The Amateur.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 15, 13 April 1907, Page 23

The Amateur.

JH' t HASOE IN ENGLISH i , i:(H'ES “ L ‘ VIONAL EOO'I‘HAI.I..

( By

C. B. Fry.)

A few days ago it was reported that V. .1. Woodward, the International ecu tre-forward of Tottenham Hots-piir, »tnlortunately disabled by a minor athletic ae.-ident, had decided to retire from from League football, hi,? reason being that he was continually marked down for heavy and unfair treatment by unscrupulous opponents. It turns out, of course, that Woodward did not authorise the statement, and bad never made the complaint. J, for one, am very gjstjkto know this, because 1 am confident' thitt. an amateur leaven in a professional team is of great value to the game as a sport Men like Woodward are good for modern League football. s - There are people who vigorously declare that there is no sport, nor possibility of sport, in modern professional football, and that -an amateur who is also a sportsman has no proper place in it. ' ' With this I disagree point blank. 1 know fhe faults and drawbacks of professional football rather better than most people. I played for two seasons as an amateur in a Southern League team, which won its League championship and got into the final of the Cup. .Some tilings in modern professional football 1 detest, but I know, there is a great deal of good in it, and of good sportsmanship, too; and I take the view that since professional football is here, and cannot lie talked out of existence by words, however hard, the right thing is to make the best of it. DO PROFESSIONALS LIKE AMATEURS? One of the best ways of making the best of it is for players who pride themselves on their sportsmanship to hike part in it. This counts more than pointing out its faults. It should be noticed that many of th’ main faults of professionalism are entirely concerned with the business and management of it, and -are entirely separated from the •actual game as played. But that is a.long story. The point at issue in connection with the spurious report about Woodward is the character of the play, and how it affects an amateur. It has often been stated tlrat an amateur is not welcome on a professional side: that the other players do not like him. This is rather a matter of each individual ease. But 1 judge it to be, in general, quite untrue. Several amateurs have toll! me tl.'at the contrary is the ease, and such is my own experience IA. Topham, the famous Corinthian outside right, who played for Wolverhampton Wanderers when they won the cup by that long .shot, of Allen’s from half back; Herbert Smith, who plays for Reading; S.'S. Harris, who played for Portsmouth; E. D. G. Wright, who plays for Hull City; und others, including Woodward, would not -play on a side where they were not welcome. The idea is absurd. Topham was, 1 know, tremendously popular with the Wolves. For myself, 1 found the Southampton team genial and pleasant comrades; they gave me the best of welcomes, and did everything to make me feel ’at home with them. Their captain, Harry Wood, won my sincerest respect. The truth is, the professionals ask one thing, and one thing only, of the amateur. They ask ,“Is he good enough?" If his play answers "Yes"—that is enough. UNSt RUPULOUS PLAY. But the matter of the treatment (he amateur receives on the field from opposing teams in first-class League and Cup tie football is not quite so easy to setle. For I am not going to propose that the amateur finds all his opponents sportsmanlike in their tactics. But, on the other hand, the amount of unfair treatment which the amateur meets is exaggerated. For others 1 cannot speak with certainty; for myself 1 can. There is some unsportsmanlike play among professionals. But to regard it as universal, or even general, is a gross eiror. To regard all professionals as unscrupulous players is simply ridiculous. Yet there are people who so regard them. With Southampton I played

through the exciting rounds of the < up-ties, with several replaye<| draws* into a d< little final; and 1 ••an icmetMber piet isely one player tiho deliberately juid pentjlsteiitly fouled me during a game—-just.-one nutiE no sp<.>*tsinan. who touched me on the* raw. So complete an experience of bituli exacting loot ba II should, I submit, count for something in tho argument. The truth is. briefly.* this: the amateur do;s occasionally- only occasionally—meet an entirely unscrupuh us opponent. 1 his is a rare occurrence. but it makes an impression on the amateur's mind, tor a very good reason. Ih is under a disability in coinbating his tdrmen'or. CANNOT GIVE i'OCL lol; Hu J,. A professional player, when he meet an unscrupulous opponent, can defend himself by playing diamond cut dia mond. If he meets an opponent whe “knees him in the ribs or in the small of the back the most dangerous form of foul play, am| one that the referee scarcely ever detects can give “knee” tor “knee.” The unscrupulous oppon ent knows this, anti being as a ride a funk at heart, thinks twic® before he begins the game. But the amateur is helpless. He has no protectiin except the referee, who is useless i:i 1 lie ease of refined foul play. The amateur cannot play diamond cut diamond. Noblesse oblige. lie cannot give foul I. r foul. This the unsurupulous opponent knows, and takes full advantage to the lull. That is the gi*t of the matter. In the old days the amateur had a remedy in his own hands. When an opponent fouled him in a sneaking, unsportsmanlike way. lie (tin* amateur; could defend himself by giving thr. fouler x slap-bang, heavy, hearty hundredweight or so of energetic shoulder. flip old. hard, fair shoulder K charge was splendid medicine. Your *’km c rammer ” ami “ ankle-tapf-er’ never xikes warm shoulder. Hr can’t digest a lair example. But. by the practice of referees the fair-shoulder charge has actually.. it not nominally been legislated out of the game. A pity. Bough i. was in a sense, but it was sportsmanlike and harmless. Its disappearance has kt in 1 ttk. niggling, dirty tricks ten times a*- dangerous, if ten times less ; pparent. But this I say, ami sty n.o< <: empbaieally. Thei-f is no suflieii-ut ie;is<-n io pvevent any ainalnui- wluuev<*i. who G good enough, from playing si<le bv si<le with professionals, ami against their., in League ami < up-tie football I allirm that the amateur 'loes great good in professional football. He should be, ami he is. mar. enough to look at the big best of the picture and di-icgard the little worst. One tank foul one onh in a season is a disgusting experience. But it is a. blot on the page--just a blot