ASSOCIATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 12

ASSOCIATION.

(By Centre-Half.)

Positions of,- the Teams, The position of tlio various teams in tho, first division competition are:— ■ . g'g , ' ' c a™ Team. S "?' 9 •£ 5 '5 s ' rt'i: £ S i; j,5 UP.i p h! Q . OPh Diamonds 5' 4 1 0 8 Swifts 5 4 10 8 Ramblers 5 3 2 0 0 Y.M.C.A. 5 1 3 1 3 Tlristlo 5 1 '3 1 3 Rovers .-.. 5 0 3 2 2 Swifts v. Thistle. Tho Swifts v. Thistle game was fairly interesting in the first spell, hut was devoid of any' special features after Swifts scored their third goal; from then onwards the winners maintained one long attack, which, but for the excellent goalkeeping of Rowan, must have resulted in' double the t number of goals being scored. Rain, which had threatened all the afternoon, came down steadily in the closing stages of the game, and it would not havn mattered very much if the referee had cut the time a bit, as Thistle had no possible chance, of winning. Rowan Kept a splendid goal for Thistle, and but for him a much larger score would have.:been piled on. Ono save from, a hard swinging shot from Vessey in tho first half was well turned outside tlio posts. I am inclined to think ho overdoes the punching act somewhat, ft is never safo to take risky punches at the ball, especially when the leather is greasy. Not much can bo said in favour of | tho Thistle backs; thoy were really no match for tho Red forwards, when the latter were moving freely. The writer was pleased to, see Dickson out again for Thistle, as, this.lad is too promising a player to remain on the bank. Tho iinlf-back: line was distinctly weak. The Thistles will have to considerably their forward line if they wish to w'in many more matches. With the possible, exception, of one or two nico runs' by Ferguson, there was nothing else to merit special .mention.. . . Al'Lean had nothing" much to do in Swifts' goal; When he did anything, ho used his hands instead of trusting to his feel—which will be an advantage to his side. Pye-Smith. was, as usual, easily tho best back on the field, his kicking being clean and accurate. Wilson, his partner, did not show: i greatly-improved" form,. and ought to have made no mistakes against such a.weak side. Tho Swifts' half-lino was', very, strong. Graves lias improved out of all recognition of late. He now feeds his forwards very well indeed, _ and will be a real first-class centre when ho learns to open up the wing play more. Norman was unable to play owing to his weak knee, and in his place P. PyeSmith was chosen. I ' have seen this player play many excellent games, but j think he excelled himself last week. His centres were quick and accurate, and always a source of danger to the defence. Vessey, in the centre, was as good as ever,- and combined very effectively with tho other four forwards. On Saturday ho played a.hard game, and'was always near the ball. Grounds,. extreme left, wants a little, more pace and quickness in centring. He is, however, a good shot at goal. Scott was up to one or two tricks, which resulted in his sido being penalised.. . Ramblers and Rovers. One of tho brightest features of tho Ramblers-Rovers match was the promise shown by Ramblers, which club, as suggested after their first match of tho season, had the making of an excellent combination. Probably the most attractive playor on the field was Edwards, who played a really sterling forward game. I would commend this man to the notice of the representative selectors. Throughout last season he played consistently good games for a hopelessly beaten team, and proved himself equally at home as a forward, half, or back. This all-round ability was unfortunato for Edwards, however, as lie had no opportunity of making his name as a particularly good man in any stated position. However, as an outside winger he has few equals in Wellington. Ho is a remarkably powerful kick, and, best of all, his judgment is excellent, and he is still.fresh enough to play hard throughout. , Another impressive man on the Ramblers' sido was Smallbone, and Paget and Jackson also shaped we.ll. On the Rovers' side, Bethell played a consistent game, and Duignan, who has beon playing Rugby up. to the present, also did somo very good work. Palmerston v. Second Division. Spectators of this game were treated to some very bright football. There was no really clever work, except for a lino individual run by Hughes in the second half, but still the match was interesting from start to finish. The majority, if not all, of the visiting team wero Home players, and they gave as good an exhibition as I have ever seen from a .conntry team. Amongst the forwards Richards, Hughos. and Dunlop must be singled out as doing good work, especially Hughes, who was ever prominent at inside left. Richards was missing during the "reater part of tho first spell, having gone up to Kclburno Park, thinking he was going to the Basin Reserve. Dann plaved a very serviceable game in jonl for tho visitors, keeping out. several Fine shots in good style. Bigger representation of clubs might have "taken place in the selection of the S"Coml Division learn, but no doubt the selectors were placed at a considerable disadvantage as. thoy were only given a few ilavs lo pick the lenm. and it was, ol course," impossible fur them to see all Ihc teams. However, the team won, and little else-can be said now Elliott, Ritchie, and Phillips were tlio star men of the front ranli, all doing i tood work. But Ttitchie was aturvad. es-,

