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Muscle Building ; Health by Muscular Gymnastics (Prices subject to change without notice.) ANY OF THE ABOVE BOOKS MAILED POSTPAID UPON RECEIPT OF PRlCfi 8-16-20 J. A. McWeeney. (" McW." of Football Star and Leader.) Spalding "Red Cover" Series of Athletic Handbooks No. 39R HOW TO PLAY "SOCCER" BY S. BLOOMER J. T. ROBERTSON J. KIRWAN J. ASHCROFT W. BULL A. COMMON A. McCOMBIE J. CAMERON and "McW" EDITED BY J. A. McWEENEY ("McW." of "Football Star" and "Leader") London, England PUBLISHED BY AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING L!=j J=jl COMPANY ■ — ' L_ ' '-—) 21 Warren Street, New York onr njjci We reprint in this issue of Spalding's Athletic Library, with permission of the publishers, the British Sports Publishing Com- pany, Ltd., 2 and 3 Hind Court, Fleet Street, London, England, the contents of a copyrighted book issued by them, ''How to Play Soccer," written by leading English authorities on the game. The book has had a very large sale in Great Britain, and with thr prominence recently assumed by the game in America, the work will undoubtedly prove a valuable acquisition to the player. American Sports Publishing Company. N, A570552 Contents PAGE Introduction 4 How to Keep Goal, by J. Ashcroft, Blackburn Rovers, 1913-14 (A.) 5 How to Play Full-Back, by A. McCombie, out of Football.. 17 How to Play Centre-Half, by W. Bull, Northampton (1912-13) Southern League 2"] Hew to Play Half-Back, by J. T. Robertson, 1912-13 Man- ager Chelsea F. C 35 How to Play Centre-Forward, by A. Common, 1912-13, Wool- wick Arsenal 45 How to Play Inside-Right, by S. Bloomer, 1912-13, Derby County 53 How to Play the Outside-Forward Position, by J. Kirwan. . 59 Advice and Hints to the Young Football Player, by J. Cameron 68 A Chat on many Football Topics, by J. A. McWeeney 80 Definition of Terms ........ 88 Introduction I believe that my readers will agree with me that never before has any one produced so complete a guide to the playing of the Association Football game as is to be found in this book, "How to Play Soccer." A glance at the names of the contributors will convince you of this. The articles are contributed by star artists of the game and each man writes concerning his own special position on the field and how to play it. Surely, no better authorities could be found. The proverb runs that "Good wine needs no bush." I have sufficient confidence in the wine which I am offering you to leave the verdict to you. The Editor. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. How to Keep Goal By James Ashcroft. [James Ashcroft, who writes below on the art of goal-keeping, was the famous custodian of the Woolwich Arsenal F. C. One more competent to deal with the subject could scarcely be found. That he is a magnificent goal-keeper was evidenced in the season 1905-06, when he was selected to play in all three International matches and in the inter-League game against Scotland besides. He is a custodian who keeps goal with his brain, and the judgment which has made him great on the football field has stood him in good stead now that he writes concerning the position which he fills with such rare ability. He played with the Blackburn Rovers in 1913-14- Ashcroft is a fine type of the professional who is a gen- tleman.] Most of my readers will recognize the fact that it is not the most learned man in any subject who makes the best teacher of it. It is given to some to impart knowledge readily and easily to their pupils. To others, the gift, or knack, is denied. It is with some diffidence, then, that I make my first venture at pro- fessorship, not knowing really whether I am possessed of the gift of imparting to others the little knowledge which some years of experience between the posts has given me. I lay; no claim to genius or even originality. If in my rough and unpolished literary style I can only give some helpful hints to beginners, or can bring my reader a step or two nearer to his International Cap, then shall I be perfectly satisfied. Moreover, if this my first lecture from the professorial chair turns out a success, possibly when my football days are over you will find me the scholastic head of Ashcroft's Academy of Goal-Keeping. CONCERNING HEIGHT. I assume, my dear pupils, that each one of you has made up his mind to become a Macaulay or a Doig, a Roose or a Robinson. Have you, however, the necessary qualifications? If you stand only five feet two in your stocking soles, let me advise youto play forward or back or half-back. The goal-keeper's position is not for you. To be a good goal-keeper you must have height. I do not mean that a man of 5 feet 6 inches or 5 feet 7 inches cannot become a great custodian. Were that so, I should never Goal-keeper Saving. