of the running. St Albans must be congratulated on their win last week, while one cannot help but feel sympathy with Lyttelton. The watersiders have had a hard time this scaON THE SUBJECT OF CHARGING. Writing on the inter-Lcague match England v. Scotland, the “(Glasgow News” Soccer expert expresses himself on the matter of charging as follows: "The burden of. the complaint from the South is that fair charging was penalised. This is the usual talc: the truth is that they know not what a shoulder charge is in the South. T have, the experience of my own eyes, and, bo it said, mv own ribs,' to confirm my view that 90 per cent, of what passes for shoulder work is supplemented by arm work. T have no doubt that, this is what the referee penalised, and not the manly shoulder bout about which we hear so much. It is coming to be worshipped, as is the Golden bait in these decadent days. “With all deference, T would suggest that 'Mr Sutcliffe should turn a really critical eye on the much-lauded shoulder charge, and particularly watch the elbows and hands of the experts. For my part, Soccer is becoming too refined, and the refinement even colours the apparently robust, method. Energetic charging is frequently used as a cloak for tricky interference. We in the North have our views about this shoulder charging of the Saxons. \Vc are agreed that we want clean, open, good-tempered meetings between the men, but let us be sure before we criticise that things always are what they seem.'" SOCCER IN SCHOOLS. Under the heading of “An Amazing Confession,” the “Athletic News” deals editorially with the refusal of the headmasters of certain of the English public schools to allow the playing of Soccer. The editor of the “News” in this

case has made his “leader” very short, merely an introduction to a letter from a leading English headmaster:— “Perhaps the most important and pungent contribution that has been made to the discussion concerning the . rights of Association football in the public schools is contained in an article in the current issue of ‘English Life.’ by the Rev. G. F. Fisher, headmaster of Repton School, and an old Rugby player. It is a commentary of such candour and consequence that we take the liberty of borrowing a considerable extract. “Having declared that, so far as his observation goes, players of Association football are ready to acknowledge the good points of the Rugby game. Mr Fisher declares that the Rugby football player never watches the other game enough to appreciate it, and is in a state of invincible ignorance about it.” He proceeds: ‘There is nothing to quarrel with in that, but he is not content to stop there; he goes on ... to assume that Soccer has no merits as a game worth mentioning, that none can really enjoy it, or, if anyone does, it must be due to either the fact that fortune has deprived him of the chance of playing Rugger or to some unfortunate defect in his nature. “ ‘I do not believe this is exaggeration. It is certainly the feeling 1 had myself at school and at Oxford, and it was certainly shared by my contemporaries. Soccer was unknown to us, and yet condemned out of hand. It had a suggestion of the unclean about it. I remember someone quoting the opinion of the one 1 crot bin

I man who sot his international cap for both forms of football, to the effect that, having tried both with some success, he thought Soccer much the better game of the two. The opinion was received in the silence which would greet a blasphemy or the news that an Englishman had

deserted in battle. It was unthinkable. indecent. ‘Since those clays I have had the opportunity of watching Soccer constantly. and 1 am amazed at my former opinion and distressed to think that: others, as T have reason to believe*, still hold such opinions. Great though the excellences, of Rugby football are, it is a real defect in the players of it that they are in the main blind to ail excellencies but those of their own code, and satisfied to accept a prejudice which they do not even attempt to justify. “ ‘That is a form of snobbishness, and while Rugby football undoubtedly helps to develop many virtues, I must record it as my opinion that in this particular it also tends to develop a vice which is in these da> l s particularly vicious—the rather insolent condemnation on grounds of prejudice and ignorance of those whose tastes are unlike one’s own “The qualities engendered by . . . the two codes of football may be compared, and from what I have seen of both I should say that the balance between them is pretty equal. I have played one game and only watched the other, but I am confident that the experiences gained in the one have their counterpart in the other. “ ‘There is no doubt that, taken as a whole, the Association game requires more skill, and that at a higher level than Rugby football: indeed, one headmaster objects to it as a game for schools on the grounds that it is too difficult for schoolboys, while Rugby football is not. But there is plenty or room, too, for the physical attributes of size and weight and vigor chastened withal .to serve the ends of skill. Xo oile who has watched an interschool match at Soccer would suggest that these attributes did not get full scope. “ ‘But there is infinite call for skill in both. All I am urging is that though exercised in slightly different ways, the moral qualities -equired for the one game arc required no less for the other.” ” NEVER TOO LATE TO COME BACK.

