Association Football. .

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 9, 1 September 1900, Page 13

Association Football. .

It is an accepted fact that matches between the Bed Cross and Swifts—whether junior, third class, or fourth class —are always good exhibitions of football, and last week's Henderson Cup tie between these two teams was no exception to the rule. The ground at Karori was in a very bad state, and all finessing play was out of the question. Play was brilliant at times considering the greasy ball. Cloke (Swifts) and Twohill (Red Cross) showed good form on the left wings. The latter, however, might have done better had he made less appeals. Red Cross were without McMillan, Gamble, and Beck, but they played a better game than the previous week. The match resulted in a tie —two goals each —and will have to be re-played today. The other fixtures resulted in the Bovers A, Queen's Park, and Newtown winning. Queen's Park will meet Newtown in the semi-final, and the winner of the Bed Cross—Swifts heat will meet Bovers A. Foulke, Sheffield United's gigantic goalkeeper —he is 6ft 2in in height and weighs 20st 71b—made a creditable debut in English county cricket at the end of June. Playing for Derbyshire against Essex, he made 53 by very fair cricket. Some of the spectators — wits probably in their way —complained of the bad light while Foulke was in, and also that the opposing wicketkeeper was invisible. It is interesting to note that a large number of leading English socker players are also cricketers. Among the professionals we have Foulke, above mentioned. Then we have Devey (Warwickshire), George (Wiltshire), and Wheldon, who are all Aston Villa men. W. Quaite, the brilliant Warwickshire batsman, is an old Sussex footballer. Iremonger appears for Notts. Lewis, Evertons reserve back, is one of Somerset's mainstays, while Jimmy Boss and.John Goodall are also good cricketers. Amongst amateurs, the hest known " sockerites " who take part in first class cricket are C. B. Fry, S. M. J. Woods, Q. O. Smith, aad W. J. Oakley. The Junior representatives travelled to Feilding last Saturday, and beat the local team by six goals to nil. The ground was wet, and it rained heavily all through the game. The players looked exceptionally pretty on the field. They were covered with mud, and every now and then tumbling over flat. Two half-hour spells were played. Mr H. McKeowen was referee, and appeared to give general satisfaction. Johns scored two goals, McLeod two, while P. Martin and Gibbs added one each towards the victory. Fitzgerald (in goal) had little to do, though the Feilding men put in several good shots. B. Martin and Roberts were good at full back, but the greasy ball caused them to miskick occasionally. The half-backs all shaped well, Churchward and Clark being particularly good. Will got a lively time from a big Feilding man, who had a tendency to rough play. The forwards all played well, and would have run up a larger score on a fine day. Hale was rather selfish and lost several chances, while McLeod and Johns were particularly good. Owing to Feilding only having nine men, there was a fair amount of offside play, for which McLeod and Gibbs were penalised several times. Mr Harry Mayer, the popular vicepresident of the Junior Football Association and manager of the team, very generously donated silver badges to the best back and best forward men in the Wellington team. Johns and Clark—both Queen's Park men _were the lucky recipients, which was decided by the vote ox the Warn. On arrival at Feilding the team were met by Mr F. Nossiter, who had gone to a great deal of trouble in arranging the match. One of the Feilding team travelled from Pahiatua. An enjoyable lunch was partaken of at Barrett's Hotel. Mr Nossiter intends, if possible, to bring a team down to Wellington in about a month's time. The members of the team thoroughlyenjoyed the trip, and would like to repeat it at the earliest opportunity. The journey back was livened by songs, recitations, and stump speeches, and, on arrival in town, the team were hospitably entertained at the W.I.A. concert at the Trocadero. The Cup tie between Rovers A and Petone A (third class) was a ding-dong go, extra time having to be played to decide the match. The town team eventually won. Moss and Wright (2) scored for Bovers, and Beard for Petone.