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC MllllAlil 7 have witnessed a most brjlliant display by Tim V. against Tottenham Hot-pur m an Englisli Cup Ti< some seasons ago. Williamson, as you know, is only a "little 'un." Nor do i iiold that great height is an advantage in a goal keeper. True, Nature has endowed Fryer with a plethora of niches and he is a fine goal-keeper. That fact, however, is no argument against me. 1 contend that, as a rule, whilst the very tall man is for the high shot-,, his very height is a disadvantage when he has to deal with the lightning "daisy croppers." I hold that 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches is the beau ideal height for the man between the posts. Rooge and Robinson, in the matter of inches, were built by Nature to keep goal. 1 would say to the beginner tl at if he is under 5 feet 7 inches it would probably be wiser for him to cultivate an ability for playing some other position in the game. With necessary height I presume you have concomitant length of arm. Such a qualification is as helpful in goal-keeping as in boxing. Moreover, a goal-keeper must not carry too much flesh. The great Foulke may be instanced as an argument against my contention, but it must be remembered that the <>ld Sheffield United man is a law unto himself. Take a thousand men of Foulke's hulk and you probably would not find one to compare with him for a moment in the matter of agility and rapid action. MUST BE ROBUST. Do not undertake the goal-keeper's duties unless you arc absolutely robust. By this I do not mean solely that you art. able to take hard knocks, but that you have a really strong con stitution. Time and again you will he left for long sti etches to do nothing but twirl your lingers as you stand beneath the cross- bar. Your side may be attacking nearly all the time, and mean- while you must stand very frequently on damp grass shivering with cold and inviting an onslaught from pneumonia or the influenza fiend. If you are constitutionally strong, you can laugh at damp, colds in the head and rheumatic twinges. NERVES. A goal-keeper must not be a man of nerves. No position on the field is so conducive to the begetting of nervousness. And why? The goal-keeper knows that he is absolutely the last line of defense. Forwards may blunder and so may half-hacks and backs and no serious harm may accrue, but the man between the sticks knows full well that his blunder is nearly always irretriev- able. That is not a comforting thought to nurse as you witch a A " Throw In," First Position, SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 9 line of attackers swooping down on you, and if you once give way to funk it is all up with you. JUDGMENT. Let us assume, then, that you have the height and reach, that you are constitutionally robust and are not of a nervous tem- perament; how are you to excel as a goal-keeper? The first thing to clo is to cultivate judgment. That may sound a simple matter, but is it? True judgment in a goal-keeper is not a mere affair of the football ground alone. It is a something which is learnt by the study of men in everyday life. If you are an observer of character in the people whom you meet in your ordinary avocations, you will find that this observation is most helpful in forming judgment on the football field. You are in the best position in the game to study the methods, tricks and plans of your opponents. You watch them carefully and you note that the play of one dovetails with that of another, that one wing is speedier than another, that when the attacking line comes within shooting distance it is the inside-right who is fed in preference, say, to the center or inside-left ; in fact, you regard matters as a general watches the tactics of an attacking force, and so you form your conclusions and prepare your defense accord- ingly. Therefore, I say to the beginner, do not spend your time, when the ball is away up the field, leaning listlessly against the goal-post or chatting with your friends behind the net. Football is now a science, and goal-keeping must be done on scientific lines if you are to be a success. Correct judgment can come only from close observation. Therefore do not concern yourself with the weakness of your own team; it is for you to analyze the reasons of the enemy's success, so that you may check him by judicious defense. COURAGE. Many a man who would really have become a great goal- keeper has thrown away his chance of greatness for lack of courage. Hard knocks are not much of an attraction, but if you are to win medals and glory you must put up with the risks of warfare. You run plenty of risks in goal-keeping. If, before stepping on the field, you think of nothing but the troubles which are in store for you, you may take it for granted that you have met troubles more than half way. You are unnerved, and your goal-keeping is sure to suffer. Go out to play without a thought of what's in store for you. I don't know if you have ever by force of