SOCCER'S FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Chronicle (Levin), 22 March 1946, Page 7

SOCCER'S FIVE-YEAR PLAN

NEW RULES FOR BROWN SHIELD The New Zcalund Football AssociaLion has a plan, a five-vear plan, wliicli Ls tu operate this sea sun. lt is a plan Jesigned to cncourage to tho niaxiniun: ill Association footballers, whether tlicy be grade piayers or seeondary 01 | primary schoolboys. Mcjabers of the council, in particular | tlie cliairnian, Mr. Leo Alunro, and the | secretary, )lr. Bill Ilieks, fully appre- i i-iate the i'aet tliat the ganie in this; country iuust be organised on a thor- ! oughlv sound basis lf Ihe ievel of play j is to'be lifted to the mark whieli en- j Lhusiasm for Soccer demands, states j the Sports Post. Tliey and their eonfreres are pre- J pared to do something about it — yDUW. , Particular attention is to be given toj , eprosontati vo nialches. JMr. ^runro is, espo.cially einphatic that unless there 1 is a full schedule of such games the | ■taiulard of perfonnance will never be j u'hat it should Ijc. "Jfep. matches, ' ' j he says, "provide the liigher.t l'o;:.i o! conipetiiion, but t he;.* niusl be regular1 if tliev are to fullil their purpose. ; Alore trips, niore big games must he issured. VVe are going to see that piayers liave them. " Plans there must be, lmt tliey niust oe forniulated in advance of Ihe seaion, mado kiiywn lo piayers if coucrote .esults are to aecrue. That is the view if .\lr. .Mu 11 ro. ''(Jur l'ootballers must .,now whai is iutemlcd, what Ihe setison ias in store for them," he tohi the Sports l'ost. "Sucli knowledge alone can provide the incentive for piayers lo go all out for the ehoicest plums. Lf tliey know what there is to siioot for, tlien 1 am quite sure tliey will tart shootiug — earlv. ' ' The lirsl major competilion will be the Eng'lish F.A. Trophy touruamenl to lie held in Auckland over Ihe King's iiirtlulay weekend. (This tournaiueut will rotale among the main ceutres. 1 fwo matches will he played on the Saturday, and on the Mondav llie winaers wiil uieel lo decide who will hobl ihe trophy for tho season. The losers, too, will also play. ll is intemled that the North and "iouth Islaml selectors be presmit ior ihe purpose of choosing the iuter-island sides, whieh will play, probaldy in Wellington, not later than Ihe second Saturday in August. Follouiug the Xorth-South gaiue, a New Zealand teani will be eliosen, or at least II piayers v\ i 11 be ranked for that purpose. Whether the side will actually play will depend on eireum- ; sLauces. lf an Fnglish teani, or anv other for that niatter, visits Australra in the euniiug season, then an ellort, whatever might be present possibilities, will deliuitelv be niade to liave it ex teiul its tour to this country. Failing that, a short visit from an Australian side may be possible, or thc question of sending a teani to Australia might be considcred. This would de pend initiallv 011 the slandard of play 1,1 the inter-island game. lf Australia wanted the New Zealanders, and the council felt that a lirgt-class eleven eould be put in the field, a New Zealand team might make the trip.

Minor associatious in the North lsland will be interested in the chauge j that is to be made in the Brown Shield j ,-ompetitiou. The challenge system is lo ; go. Provision has been, or is to be, j made whereby eacli asso'ciation will I have at l'east oue game for the trophy.) There will be two sections, oue inelud- j ing Hawke's Bay, Poverty Bay and South Auckland, the other Taranaki,; Wellington, Wanganui and Manawatu, j with the respecti ve winners meeting in the final for the shield. ! It is hoped that a similar scheme will ; I operate in the South lsland" for the J Peter Dawson Cup. I The council is fully alive to the imjportauce of eacouraging competition for the Campbell Ptose Bowl and the I.Jones Cup and has recommended to the t I associatious concerned that they play at

least oue match eacli season for these trophies. Importaut decisions have been taken with regard to priiuary and seeondary schools' competition. , This vear the annual tourn^iinent will be conducted as follows: There will be four sections. two in the North lsland and two in thc South, with each section holding a tournament in the first weelc of the August liolidays. The four fmalists are then to meet in Wellington in the sec ond week nf the hnlidays.