I pecially in the second spell, while Elliott and Phillips played too much into one another's hands without thinking there wore other men on the side, llodgers was fair on 1 the extreme left,■but hud 11 much heavier mun against him. Huywurd was distinctly weak at inside left. The half-back line was weak and could quite easily have been replaced by three bettor men. Shaw, of St. John's, for instance, was last season considered good unuiigh fur the Brown Shield team. Roberts, with u style similar to that of his brother "Peter," did very useful work at full-back, but his partner gave little as- ■: t.-.c". Win did not have much to do In goal, but .seemed to be very eager . 10 ,'iisu iroin yjiil whenever the chance altered. Mr. A. I'. Xcwbold controlled the game eliiciently, but he was sometimes a littletoo <|iiit:k with the whistle, acting rather on impulse iustead of waiting a few seconds to see what the following play was going to be. .This is sometimes ncces.sary when a side is attacking hotly. Wednesday v. Saturday. Those who anticipated a keen and interesting match were by no means disappointed, as the form throughout the game was of a character necessary to keep the game bright and nippy until the end. It was, however, somewhat onesided in the later stages of the second half, want of condition on tho part of several Wednesday players being very noticeable. The Wednesday players started off well ! and notched two goals before tho Satnr- ' day men awoke to the fact. After that the mid-week forwards had few opportunities, but when they did get the ball they made good use of it and their play . was superior to their opponents, both individually and collectively. The Wednesday team contained' four forwards—Sharky, C. O'Shea, and the two '. Mounts—who have been . prominent ,in [ local football in past seasons and who on their showing cannot be said to have lost much of their form. Trethewick, the outside-right was weak. Of the Saturday forwards it ivas apparent that Roddy is off form at present. Timperley wandered too much, but otherwise did well.. Gibson, in the centre, got all over the field, crowding -his wings and cramping their play. He seemed to forget that there was ] a rigiif wing, and fed Timperley far and ; away too much. Smallbone made the most of the' few opportunities he had, scoring two nice goals. Vessey had fewchances ..of showing his qualities and contented himself by feeding Smallbone when- ' ever the chance occurred. Of the, halves, Guise and Jackson, the opposing left halves were the.two most brilliant, their-'work being much on a level. Both- centre halves were weak. Kerschberg' did some good work, but not a lot of it. Hoy, Wednesday right-half,' is supposed to be a very good player, but on h ridny's play is, though very clever, rather slow. Cornish was tho best of the four backs, his tackling w;ns dean and effective, 1 while he placed the ball neatly. M'Mahon. wvas also very good, but kicked iiL'to touch rather too frequently. Those who saw the Canterbury match last season will remember .two mistakes which cost Wellington two goals. Well, Cross repeated . those 'mistakes on Friday, ami each time Wednesday scored. Roberts was better •than Cross, but he got out of his place too much. . i Irvine,' in Wednesday goa.l, made 'inimp fine saves, keeping out some-really hard shots. Towards the end, however, he seemed' to tiro somewhat, and allowed two easy sliot3 to pass him. Eollis did - not have much to do, but did not seem ; up to liis usual -form. He made a mistake in leaving his goal when Wednesday g<& their first score. ; Brown Shield Team, i After Friday's game, the Selection i Committee will have a "big think" ns to what their team is going to' do against i WoJigMiui. Though we must not take i the visitors too, cheaply, we can perhaps . afford to experiment a little, and.where i one or two positions are likely to bo a i little weak, it would do no harm to try some previously untried men in representative football, i For instance, outside left is always a difficult place. Why not give Edwards, of tho Ramblers, a chance? Then we i have centre-hall". Taylor might ' give Graves a chance- to prove his worth. This player was