circumstances been thrown into a fight which you did not seek. At the outset vou are in a kind of shiver of Finish of a " Throw In. : SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 11 nervousness, but once you have had a smack on the jaw your diffidence has disappeared and you scarcely notice the hard knocks you receive in the fray. So is it in goal-keeping. The best incentive to good work is a rough-and-tumble early in the game. The lighting instinct is aroused, and the harder the tussle the greater is your delirium of delight. Courage is easily acquired. I believe that every man has got pluck and courage. It is only because the occasion has not arisen for their display that a man is ever diffident of these characteristics. Therefore, if you have the qualifications necessary for the making of a good goal-keeper, do not worry about the courage. It will come to you when the necessity for the exercise of it arises. SPEED. Speed is a necessity for a good goal-keeper, and if you would excel, I would counsel you to cultivate it by indulging in short sprints for practice. As you are never called to race the full length of the field, as is the case with the forwards, there is no occasion for cultivating running stamina, but, as I have said, you must cultivate the sprint. Your running in goal-keeping is of the nature of a quick dash, and so it is to your interest to learn how to get quickly off the mark. The ball is swung in from the wing. In a moment you must decide whether you can reach it more quickly than the forward for whom it was intended. Judgment says "Yes." It is then a case of dash. A leaden-footed goal- keeper sacrifices opportunities. SOME HINTS. Now for some hints to serve as a guide for your conduct between the posts. Never, never, never use your feet to save when you can possibly use your hands. The reason is obvious. With your hands you can grasp the ball securely and throw it out of danger. When you use either foot, there is never certainty in your kick. The ball may easily glance off your boot either into the net or to the foot of an opponent. Moreover, with the other side bearing down on the goal, though you may get in your kick, there is always the danger that you will not lift the ball over the heads of the attackers, but instead may send it against the body of one of them, or may have your kick charged down. When, however, you use your hands, you are perfectly sure of throwing the ball over the heads of your opponents or of dodging a charge, and there is far more chance of placing the ball in a position advantageous to your side. Of course occasions arise when it is absolutely imperative for you to kick, and so, in your work, it will be well to indulge in some kicking practice, for- , : - ! SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 13 getting for a time that you have got hands at all. You will then cultivate a certainty, a sureness in kicking and in placing the ball, which will stand you in good stead when you must have recourse to footwork in the game proper. The safest method then is to catch the ball and, if you have time, kick to that position on the field where your side most needs the ball. If you are rushed, then you must throw. Always refrain from fisting a wet and greasy ball and catch if possible, as you can usually dodge the onrushing forward and kick or throw clear. Even during the hottest skirmishes in goal, with a cool head, which every goal-keeper should possess, you will realize the exact position occupied by the men of your own team. This quick perception comes with practice, and you must use it to dispose of the ball to the best advantage. I .consider it a good plan to throw out to your wing men, provided they are not too closely watched, for, even though che ball be intercepted by one of your opponents, his shot at goal would have to come at an acute angle, and such a shot is never too sure. FISTING. There come many times in every game when the best policy is neither to throw nor kick, but to fist. Fisting, let me assure you, is an acquired art. Beginners are apt to punch the ball as if they were landing home a straight drive in boxing. Fisting, however, is scarcely punching. You must learn to bring your arm over, as if going to deliver a fast ball in cricket, in such a manner that you hit the football with the ball of your thumb and wrist. You will find that in this way you get in a much more powerful hit than if you attempted to drive from the shoulder. There is a time, however, when this style of fisting does not pay, and it is when a fast, high shot is sent in which threatens to sail just under the cross-bar. Then you must jump at the psychological moment and, using both hands, glide the ball with palms of hands over the bar. It is better and safer, I contend, to give a corner kick, which may be productive of no harm whatever, than to keep the ball in play in dangerous