SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 175, 14 October 1927, Page 11

SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

PASSING NOTES

(By

Perseus)

The Final Curtain. —With the semifinal eliminating games for the Falcon run set down for to-morrow, the folding Saturday will see the final curt*iin rung down on competition games for 1927, and there is now a marked falling-off of interest in the game by hnth nlavers and spectators. The season him been a very disappointing one on account of the phenomenal sequence of wet week-ends and the churning of the playing areas into nu'i°mires which never had a chance of 1 drying out. The result was that the gates were seriously affected, while the standard of the game could not Improve under such surface conditions Ko,v. when the players find themselves on a hard surface with a lively ball, they discover how rusty they have become in the arts of ball control and iudgroent of the pace of a pass. The game has also lost some of its vim fnd Vigour, as players are not anxious to crash on the hard grounds, and the general r a „ of play is much harder polite than when the mud was fljing.

Some Keen Competitions.—ln spite of the disheartening conditions which have prevailed, the competitions in all the grades have been keenly contested. and there have been no exceptionally outstanding teams. Early in the season it appeared as though Thistle would be the all-conquering eleven fer 1927, but through injuries and other causes the Scots fell away in the cl using stages and had to liven up to secure the championship, wdiich at one period seemed a gift for them. Bv sheet doggedness and hard training the Ponsonby team ran through the Chatham Cup knockouts successfully and were the team to show the most marked improvement as the season progressed. The Shore team as runners-up for the championship was very inconsistent in the form displayed and suffered in the mid season by the absence of players from injuries and interruptions. Like Ponsonby, the Shore Club has pursued the wise policy of nursing and encouraging its own

juniors, and both clubs should be stronger than ever when next season rolls round. *

Promising Teams —and Others.— Onehunga and Royal Navy made their debuts in the senior ranks, and both clubs have warranted their elevation. Navv has suffered severely by constant changes in the personnel of its team, owing to “exigencies of the service,” but has always been able to give opponents a good, willing go. Onehunga has also performed well, in spite of good team work being hampered by frequent changes in its Composition. The West Coasters have always been hard to down on their hard ground, and they are still survivors in the Falcon Cup. Tramways and Northcote have both experienced a disappointing season, and showed a. sad falling-off from the form of the previous year. Northcote has a good chance of a revival by an infusion of new blood from its junior ranks, but the civic eleven has always suffered through having no nursery in which to rear understudies and substitutes. But the "Trammies” are making a final effort for a recovery in the Falcon Cup, and it is sincerely hoped the rumours of dissolution have no foundation.

The Provincial Eleven.— lt is unfortunate that the position of the interprovincial contests is still a. subject for argument, and that through only being able to draw with Canterbury, the Auckland team cannot claim a clearcut win for the English trophy. The attitude of the New Zealand Council is a most puzzling one, and the Auckland F.A. has rightly insisted on some decision being given by the governing authority here. The misunderstanding about extra time is an extraneous matter, which has not been the subject of protest by either Canterbury or Auckland, but Canterburj’' has asked for a ruling on the definition of “goal average” as the determining factor. This the New Zealand F.A. has decided to refer direct to the English authorities,