How long an interval must elapse withbut playing to cause a man to becume useless as a footballer? Presum‘

ably it is impos- ' sible to set any definite standard, as the consideration varies with differing personalities. There arc men who, if they leave the code for a couple of seasons, lose all their cunning, and cannot even hick straight; there are others, evidently, to whom the lapse of many years means little. The rvrtc ii rase in ooiiit.

• ‘Svdney Sun” reports a case in point. tacky M Donald. who was once a member of the old Balmain Raw son r U p team, ha? turned • out again for Balmain seconds. Although it is nearlv twelve years since Jacky kicked a ball, his form is tip-top. Providing he opts a little condition oft. there should be no difficulty in his getting a place in the firsts, who are lamentably weak in forwards at the present time. If this sort of thing goes on, it is to forecast a time to come when Grandfather Jim M’Dougall, complete with a long white beard, trots out to take up his position between the posts, while the towards adjust their spectacles before they take the Held. DISALLOWED GOAL CAUSES PROTEST IN CUP-TIE AT OLD TRAFFORD. A peculiar circumstance arose in the Old Country recently, in the replayed cup-tie between Sunderland and Manchester United at Old Trattord. Sunderland entered a protest against the action of the referee, Mr S. A. Donaldson, Ilford. Mr Donaldson awarded Sunderland the equalising goal attcr a score, and then reversed his decision after consulting with both linesmen. In spite of their protest, Sunderland must have known there was little chance of a replay, and were evidently moved to act as they did by a consciousness of what they believed to be Law 13 of the English regulations is perfectly clear on this point: — “A referee shall he appointed, whose duties shall be to enforce.the laws and decide all disputed points: and his decision on points of fact connected with the play shall be final, so far as the result of the game is concerned.” At any rate, the referee gave, an absolutely reversed decision on this occasion; yet he should have been the one to know; lie and both linesmen were in direct line with the goal when the score When Prior parted with the ball near to his right hand post, HalJiday (Sunderland!. dashed in and made sure that the ball got to the back of the net. Mew was out of his goal. The referee unhesitatingly awarded a goal. United s players immediately- surrounded him. The referee walked towards the centre about half a dozen yards, with the players still gesticulating. At this stage Barson, United’s captain, seemed to take precedence. He and the referee went towards one of the linesmen. The other was con-

suited, and the referee gave Ilalliday off-side. It is said by a prominent English critic that if Hallidav was ott-side when Prior parted with the ball. it. was only by a matter of inches. Many people wondered why the referee allowed Barson to be so persistent in his claim; the referee has stated that he believed the claim to be honest. Frank Parson, a great player and a great captain, saw what most people failed to see—the linesman signalling to the referee. Parson says:— “In my own view Ilalliday was offside. but I believe had ne not moved it would have been a goal with the ball well in the net. Still, I saw the linesman signalling and drew the referee's attention to this. That Is why he ultimately consulted the linesmen, who agreed that Hallidav was off-side. It would have been hard luck for us had we lost the goal. Sunderland. I daresay, think it hard luck they didn't get one. That’s all in the game.” Fierce anger was engendered on the north-east coast by the circumstances that attended Sunderland’s dismissal. ‘‘lt was a beautiful goal,” said Parker, the Sunderland skipper, ‘‘and absolutely fair. When Prior shot, the ball was a couple of yards inside the net before Ilalliday dashed after it. The referee, at the outside, was not ten yards away at the time, and his consultation with the linesmen seemed ridiculous. It was Barsen who engineered the business, and, if you like to put it that way, it was his dominating personality that caused the referee to alter his decision. We were robbed ot victory; that is the long and short of it.” One cannot help wondering how much satisfaction either of the teams concerned in this wrangle feel concerning the result. CONCERNING INTERPROVINCIAL FIXTURES. The council of the New Zealand Football Association has forwarded to the C.F.A. and to all centres a copy of the suggested table of dates for the various interprovincial fixtures this seaon. The C.F.A. Match Committee has under consideration the dates, for the purjjose of forwarding to the N.Z.F.A. any suggestions for alterations. The parent body makes it clear that the dates given below are only suggestions. They were arranged as far as possible, within the knowledge of the council, to avoid clashing with similar fixtures of other codes. Obviously, however, each centre is the last word in this connection. and that is the reason why the council has asked for any suggested amendments. The dates suggested are: Auckland v. Wellington, at Wellington, July 3. Canterbury v. Auckland, at Auck- ! land. August 7. Canterbury v. Wellington, at Wellington. August 14. Otago v. Canterbury, at Christchurch, September 11. Otago v. Auckland, at Auckland, September IS. Wellington v. Otago, at Dunedin, August 21. Should this order be adhered to, Canterbury does all its travelling early, which has its advantages. There is a great chance for Canterbury this season. There is excellent material to pick over, and, if only possible players will get together and train conscientiously, the English Trophy should find its first resting place in Christchurch. The trophy is to *be held by the association obtaining the greatest number of points in the competition. A win will count two points and a drawn game one point. In the event, of two or more associations obtaining the same number of points, then the competition shall be decided on goal averages; but, in the event of there still being a tie, the question shall be decided by the council N.Z.F.A.

