FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 77, 9 July 1910, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

POSITION OP THE TEAMS.

SENIORS. •i • .5 <5 . . 5 e Ph. 2& s as a I &,£ j q g -4 g Clifton 8 6 1 IV3 9 13 Stratford .... 8 6 1 1 71 29 18 Tukapa 8 4 1 3 74 39 11 •Eltham 8 3 5 0 46 81 6 Star 8 2 5 1 75 72 5 Inglewood ... 8 0 8 0 74 134 0 •Won against Inglewood by default. | FIRST JUNIORS. Eltham ...... 8 7 0 1 65 20 15 Clifton 8 5 1 2 74 30 12 Tukapa ...... 8 5 3 0 81 30 10 Inglewood ... 8 2 3 3 US 77 J Star 8 1 0 1 32 110 3 Stratford . .... S 0. 7 1 34 74 1 SECOND JUNIORS. Clifton . ..... 8 6 2 0 130 22 12 Stratford . ... 8G v 2 090 40 12 Tukapa 80 3 0 51 59 10 •Eltham' 8 5 3 0 33 41 10 Star 8 1 7 0 25 93 2 Inglewood ... 8 1 7 0 18 To L •Inglewood forfeited. .NOTES ON THURSDAY'S PLAY. (By -'Spectator"). I There was not a great deal of incident in the Star-Clifton senior match on Thursday, but play was quite as good as could* have been expected under the circumstances. The ground was bad, the Star team weakened by absentees, and Clifton not brilliant. Clifton never are brilliant, but they get there just the same.

There was a lot of obstruction. There •was a good deal of tripping, some of it open and deliberate. There's a young player in the Star team who will wear aniber-and-black one of these days, but not unless he cheeks his fondness lor tripping. The man referred to is the man who deliberately tripped Goodwin—and was cheered by the crowd for it. Hill played his best game on Thursday, and was cheered again and'again. He's a much improved man, and rarely misses a ball. With stronger wings he would doubtless evince greater haste in ridding himself of the ball. Circumstances alter cases.

W. Whitaker did a lot of spoiling work.

Ted A-very, who had a day off from hockey, donned the black jersey, and played at wing forward. He is in ic markably good nick, which showed up one ;or two of the others. He rarely missed liis man, and gave a fairly good exhibition. His absence from the football field for some time had affected his ability to catch the ball. Brown played well in the mud. L. Whitaker was >good on both defence and attack. He catches the ball well, and gets in his kick very promptly, whilst he is also fleet of foot. He made some capital marks from the line-out, but they were not allowed.

Malone played ahead of his average form, and on one or two occasions neatly extricated his side from difficulties.

Ross and Hopkins were about the most prominent of the forwards. There was too much talking, and too frequent appealing. Referees should "sit on'' appeals. "' Gillett Sampson played full-back for the visitors, and made no mistakes. He's probably the finest full-back in the division. 1

Varey Tate and Goodwin, as wing-three-quarters, gave a good exhibition, the latter particularly so. Jones, however, was weak. On one occasion, when there seemed nothing to prevent a score, the ball was passed to him. Re, looked as though it were an unclean thing, or something of which he had never previously heard. By the time he had come to his senses he had come to Mother Earth also.

Adams, the five-eighth, was a tower of 'strength to his side, but the halfback's thinking powers are not sufficiently rapid to qualify him for the post. The forwards plugged away gamely, and didn't seem to mind the mud a bit. Crowley was the most prominent, and next to him came Cain. Both put in splendid work in the open, but Du Blois was keener than either of them in the close work, and displayed a greater knowledge of the off-side rule. On wet days it is suggested that only half-hour spells be played. Slippery grounds are not conducive to brilliant football, and stodgy football is tiring to the spectators long before the two forty minutes are up.

The Stratford-Tukapa match on Thursday proved very interesting, but the heavy Stratford forwards proved too good for their lighter opponents, particularly in the second spell, when the red and black vanguard got on some nice rushes, and also threw the, ball about well. The game was contested in a friendly spirit, and though play was strenuous it was not rough, and except that on one occasion two Stratford players were cautioned for tripping, nothing of an offensive nature occurred.

