FOOTBALL NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 15, 25 June 1920, Page 9

FOOTBALL NOTES.

WEDNESDAY GAMES. STAR (9) v. ATHLETIC (8). H.;H| •• •>tar turned out one of theii' best teams the season, more weight and condition ing noticeable in the forwards, the backs ve° been fit in all the games— and more x our in tackle, though in this department % J teams in Southland show proficiency. THE Jiletic had a heavy forward lot, and N snts proved that they were faitly fit, :ir backs letting events down as tCSal as a combination. Star got more Ackly to work, as lighter teams do, and xost immediately carried the ball to '"Kiking distance but Gilroy, Greens full, | ed after Star's answer to a fine ward clearance by Athletic. Green a"®!t d passing, but stood like posts, the half cNeftpping the ball out only once during the ne. Kicking for position by Star was '?Den|eved with forward scrambles and half chase t;its, until a misguided punt saw almost »'ed [. icrous display of missing and speculatide •/; from the Athletic backs, a Star back amet..:king up the neglected ball and scoring .e., 1 .. 11 out. Star 3. Kicks by Star full sent tjljfji ball down, Athletic forwards rallying os> d clearing, but afterwards over-kicking Lilley, who booted back. Relief came to ; een.from their forwards again. Roche ing promhient in line-take, break, and lother, the movement being checked near ar line, where, after several attempts of •etched passing, half Shepherd scored ar the posts, Coakley adding. Athletic Star 3. The game then became out of md and men lashed, pushed on the line, id late-tackled to their hearts' content, lly one free being given for numerous /' )tten occurrences. Talking was common, nd the crowd smiled its approval when, the other side," got it in the neck. It 'e4 up to the executive of the S.R.F.U. to ffjut this kind of thing down, and drasticdislly too. Up and down play followed during the rest of the spell the honours fflising even, Star's break-away being more dicious, however, than Athletic' s. The M isime was played north and south, the latliardir side-line running close to the fence, k, iipnx which coign of vantage the partisans each side punctuated the play, naming ?se jayers and play most affectionately and ?culi^ouraghigly. However, neither block js p fans could get an other score out of its lWe in spell one, which closed Athletic 5, iiioi ar 3. The crowd broke up to warm niljself, and to criticise dirty play, on "the it iJmr side" of coures, and certain men [jjpld be put off, and so on. One pre^,/ar nortliern rep. was of opinion that it , . yasn't all the fault of the players, but hat a firin hand was needed to put down ;he "play-the-man" before it became chronic. Well, the teams came out for the second spell and it seemed as if someone had whispered into their ear, "to take a pull," for, save two glaring incidents, the spell was cleaner than the first had been. The opening-play was not distinctive, exchanges of kicks, with Star better, and forward rushes in blocks by Athletic, who generally over-kicked to be driven well back. Frees were frequent, forwards never knowing where the ball was going to, and bunching up to give taking backs a wide field for choice of linereturn. A high kick by Athletic bounced among several Star backs, who in defence to one another let it bounce ; but defender Lilley came up, and, snapping the hypnotic oval, put on speed past the Green ruck, going right on to Coakley when he passed to tlre best anticipator in the senior sides, Barraclough — who scored against a feinttackle. Star 6, Athletic 5. Green forwards then packed and packed, carfying play into Star ground to be qrfickly booted back. Several times in scrums Green forwards booted in a hooked ball, refusing to trust backs they thought unsafe or non1 scoring. The Athletic backs were mull1 ing frequently, and from one of these feeble pokings, the swift Star spoilers ! scored wide. Star 9, Athletic 5. Scoring tflooked hopeless for Green, when after a series of invasions into Star 25, a weak kick saw the Star centre run back over i the line to clear, he slipped and lost the ball, but endeavoured while on the ground to seize it. Sparks dashed over and fell on it. An easy kick was inissed. Star . 9, Athletic 8. All the subsequent efforts of Green forwards could not break the Star defence, though they crossed ' their opponents' lines several times. Once they heeled just by the posts, but the half went on his own, and Star cleared in a trice wliat had been a strong attack against them. With Athletic one point down the game went on to its dull close, Star winnmg 9 to 8, and making their premiership fairly safe. INVERCARGILL (17) v. WAIKIWI (8). 'Each side was weak, though in the first spell one would not tliink so from the number of times Whyte and Dawson got into I.F.C. 25. Invercargill had several men away representing them at the funeral of

Mr G. C. Todd — Charlie, so well known to members of his old club the I.F.C. There was an air of unreality about the game, play shifting rapidly from one end of the field to the other, Waikiwi breaking througli Blue lines as if they were paper, and I.F.C. passing anywhere and everywhere in an endeavour to open up the game. Vial and Cleland appeared to be in concert ; but the supporting backs lacked foot or knowledge of how to follow. Their passing looked wild and unbacked. Whyte's flame-coloui-ed jersey was very prominent throughout the first spell, and in a fine smashing effort he secured and scored, Dawson convei'ting. Waikiwi 5. The suburb's attack was intermittent but deadly, and I.F.C. found relief in forces, their backs seeming to feel the strain of Waikiwi forward dash, a mis-kick being marked for Whyte to make a very fine goal and his sides' score — Waikiwi 8. Excellent kicking by Vial let wing-threes smother returns, Fraser checking one fumbler, the sequent scrum giving Blues the ball which half Cleland sent to Vial, who scored under the posts. Waikiwi 8, I.F.C. 3. And so the spell finished. The second spell found Waikiwi wanting in condition, and the "toss-it-about" tactics of the Blue backs, aided by more accurate passing ' and the evident comparative i'ness of their ; pack, gave them four pretty tries, Waikiwi's only answer being long kicks and solitary dashes by Whyte, who had two | big attempts to score. Cleland showed how a half should play — trail the ball — and was responsible for the greater part of Blue's score. Only one try was converted of the four, and, as an old Southlander remarked, "It's a pity they don't practise goal -kicking. " For a patched- ; up team, I.F.C. did marvellously well. | With a full side and a dry ground their | match with Star ought to be worth seeing ; ! for it takes a good team to down the side , that is leading for the premiership in the Galbraith Shield competition of 1920.