In selecting players'for representative teams, Auckland is entitled to draw on North Adcklaxid or South Auckland or Poverty Bay: \Velliugton, from Manawatu, \Vairarapa, Hawke's Bay, “’anganui and Taranaki; Canterbury. from Marlborough. Buller. \Vestland. Nelson or South Canterbury; Otago, ‘from Southland. V A ' . ‘

“WW—"v" ':4 3 :-: \Vhile Canterbury plays most of its matches away this year. next season there will be some good draws at Christchurch. Auckland .will travel to Canterbury and Otago, Wellington to Canterbury and Auckland, while Canterbury's only jovfincxjs sauth to Otago.

A provision of the rules governing the rompetiton'is that, Where the colurs of the competing teams are similar, the visiting team must change.

The duration of each match will be one hour and a half, and the referee will allow for time wasted or lost through accident or other cause. If at the end of ninety minutes’ play the result is a draw, then a further ten minutes each way, making a total of twenty minutes, shall be played. • If even then it is a drawn game, play will cease, and the wheels of officialdom will start turning to decide the result. “ Full-back ” advises Canterbury to make sure of each match with at least a two-goal margin, otherwise nobody will be satisfied. The playing grotmds for the challenge matches shall be as follows: Maximum length, 120yds: minimum length, 100yds: maximum width, SOyds; minimum width. 70yds. All lines must be properly marked out, and goal nets must be used in all matches. JOTTINGS. It is pleasing to note that there is a possibility of a Canadian tour eventuating next year. We do not hear very much of how the old game stands over there, and the tour would be extremely interesting. The F.A. of * Wales was founded on February 2. 1576. The pioneers did not receive much encouragement, but in 1893 the South Wales and Monmouthshire F.A. was formed, and for thirtythree years this body has put the .spade into traditional Rugby soil, until South Wales now supports five Football League clubs, twenty or more local leagues, at least 600 clubs and more than 12.000 registered players. Such are the figures quoted not so long since by Mr Harry Hart, who for twenty-six years has been the energetic secretary of the South Wales and Monmouthshire F.A. This reminds “ Full-back ” of something locally. Cheer up. Soccerists! Look what happened in Wales.

Coals Com I*. W. \j. D. j.\ A. Pts. Sunny side 6 f. — — :17 4 12 Tech. 0.13. •> 5 1 — 39 R 10 Western » 4 — 1 2 7 X •'.* Nomads . (! 4 2 —-14 6 X Thistle . « 4 2 — 10 !> S N. Bright’ri « 2 4 — 16 27 4 St Albans i» 2 3 — 4 21 4 Villa .61 4 I 7 21 3 Kaitipoi . 1 4 — 11 22 2 I-yttelton . 5 — 5 — 3 36 0