given a place in tho Colonial i v. Home Country team last seasom General. ' ■ In a private letter' to Mr. B. L. Salmon, Mr. C; CarjuSross, of Eltham, says the 1 "soccer" game is doing well in Tu-ra-naki this season. There are nine tennis playing, three senior and six junior. One of last year's senior teams has been relegated to junior ranks. The game has' been given a chance in one of Hie schools-, and another school is to give "soccer" a trial next season. • The Taranaki men hope to.be ablo to send a strong team down to Wellington to play_ for the Brown Shield. ■ ' Aston Villa's Remarkable Record. The record of Aston Villa is a truly remarkable one (lyritcs "Brum"). They lmvo now won the League championship six times—in 1894, IS9G, 1897 (in this season fliej'i equalled the record of Preston North End in winning both the Leaguo championship and.the English Cup), 1899, 190(1, and 1910, while they were runnersup fn 1903 and 190 S. Three times thev liavo won the English Cup—in 18S7, 1897, und 1905, ami they were in the final in 1X92, • when they were surprised by tho West Bromwich Albion. [ The reserves have dominated the Birmingham and District League tournament.in an extraordinary manner.. Eight years in succession they, have finished at the head of affairs, wliilo they have been ■ champions'.eleven times in aH. Ten sue-, cesses are to their credit in tho Staffordshire Cup, while the old-established Birmingham Cup has been held by themseventeen times since 1880. Since 1882 they have won the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup no fower than eighteen times, while in three other seasons they were joint holders. In 1899 they were joint holders of the '■ Sheriff of .London Charity Shield, and \ won the trophy in 1901. Twice they have . held tho Bass Charity Cup, onco the Walsall Cup, once the Kettering Cup, and in 18S9 they wcro joint holders of tho West Bromwich Charity Cup with the Albion. Second Division Notes. Tho second division championship competition has now entered upon an interesting phase. Two or three of the second- division teams would not disgrace' themselves in presumably higher , company. Wanderers, who with Hospital were tho only unbeaten teams, met their Waterloo on Saturday, Marist Old Boys beating them by a goal to nil, rather a surprise. But Marist Old Boys are improving with every match, and with four teams, each having lost but one match, and Hospital unbeaten,' some exciting games are in prospect before the championship is decided. A rare . battle is expected to-day between Hospital and Wanderers. Both teams play a. good combiucd game as a rule, and the contest should bo : worth watching. Also it should have a distinct- bearing on the championship, ■ and will be none tho less strenuous' on that account. Hospitals put. up the record score for the season in their, match with Berhampore, 12 to nothing being the score. For all tho. high scoring Berhampore's goal-keeper played well, but the Hospital shooting was dead on the mark. ._ Berhamporo have a lot of tho fine points of the game to learn, but experience teaches. They were unfortunate in losing a, man early in the game, but put up a plucky light. They resorted to the one-baek( game, and consequently Referee Windley's whistle was in constant requisition for ' breaches of the off-side rule by the Hospital forwards. Phillips placed six goals to his credit, two being penalties. The figures for the position of tho various teams in the championship are as follows:— -jj

Free Kicks. An important point in regard to free lcicka that most players are ignorant of is this. Flavors nro not allowed to move till the ball is actually kicked, instead of rushing when the whistle goes, which they usually do. Hoferees should insist upon players observing the law, especially with regard to penalty kicks.

3 u5 ■■ § § ui- « Mnrist Oltl Boys ... 7 fi *0 1 21 10 T2 Wanderers I> . r i 0 1 18 2 10 Hospital y 5 0 0 3(i 5 10 Y.M.C.A. (> 5 0 1 If,--11 10 St. John's '12 1 I 20 10 5 Brooklyn .12 12 in 11 5 I'd one - A 2 \) 8 i Diamonds l> 2 0 1 18 12 | Swifts 3 111 (! (i ft Ton n i 0 rj 15 :ii 2 Unrhamporp 0 11 2 117 1 Wolib St. VM 4 0 0 1 <1 22 0 St. AuaustiiiPS ...... 5 tl 0 5 U 12 0