Soccer.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18887, 11 October 1929, Page 15

Soccer.

1— DISAPPOINTING SEASON HAS NOW CLOSED. PROVINCE MADE POOR SHOWING IN MATCHES WITH OUTSIDE TEAMS. (Written for the 41 Star. 5 ) Las* Saturday marked for Canterbury the close of a disappointing sea* •on, disappointing in that, with plenty of talent available, the province made a sorry showing in its representative engagements. Five matches were played and only one victory was gained, the comparatively weak South Canterbury side being defeated here on June 3. A bid was made for the Peter Dawson Cup and it was confidently expected here that Westland would lose pos- 1 session but the challengers went down by 3 goals to 1. _ Two games were played against Wellington and one against Otago, with nothing at stake but the honour of the province, and all three games were lost. Playing at English Park, both Otago and Wellington showed a dear-cut superiority over the local side, whose weakness was lack of understanding with resultant poor combination. Bmmb tor Failure. This shortcoming may be directly attributed to the fact that for none of their five engagements did the local representatives have a single practice together. Eleven men picked from different clubs cannot be expected to step on to the field and settle down at once to play combined football. The Management Committee of the Canterbury Football Association know that as well as, if not better than, anybody else, but they persist in asking the wearers of the red-and-black halves to do it. Other provinces can and do see to it that their chosen eleven have at least one work-out together before a match; but Canterbury? No. Certainly, on one or two occasions in the past few years the C.F-A. have made attempts to have their representative side coached, but those attempts have failed because of lack of proper supervision. Eventually no doubt, if they are prodded long and vigorously enough, the C.FA will take proper action. Thistla’s Fine Showing. Meanwhile, there is the small consolation that Thistle have given us the best football turned on by any local club since Sunnyside went out. Throughout the season, the Scots have played a sound game both individually and as a team and have demonstrated their clear-cut superiority over all the other clubs engaged. In the Hurley Shield competition they scored a very decisive win and achieved the “double” when they lifted the English Cup with equal ease. Apart from the displays given by Thistle, however, the general standard of play showed no improvement, the form of most of the other club 6 being very inconsistent. It was very pleasing to note though that • there was some promising material in ' the jjinior division. Such was the standard" of the play in the final for the 1 Humphreys (junior grade) Cup, con- * tested last Saturday, by Y-M.C.A. and t Lyttelton, that many spectators expressed the opinion that the match was < more interesting than the English Cup < finaL It is no use, however, the pro- i possessing youthful talent if that talent is not to be given full opportunity to develop along right lines. • Sound and systematic coaching is all that is going to make champions of these promising but still raw young- < sters. <

HI-Planned Calendar. A reversion to the old system of playing the senior grade competition in one division was made this year. With nine teams engaged _ the CJ'.A. were rash enough to decide on two full rounds, thus mortgaging eighteen of the twenty-four or so playing Saturdays at their disposal. The complete tale of their mismanagement of the season’s calendar was told in these columns a week or two ago—it is enough to say here that it left a good number of players very disgusted. It is refreshing though to find that there has been an absence of hostilities between any of the clubs and the controlling body. Indeed, the spirit of good fellowship throughout the code has been more in evidence than for some years past.

Among the Schoolboys. The projected tour of Australia by a team of New Zealand schoolboys unfortunately did not eventuate. Such visits must help considerably in arousing interest in the code among the schools, where the future senior players must come from. At present the council of the N.Z.FA is showing some considerable interest in ’ the matter of the introduction of the game into the schools and it is hoped that some material success will be achieved. Canterbury was represented this year at the South Island Schools’ tournament, held at Dunedin, but failed to repeat the success of last season. No New Stars. No new stars have appeared. Several players who bad shown good form for their club donned the red-and-black for the first time but for the most part they failed to show up. All-in-all, the condition of the game in the province is, as they say of the , hospital patient, “ about the same.”