The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1901. THE DECADENCE OF FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 116, 1 June 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1901. THE DECADENCE OF FOOTBALL.

The frequency of oases where players are ordered off the football field for disorderly aonijuct; the attack on referees, which has led to proposals to disqualify pertain . grounds; and tie many ether ways in which footbill is alleged to have fallen off from the position it once held in the public estimation is;giving •seriisiia concern in many quarters, on.more than one occasion been asked to deal with the question. An esteemed correspondent, who is a "great lover of the game,.in urging this upon us, se'B out so forcibly the causes that in. his . opinion are bringing about the aofrpfjill of football that we feel we cannot do better, than reproduce his remarks in fiill. Hesays All true .lovers of feo'bill will admit tliat for rome eonßide able'time past there has beebsorioe'h'ng radically wrong - with our national gamvtlriush it would have' been hard, porh»ps, f >r one if asked to define exactly what that " 6omithing " really w,.s. Competent judges ara agreed that both from a spectator's and a player's point of .view the present game is noi to be compared with that of five, s'x, cr even peven ypars ago. The game cow appeard to have assumed 6uch a rapid downward cour e, sci> nt'fic combination gradually giving place to increasing selfishness, roughness, atd " painting " th >t it is hard to say where it will i ventually tnd. The time has arrived when something should bo done, and done pp edily, to check such an unwholcso ne state of affairs, or our national game bid» fair f ° lose its p'estigo and popu'arity, and sink gradually lower and lower t ; ll, like many o f h<-r oldt.ime sporlg it b-s comt s a thing of the past. The reason of this retrograde movement to the close observer of the game is not herd to find. It lif-s first and foremost in the fact that too many of cur young footballers throughout the colony are woiit to, put "the pr'zo above the game," rr. in olher words, to faciifice sll one's finer fellings—all the noblrr qu litiea of oses nature—to the solt aim and object cf winnii.g a mythical cup. I; is this incr a-ing lust for vic'ory at all cos's which i" slowly but su:e'y transforming one of the grand st games ever invented by man for his recreation into an exposition of low cunuing and brutility, totally unworthy of the dawn < f the twentieth century, Tha average gams

as now played is played wiih on u ( tr| disregard of all rules of honour, writ'en |' or unwritten,each side ap.p .rently goirn I' oa to field with thfl mut'ial under-1 fctaniliog that the)' ara there io p'»y—not the glorious old game for the game'd sake alone—but to play ro tha' they may win and claim eventu illy tha' , doubtful hocour " the cup." It wos probably this unfortuna'e style of play which begat that species of footballer—save tho mark! half pugilist, half wrestler, the " wing forward," who is. undoubtedly one if the chief curses of colonial foolba'ltr-day. Wi'.h the ad vent, of this player the downward course of footbill in this colony mny tiuly ba said to have commence! Thr game, ins'eid of keeping pace with modern scientific football, has crumbled away and resolved itself into littls e'se than a series of rough and tumble scrambles from s l art to fioish ; tho work, as faras tie p?ck is conceive !, consis' ing chi. fly of a pushing o - a sparring contest bitwfeen the opposing wing forwards, whilst in the open it is usually a disorder'y rush in which the forwards mingle together in hnprhss confusion, fach striving his best individually to score regard!* ss of his side ; whilst the backs, the real scoring men, are lefc to get the ball how and whnn they best can. With forwards puch as these, particularly the " wings," scientific football (that is to say, the passing game as played ia Great Britain today) becomes an utter impossibility, and all the unnecessary roughness end brutality which time and long experience hid begun to eliminate from the game, is freshly introduced—nay with wing forwards, it becomes almost a necessity. It is this system of play which is largely responsible for the "lowering of the standard of New Zealand foit'oall at the present time, I' is a matter for wonder and sincere regret that with all our rapid advancement in the' .van of progression, we should be so far behind in the matter of cur ca'i-nal game. Probably this is., due, in a grrat measure, to the fact that i o tea'tn. has of late years visited the Old Country ; to ste the game to perfection, . nor has a H-;ma team visited our shores, whilst the individual . players of merit who have cime out froal England have not be in num°rous entfugh or power ful enough in themselves to bring anient an al'eration in the s'ate o? aflairp. The old-time briliucy of the g-une coticeabl-i amongst such" doughty cbampiors as Keogli, (.'»ge, Wynyard, Ellison and ' tho like ferns to have departed with them from the sretH. It i-< time now '■ hat cur fpotballrrs awoke to the fact that if they wish in the fu'uro to successfully cope with an English •'cam, should one shortly visit the colony, they must alter, their tactics completely and do away with their present style of pijy. This can only be b ought about bythe abolition of wing forward play and the substitution of additiocal scoring men for them. Until this is done combination and a thorough exposition of the passing game will be an impossibility. Each man will continue' playing "pq his own," the forwards appeaingto be a separate b dy from "thu remainder of tVe tide; the famd horseplay on.the part of the wings wi'l continue, there will be the same incssinfc whistle blowing owing to. somß player or another trying to bring off another ;piece of "low cunning," whilst the poor backs, .the real scoring m'-p, will be left as usual to lo>k sfci r th^m c eh'e'. Is not such a s ate of affairs enough to break the be;rb of a footballt'r accustoraod to an honest s'yle of play, a follower of the modern game at i»s best? Can any man who has seen Eaglish college team—not to mention a county or an interactional team—play honestly, assert tlat our fcotball in this colony bra-s favourable comparison with them 'i Wethhkno v . Wherein lire then the reme'y for the present state ef affai's ? First and foremost bsfore any r> f.'rms a;e made it will be necessary for each phyer to read, mark, l>arn and inwardly digest the first golden ru|e of fcotbal', "to play for one'sside and not foroae'sfelf," —to plica the gam", worthy cf all honour for its own sake—abov,) any prize that can be offered, be it cup, praise or emolument. Then and not till then, may we hope for football to enter upon an upward course and cease to stink in the nostrils of all. Irua lovers of manly sport. A new code of rules will then be agreed upon amongst players, purifying the g me and making all underhand, pet.tyfogging tricks and their us o rs to be looked upon with disgust. Let the pl»yer3 then follow in tie footsteps of the four principalities, England, Ireland, Scotlind and Wales in their mode of play, and. spectators will then be scarcely able to recognise the game.