SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1000, 17 June 1930, Page 12

SOCCER SIDELIGHTS

PASSING NOTES

(Dj F

PERSEUS.)

In» and Outs. —If not productive of much high-grade football, the Falcon Cud knock-outs last Saturday yielded the usual surprises which attend cup ties, and seven clubs are now “out” of the competition. Omong the “outs” are Trams, Oneliunga and Manurewa, of the A division, and Belmont, New Lynn, Bon Accord, Northcote and Tamaki, of the B division. Celtic and Rangers have still to settle which shall survive and join Y.M.C.A., Thistle, Corinthians, Ponsonby, Shore, Technical Old Boys and Glen Innes, for the second round knock-outs. Corinthians effected the greatest surprise of the day by routing Trams, and, after establishing a three-goal lead, it was only two lucky penalties to Trams that averted an emphatic defeat. « * £ Some Other Shocks. —The defeat of Onehunga by Shore, and the fact that Rangers led Celtic 2—o at half-time, shows that there is no margin between the upper clubs in the B section, and rhe lower ones in the A division, but it came as a shock to Belmont to find its colours lowered by Glen Innes, a second grade club, which had been defeated in a grade game by Shore juniors. This is Glen Innes’s first season at Soccer, and the hefty colts from the railway deviation created a sensation by outing one of the last year’s A clubs. Are Tramways Doomed?—Following on Trams’ default in the Chatham Cup, and its defeat in the championship by Y.M.C.A., came the third disaster last Saturday, when Corinthians dealt the transporters the K.O. for the Falcon Cup, which Trams had adorned with the popular black and green favours for three years in succession. Evan Williams was again an absentee with a bad ankle, and Clem Bell has to rest after resuming the game too soon on top of an operation. That broke up Trams’ spearhead in the attack, and Simpson was very unlucky to get the worst of a clash with Ahern, and was a “lame duck” for most of the game. So, in spite of two gift goals, the Trams went down to the youthful Corinthians by the odd goal. There are some who say the Trams reached their zenith last year in cleaning-up the local championship and knock-outs, and bringing back the national club trophy from Wellington. Whether the Transporters’ star is setting is not yet certain; it has survived worse setbacks than this, but its reserve force is limited, and it will be hard to stage a recovery. * * * A Valuable Publicatioh.—The official handbook of the Auckland Football Association for 1930 has made its appearance, and at the modest price of sixpence its 100 pages of useful information will assure it a* ready sale. This year it has been compiled and revised by the honorary secretary, Mr. S. R. Massam, who has the intimate knowledge of the game and the legal training to deal thoroughly with the exhaustive contents of the year book, and he has made an excellent job of his labour of love. A welcome addition is an index of contents, and past records have been carefully corrected. The new constitution, rules and byelaws of the .A.F.A. now appear complete for the first time, and the Laws of Soccer are given in full, with this season’s alterations. The handbook also includes the Chatham Cup rules, last year’s tables for all grades, and this year’s draw right through the divisions. It will be welcomed by all players, officials and supporters of the game. Not What It Was.—The Soccer critic in a Wellington paper records the following interesting tions:—‘‘Soccer in Wellinfton is not what it was twenty years ago," declared an old-time player on the touch-line. I-Te was watching one of last Saturday’s games and as he was an authority on the sport liis remarks carried some weight. The chief fault with many teams, he opined, was the fact that there was far too much “kick and run,” blind kicking in the hope that the ball would go to the right spot, as well as a fatal tendency to kick high instead of short and snappy low passing. “You have only to watch a firstclass English Soccer team irt action to see how far removed from the real game is what passes for Soccer in Wellington,” he said. “Can j'ou imagine a game like this”—and here he indicated the spectacle in front of him of a “kick and run” exhibition—•‘drawing a crowd of thousands as it does in England?” Another side-liner here Joined in the discussion and suggested that the rival code was the more spectacular game to watch, a game far more full of incident and thrill. “I grant you that it is in Xew Zealand.” rejoined the old-timer, “but if Soccer was played as it should be, the public would be enthusiastic over it. As it is, the game here is a travesty on the real thing, and seems to be getting worse instead of better.” What would help the game more than anything else, he thought, would be the visit of some good overseas team who would be able to demonstrate the game’s finer points. But the trouble with visiting teams was that they, through force of circumstances, played only once, or at the most twice, in each centre, and were not in the country long enough to drive home the lessons they had to teach. • * • What About Auckland.—There aro old-timers in Auckland who insist that Soccer is “not what it was” many long years ago. and other retort with ‘ Punch” that “it never was,” or reply in the more Irreverent “Bulletin” strain, “Thank Heaven!” But one or two old- ; time referees who controlled the game here early Jin the century, and have been keen followers of the game right I through, will argue that while there are still brilliant individualists, the general club standard has deteriorated and does not provide the thrill and charm of old-time games. Lack of keenness and training, absence of team spirit and cohesion, and more reliance on individual effort than combination are certainly more marked now. But the change in the off-side rule revolution-

ised the game, and the new idea of the W formation, with its three attacking forwards and eight defenders, has spoilt the short passing forward game of other days, and play now is more of the wing and centre type, which means more individual play. Offside and “Obstruction”—Two queries have been asked this week which raise rather subtle points. One inquirer says that it appeared in one game on Saturday as though after penalising a player three or four times quickly for off-side play, the referee stopped the game to warn the culprit, and asks is constant off-sideness an additional offence? The interpretations and instructions In the red book seem to make it clear that it is no offence to be in an offside position, but for a player in that state to attempt to take part in the game is a breach of the law, and it is a player's duty to avoid wilfully breaking the laws. A player who looks like becoming a chronic lawbreaker may lay himself open to a warning about his conduct. Another inquirer states that two reports of another game say a penalty was awarded for obstruction, and asks was this a correct ruling? Under the old laws of the game, it was an offence to obstruct the goalkeeper to prevent him clearing, and it is still illegal to touch him in his goal area when he is not holding the ball. But there is no offence in defenders obstructing opponents by passive resistance, or placing themselves in the attackers’ path, provided the hands, arms, or legs are not used as means of obstruction. JUNIOR GRADE TABLES The conclusion of the first round in some of the junior grades championships show the positions of the clubs as follow:

THIRD GRADE (Inite rmediate) P. w. B. T> F. A. Pts. 4 4 0 o 17 f> Comrades A 4 1 1 X 4 Belmont 4 1 J6 6 4 Onehung-a 4 0 1 3 10 Burnlev 4 0 3 1 FOURTH GRADE A P W. B. D. F A. Pts. Pietro. Col. A b 0 0 3 10 Tamaki 4 1 0 13 y 8 4 0 8 8 Y.M.C.A. A 4 1 0 8 11 1 4 0 « J 4 2 Comrades A 4 0 4 0 2 20 0 FOURTH GRADE Q P. W. B. D. F. A. Pts. Y.M.C.A. B 3 1 1 12 7 Comrades B 8 1 1 9 4 7 Onehunga 2 1 2 V 8 0 All Saints 2 1 7 S Wetsern Un ted 5 1 4 8 4 W.Y.M.I. 5 0 4 1 5 12 1 FIFTH GRADE A P. W B. T>. F. A. Pts Y.M.C.A. A. 4 1 0 23 8 8 A 4 1 0 18 9 8 Comrades A 1 1 9 H Belmont A 1 7 9 Carlton r» 1 4 0 la 10 Y.M.C.A. B b 5 0 0 1 40 0