Mynott and Stohr. were again assisting the blues, hut their recent experiences had taken the "ginger" out of their play. Particularly was this noticeable as regarded Stohrs kicking. His line kicks were wretched, absolutely no force behind them. Mynott made some nice openings. These two players have had a strenuous time. • Landing in Wellington at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, after a rough trip, they were hustled into a motor-ear at 2.30 to face a 170-mile trip to Waiigfinui. About 2 a.m., when within eight miles of that town, petrol ran out, with the result that they had to walk about five miles, arriving'at Wanganui at 0.30 a.m. They' just caught the train leaving there 'at 0.40, and arrived at Stratford at 12.40 p.m., still with the feel of the ship under their feet, after a 22hours' trip without sleep. The wonder is that they were able to play at all. Clarke, at full-back, was called upon to do a lot of defence, and got, through the ordeal fairly well. I Jones and Webster, Tukapa wmg-Ithree-quarters, were decidedly weak.. Loveridge, at half, was good on the de--1 fence. As" his forwards were not getting I the ball be had not much chance in attack. Moreover, the Stratford wings were around him very sharply.

McAllum and Ward were very prominent in the forwards, and headed munv rushes. Anderson, at full for Stratford, shaped very well, his line-kicking 'being welljudced. ' Dixon, at centre three-quarter, was the pick of the backs, and saved Stratford time and airain. He, however, has a. tendency to nailery play, and his dancin<» antics, though 'possibly pretty, are not football, and nearly got him into trouble. Still, it is wonderful how he recovers after making a mistake. Cameron, at five-eighths, was not up to form. Tn the first spell fjis kicking displayed lamentably bad judgment. In the second spell he improved, but his passing was very slow and ciivatic. He jalso ran across the field instead of running straight, thus crowding his men on the line. L ,

Abtott played well on the whK r . He missed one or two passes, but the ball did not come to him as smartly as it should have done. His kick when lie converted the try was a fine one.

Stratford forwards all played well, Murphy was prominent on the line-out. Smith again shone in the rushes, and he also made some nice openings. Inglewood seniors forfeited to Eltham. Playing against the difficulties that the men of the maroon jerseys have had to face, very few fifteens would have hold out so long. The Stratford second juniors would give one or two of the senior teams a shake-up. It's a certainty that they'd wipe the floor with the Stratford seconds. It's questionable whether a club is justified in keeping a second team just sufficiently alive to enable the thirds to sticktogether in a class out of which they have certainly earned promotion. Thirds should be youths.

The following team will represent Rovers against Pirates on the racecourse this afternoon: Loveridge, Webster, Hill, Ryder, Grant(2), Thompson, Woods, Turnbull. Mulloy, Grey, Mclsaac, Coker, West and Bollinger. Civil Service will be represented against Warehouses to-day by the following:'—Karururangi, Alexander, Chamberlain, Copes-take, Pfankueh, Loveridge, Kent, Maxwell, Marcussen, Broadmore, Kilgour, Kennedy, Brabant, Bayd, Allan, and Mclsaac.

The 'following will represent the Civil Service B team in their match against Civil Service A to-day:—Kivell, Craw-sha-w, Bishop, Cullender, Free 3 Dinnis, Robinson, S. Johnson, Blundell, Bowles, Morton, McGregor, Stewart, Ingram and Smith.

THE ASSOCIATION GAME,

(By "Onlooker.")

