ASSOCIATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1133, 22 May 1911, Page 7

ASSOCIATION.

AM INHOSPITABLE AFTERNOON.

They must have been keen enthusiasts who vontured out on .Saturday afternoon to watch the Association football matches on the various Wellington grounds, A bioak squally southerly with an Antarctic nip in its breath howled across the city,' and in addition to the chill of the atmosphere, soggy grounds added to the general discomfort of a most inhospitable afternoon. The results of the Senior First Division League matches were as follow:— Swifts, 4; Ramblers, 0. ' " ' Y.M.C.A., 4; St. John's, 1, Thistle, 3;. Wanderers, 1. Diamonds, 3; Mental Hospital, 2. Rovers,.3; Corinthians, 0. . HOSPITAL-DIAMONDS. Tho Hospital-Diamonds match was a most exciting game, the course of events in the earlv stages of the contest keeping

, the spectators' and players' interest at a. - nigh pitch. Tho drizzling showers made 5 the ball very greasy and difficult lo oon- ■ trol. In the first twenty minutes Hos-1 ' Pital had slightly the bettor of the game, t but Diamonds scored twice from sudden > breakaways, Williams meeting a suve by i Cockburn and putting the ball into the ■ not. The second was scored by Hathaway, • -also from the goalkeeper's save, but tho ; ball had been palpably handled by a. Diamonds player ju«t previously. This early scoring" in nowise dismayed the Hospital, who gave their opponents no rest, and on three occasions their goal had a marvellous escape, Patrick being lucky to get the ball away. In the 'second hnlf the play, was ini tensely exciting, and on Phillips finishing ■ a fine effort by placing the ball past Pati rick, the' home team came again, and, : after some grand play by Rcots, Tyrer met a gave by Patriok from Phillips, and i sent it home—Two all. With both teams • striving for the winning point, the ten- '■ sion was great. Hereabouts Taylor and I Roots wore doing great things for their . respective sides, but the latter completely ! overshadowed his older rival. However. ' the .Hospital right wing got goin?. am i from Pearson's accurate centre Elliott ■ beautifully glided the ball into tho net, : giving his team the victory, which was ■ well on the play, and a fine i tribute to their spirit after, being two i goals behind such redoubtable opponents. •' Mr. Lithgow referced the game. RAMBLERS-SWIFTS. 1 Despite the inclement weather a-fair '.' number of enthusiasts assembled at Kel-. burno PaTk to witness the buttle between • the two leading teams—Swifts and Rnm- ' biers. ■ Swifts were -without M'Laron, ! Whittle, and Graves, while Ramblers Were ; minus such good men as M'Gillivray, , Johnston, and Smallbone. The game was young when a good run by Barry and ' Roberts on the right ended in YeSFev ■ rending in a high shot, which Webster failed to reach. Ramblers retaliated smartly, Swift having to fist out,' only to have the ball smartly, sent past him, but the score was disallowed for interference. 4gain, Wilson and Coward camo along with'a good passing run, but Pye- . Smith got in the way, and sent out to Scott. He and Mnthewson combined well, "and the latter . all but beat Colin. Edwards was conspicuous with a nice essay on the left, but did not eet past Bethell. Back came Barry, who centred nicely, Roberts tricked Cross" and, steadying himself, drove hard and' Webster could only partially stop it, but not enough to keep it out of the net. Ramblers made several more trips to the other end, and had quite their share of the play, but Wilson' and Pye-Smith invariably sent them back again.' A skirmish in Ramblers goal .looked'ugly for d moment, but the referee nipjed it. in the bud, and awarded a throw-down, from which there was no result. Barry, well served by Roberts, sped down the right, got past Cross, and centred nicely, but Gibson miskicked. The ball came out to Bethell, who put it through out of Webster's reach. Half-time wns then called with Ramblers three goals to tho bad. When ends were changed Ramblers were evidently hopelessly 'beaten,- Swift ln-goal having nothing to do. ilatheson, playing rv fine came, was tho man who led most, of tho attacks. Scott also showed a fins turn of speed, but centred poorly, most of thorn go'ing behind. Vesfcy was smartly, grassed by Cross when he was working his way through. Barry "screwed nicely, tho ball, rolling along tlie bar. Coward ,then broke away on tho left with a clear field, but wns taken in tho back by Pye-Smith. Back came tho Maroons, a nice cross from the right was taken by Scott, who gave Webster no possible show.. Play for tho rest of the game was mostly in Ramblers half. Cross and Kirschberg strove hard to ikeep the score down till the'whistle sounded for time, in semi-darkness, leaving Swifts easy winners by i goals to nil. Mr. A JNewbold .was referee. - Y.M.C.A.-Sf; JOHN'S. -Considering the state, of the turf at iNewtown Park on Saturday, a very meri""ous display resulted from tho incetiii" had little difficulty m carrying off the match. They showed some' excellent combination. , They led away with a strong attach and after .one. or, two "saves" by tho St. John's backs, Smith received a r. IU J d £ hot L a llico E° al - Another i.AI.C.A. bombardment followed, and tllPn A I Timlin- ennnnmU,! J_ ■ I ■

