SOCCER IN BRITAIN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 160, 24 July 1937, Page 17

SOCCER IN BRITAIN

1936-37 review ACID LEAGUE TESTS RISE OF PROFESSIONAL GAME * To-day the soccer ground* of Britain are empty and silent. But the fans are neifcher, writes J, M. Stead, in the Christlan Science Monitor, of. June 11, from London. They are full of facts and figures and as loquacious as might be expected so near the close of a thoroughly exciting season. Glancing back over the major events of the 1936-37 campaign we come first of all upon the English League champxonship, won, as you may recall, by Manchester City, which can point to the extraordinary record of having been immune from defeat since Christmas. Never previously, in its 57 years' eventful history;- had this club ended up a season in top place. London sides figured prominently in the First Division tournament and at one period the first three ! positions presented a sort of metropolitan alphabet — A for Arsenal, B for Brentford and C for Charlton. In their order of finishing they spelled "CAB" with a space of tvvo teams between the last two letters Charlton came very near to achieving a wonderful triple success by winning the championshlps of the Third, Second, and First Divisions in consecutive seasons. The other big Manchester team — the United — traveled in the opposite direction from the city and was finally ranked last but one, a situation which spells relegation to Division Two, along with the occupant of last place, Sheffield Wednesday. The places of these two in the higher class will be taken to 1937-38 by the winner and runner-up in the Second Division, Leicester City and Blackpool. f Sooring Power The rise of Leicester has been remarkable. It got off the mark badly and hovered about near the foot of the standing. Then the services of a particularly good centre-forward, Jolui Bowers, were obtained. And from that time Leicester played like a new team. The last successful clubs in the Second Division were Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers. They \vill be supplanted by Stockport County, northern section winner to the Third Division, and Luton Town, victor in ihe southern section. The bottom Third Division peurs — Darlington and Gateshead in the north, Exeter City and Aldershot in the south— will be retired from the league and obliged to seek re-election to competition with any other clubs Which may wish to come in. There was an totensely keen race for the honour of being the champion goal-scorer. The result was a dead-' heat between two Third Division stars— E. Harston of Mansfield, in the north, and J. Payne of Luton, in the south. Each put the ball into the net 55 times. Then came Bowers, to whom I have already alluded, with a total of 45. The most accurate sharpshooter in the First Division was F. Steele of Stoke City, who had a bag of 33. All these men are centerforwards. , Across the border, the Glasgow Rangers regained the Scottish League championship from their great rivals. Glasgow Celtic, and so registered eheir 22nd. success in the competition since it was instituted in 1890-91. These league tournaments are the acid test of Soccer capability. For they set a premium on consistency of skilL But for sheer, concentrated thrill you have to hand it to the cup competitions, chief of which is that for the Football Association Challenge Cup, won this year by Sunderland. fiQt-or-Mlas Aflair*

Cup-ties are hit-or-mlss affalrs, a matter of form on the day. There is no chance of .recovery from failure, as there is in the league. Class tells, as a rule, it is true. But its telling is gay with travesties of the form book. little clubs, with microscopic wage bills, may lay low giants whose teams have cost a prince's ransom, and, at every stage "anythlng may happen." What happened to the 1937 final was that Sunderland defeated Preston North End by 3 goals to 1 after being a goal behtod at half time. The Sunderland Club, formed in 1880 from a team of Sunday school teachers, has earned great fame in Soccer, but until this year it had never succeeded in wtoning "T'Coop." Capturing the league championship and the cup in successive seasons, as Sunderland has done, is a record to be proud of. Both teams to the cup flnal Induded a number of Scottish footballers, and at times, despite the effect of the great occasion ,we saw some typieal Scottish play, with subtlety substituted for mere speed, the ball kept neatly on the ground and largely made o do its own work. Ohe of the sensations of the tournament was the advance into the semi-final round of Millwall, a London side operating in the Southern Section of the league's Third Division. The gay adventurers were then narrowly defeated by Sunderland.

Amateurs Overshadowed The rise of professional soccer into a great public entertainment has involved the fall of the amateur game into the shadows. Soccer is played less than formerly in the schools, and, as a consequence, its prestige has suffered at the universities; while the field of talent, generally, has been sadly reduced. The outstanding event on the unpaid side of the sport is the competition for the Football Association Challenge Cup, won this year by Dulwich Hamlet.