Uu Thursday a trial match, Norm" v. South, was played at Stratford beiore a goodly number of spectators, who were expecting to be treated to a good iiardfought game, as every man was looked upon to play up to his mettle to try f«r a place in the represenative team to wrestle the Brown Shield from Wellington, tlie present champions. The pi ay right from the kick-off was somewhat of a scramble. Only now and again were we treated to a little individual trickiness. The great failure on uoth sides was the lack of combination among th» forwards, coupled with the 'halfbacks kicking too hard, giving' the opposing backs ample chances to clear. Neither goalkeepers had much chance of showing their form, as there was very little shooting done. Of the players for the North, Sparrow, (at centre) was easily the best .forward, but he sadly needed partners on both sides of him. Much the same can be said of Elliott at centre-half. He worked hard, tackling hard and passing accurately, getting 'the hall away from many a mix-up of the men, and putting the ball well out to the wing men, only to see it kicked back again, which is very disheartening I*) a-.plaver. I Hazeltine (at back) was a solid defence, being called upon frequently to I save his side. J For the South, Law (at outside right) has the makings of a good player. He played a - striking game, and was ever on the lookout for openings. HichoMs, at centre-half was into rt- and out of it in every position of the field, only spoiling himsejf by overmuch wild kickir.f. I O'Dea (in goal) proved himself to be •a nrettv safe keeper. The scorers at the match were: Sparrow, for the North, and Watson, for the South. • The- selectors (Messrs. Kelly, Simpson find Clark) have chosen the following team for the Wellington match:— Goal—O'Dea (Auroa). Backs—Caldwell, Hazeltine (Eltham). tfalves—Faull. Nicholls (Kaponga), .Watson (Auroa). Forwards—Chapman (Stratford), Law (Kaponsra), Sparrow, Scholefield and Butchard (Stratford). Emergencies ■— Bullock (New Ply- : mouth.)', Robson, Bodle (Stratford), Inns < (Hawera). ! Manager of Tout—Mr. Simpson. I The, team is to travel by the mail on I.Tlvuradav next, July 14. Of the forwards. Chapman is a nlavor of moods and tenses. Sometime" one sees him getting well awav on his own and centreing well; at other times he stops to sand-dance round about, not o-aining anv headway, only giving the opponent's plenty of time to have all the other men marked. He can play a real good game when he likes, and has a good idea' where to find the goal. I trust he will be on the alert for chances at Wellington. He will find better men there to play against than is the rule in Taranaki. Law, partner to Chapman, is a young, player who only needs a little coaching to turn out a first-class man. Sparrow, at centre, is a hard grafter, and a man who will show up against better men than himself, provided he has good men plaving with him. Scholefield is a newchum in Taranaki Soccer, having only lately left Wellington, where, he has'been playing all the past season. However, he comes up with a fairly good r\ar^\ T3utchar(l,^op r left, is a man whose experience'" die game should help him along to make a good show; his only failing is, he is rather slow for an outside winger. Of the halves, Faull is another young player who is practically a stranger to Soccer. He needs coaching to bring him along to take a place amongst the good men. ' Nichols must be always in the "midst of it" to be happy. He is a trifle too erratic with his passes, often kicking too , 'hard, and not placing to his forwards. Watson is a better half, having a good idea of a half's work; he keeps the ball well down when feeding his forwards. : and this fact is an important one. Caldwell and Hazeltine, at back. arc. ■ a very even pair, being both good strong kicks! and, both having played together all the season, should give a good account of-themselves. Just a few more remarks for the whole • teum generally when playing the "Waterloo." Let the outside wingers keep well • out along the line, taking"the ball well I into the corners and centreing, thus ■ keeping every player onside. This praei ticc lias the advantage of making the ■game move open, and brings out all the ■ individualistic ability of the plaver. I whilst increasing the combination of the team. The inside men to keep their eyes I open for crosses from either side; at - the same time, almost stick to your position. Let the half-backs follow up their i forwards, always keeping an eye open - for a possible shot, as nothing disconj certs a goalkeeper more than unexpected - long shots, with the forwards following >. up for the rebound. The full-backs to ) keep a. watch on the outside wing men, 1 that being the particular function of the full-backs, i I hope to hear a good account of the t team's doings in Wellington, although 1 i am rather dubious of a win, the team . not being anything like representative I v.ith such men as Eigglcstone. Holme, - Gwillim. 'Smart, or Elliott left out. i owing to a misunderstanding with the i Union over last season's triji.