then Murphy succeeded in scoring his sides second goal. Then St.' John's . moved goalwards and Egley made a good try at the nets, but Ilollis (the Y M C V goal) saved smartly. St. John's continued to press, but lack of combination lost i chances. In . the cecond half . X..M.C.A. quite assumed control, and '■ only the good work of the St. John's backs i- ?, nc k£ oal ' kee P cr kept flown the score. But . Phillips at last got through to the nets/ l ; and soon after repeated his performance ■o from a free-kick. Just towards the finish " Lgley made a fino effort, nnd landed, the i, ball successfully in the net, scoring St I THISTLE-WANDERERS. 6 r, v ? r y,, sli PP er y-?nd treacherous was the n tiasin Reserve on Saturday afternoon for the s senior contest between Thistle and Wandi- ers, and the play, under these circumIt-?? 6 ? was mol ' e stremi ous than scientific. i- SKiiiui passing and agile' centring iv-Te •- out of the question, for the greasy turf e gave no hold to the players, manv of a whom executed an unrehearsed "turn , ; as '• w?L, hct slicl - On thc B eneral Plav, tho-i s Hustle men deserved their win 'of 3 goals to one. Wanderers, with thewind '■ JJfaiMst them in the first spell, opened a tho ball with ti-smart attack, which was quickly driven.off by the Thistle men, who n smartly manoeuvred the ball .into the A Wanderers' inner defences. A series of e' corners was given against the defenders ,i culminating in a goal for the Blues,.lr-: r vine taking a nice centre and driving the - leather hard in between the posts. Off- • {"de Play on the part of Simpson saved the r nanderers from another reverse a few , minutes later, and the team rallied and broko for midfield. Thistle counter-at- - tacked, again invaded their opponents' r goal-lino, and Blackwood scored well out of the goalkeeper's reach, the ball just grazing the inner side of one of the posts, , and eluding Garnett's outstretched fing- , ers by about' an inch. With two goals . to the bad, Wanderers plucked up a bit, ; and made a lively attack, on' the Thistle f goal, keening M'Ardle, the goalkeeper, on his mettle for a while. A. good shot at goal by Hunter would have given Wanderers their first goal had not the player ' been offside.' After, a merry scramble, during which M'Ardle had to step lively, Thistls rallied, and drove their opponents back to their own territory. Once again offside play rendered abortive a good shot at tho Wanderers' goal. Wanderers made another sally, but nothing , came of it but' a decisive counter-attack by the Blues, Ash scoring the third goal. \VIHi the wind behind them, Wanderers', in the second half were rather disappointing, and failed to come up to the expectations of the spectators that the odds would at least be made even before the whistle blew; As the game developed, however, • if was noted that Thistle had stiffened ■ Iheir de-fencee, and attacked frequently, though carelessly. Wanderers made'ione ■ effective effort and Working doggedly up the ' field, gave M'lnniss a chance to score their 1 only goal. The remainder of the play was uninteresting, and the game ended: Thistle, 3; Wanderers, 1. ROVERS-CORINTHIANS. Football! How could o:ie give any winter game its correct name on such a day as Saturday afternoon was at Miramar, where tho southerly which was soaking tho ground raged its hardest? There Rovers and Corinthians met, more to sympathise with each other than to play football. Yet tho games were ordered to take place, , and so byo half-drenched teams lined out to fight the elements rather than to pre- ; sent an organised tussle. Corinthians had, in the first spell, what in ordinary circumstances would have been termed • "the advantage of the wind," but which, in its fury on such a day, was of little nloro use than to give the team tho pleasure of being near Hovers'goal. The accompanying sorrow of shots carried clear of the net was also borne on the wings of that unruly element, nnd, when the spell ended, no score had taken place, while Corinthians were to be the captives during the next term. Rovers found the wind was not of any more use to them than to their opponents, and, though they managed to win, it was only accomplished when the end of the game was drawing near, and when it looked as if neither side cared what happened ■■(> long as that end arrived. After a tedious bombardment, Gibson brought brightness to his side., when, with a good slid-, he managed o direct tho ball between the posts, and

. elude Cattail, thus, giving Rovers their first material advantage. To make innt- ■ Icts worse for Corinthians, the light was I failing. O'Shea, following Gibson's effort, next tried, and his kick found its way in, making Rovers two goals to the good. But Rovers were not yet finished, and, after working the ball down-field, Lowo w-is fortunate enough to be abb .to get the third score for llover*. OTHER MATCHES. The result* of the other divisional contests are as fallow:— Second Division. Wadretown defeated Y.MX'.A. by 2 goals to 0. The game was spoiled by the gusts of wind and rain which caina nt fretjiient intervals, making good play impossible. Magee and Hendle scored a goat each for Wade&lowu. Mr. Ince was referee. Third Division. In the St. John's v. St. David's match and the Petone v. Johnsonville game no referees put in an appearance, and both games wero declared off. Fourth' Division. Brooklyn defeated T.M.C.A. by 13 goals to nil —a decisive defeat, in all conscience. Thomas (4), Barton (1), AVilkins (2), Hill (2), Kellaway (2), Davis (1), and Pearco (1), scored for the winners. St. Anne's drew with Rangers. Fourth (A) Division, • Brooklyn beat Swifts by 1 goal to nil. Y.M.C.A. beat St. David's by ona to Fifth (B) Division. Rangers beat South Wellington by 7 goals to 1. South Wellington played with only six men. Mr. H. Power was referee. Haigh (5) and Cording (2) scored for the winners, and Bland scored for South Wellington. Marist Brothers defeated Instituto by 7 goals to 1. Seatoun (6) defeated Y.M.C.A. (3). Sixth Division. Rangers won by default from Karori. Brooklyn drew with Marist Brothers. , King's Birthday Matches. The Wellington Football Association advises thai all Association matches in connection with the various competitions will come off on June 3 (tho King's Birthday).