proximity to your goal. COMPACT WITH YOUR BACKS. As a goal-keeper you should make a compact with your backs that they should not get in your line of vision, especially when a corner kick is being taken. The best goal-keeper in the world is helpless if he does not get a sight of the ball until it comes under the cross-bar. When a corner kick is being taken by your own side, the best position for the goal-keeper to take up is A Right-footed Pass. SrALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 15 against the upright furthest away from the corner flag where the kick is being taken. It is always easier to run in to a ball than to run back for it. If you are by the upright nearest the kicker and he sends the ball well across the mouth of the goal, you have to scamper back to be in position ; whereas, if you are by the more distant upright you can, by taking a couple of steps, be ready to meet the ball no matter how it comes. Above all things, impress upon your fellow-players to give you a clear view of the man taking the corner kick. THE PENALTY KICK. The most terrible ordeal a goal-keeper has to face is the penalty kick. It is a duel between you and the surest shot on the other side, with matters much in favor of your adversary. Try always to recollect, at the crucial time, and strive to realize, that if nervousness is absent in your own case you have got some- thing substantial in your favor. Weigh up your chances in the encounter. To begin with, you may assume that your opponent will not try to send in a high shot because of the danger of shooting over the bar. Neither, under ordinary circumstances, will the ball be directed close in to either of the uprights, because the kicker will be fearful of shooting outside the posts. Having argued the matter out this far, you may safely make the deduction that your enemy will shoot at the weakest spot, and that, as a rule, is to your left-hand side. These deductions are by no means infallible, but they are useful remembrances at the time of crisis. Adapt your position accordingly, and then turn a mesmeric eye on the man about to kick. A good boxer will watch his opponent's eyes because they are a sure index of intention Watch the eyes of the man taking the kick, and oftentimes you will diagnose his intention. Remember, above all things, not to be nervous. There is no occasion for nervousness. If you fail to stop a penalty shot, there is no disgrace attached. If you succeed, however, there is glory and congratulation. It is a case, as far as you yourself are concerned, of very much to gain and very little to lose, so why should you be downhearted? My final advice to the budding goal-keeper is, ''Prove yourself a gentleman both on and off the field." Play the game in such a way that you bring credit upon it. Do not grumble at the training work which you must go through if you would excel. Finally, have no quarrel with the referee. It is aggravating, I know, to have a goal chalked up against you which ought to have been disallowed, but that is one of the trials which are the test of character. I have played very many games in my time and up till now I have never known a wilfully dishonest referee. A Pass from Left. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 17 How to Play Full-Back By A. McCombie. [There is a nursery of football far North in Inverness which has produced such giants of the game as Peter McWilliam, Roddy McEachrane and A. McCombie, the latter of whom is the writer of the article printed below. Some men are born to greatness and, as far as the honors of the foot- ball field are concerned, A. McCombie was one of these. For his country, Scotland, he has worn the International Cap, and for his club, Newcastle United, he did sterling work as a full-back. He was a brainy player who had a "why" and "wherefore" for his every act. No player knows more about the science of back play, and he brings all his knowledge to bear on the subject with which he deals so ably below. Like the thoughtful Scot that he is, A. McCom- bie does not put all his eggs in the one basket, and though now out of football and with a comfortable business to occupy his full time he nevertheless takes a keen interest in the game.] "Defense and Defiance" should be the motto of every young player who sets out with the intention of making himself a first- rate full-back. It must be remembered, however, that defense, rather than defiance, is the first thing to be studied. Immedi- ately behind you is the spot on which the enemy is concentrating his attack. The goal is a citadel which must be preserved intact. You- are on the last line of defense, and therefore it behooves you to make yourself a master of strategy and tactics, because an error on your part is fraught with far more serious consequences than that of the line of skirmishers which lead your attack or that of the middle line. Half-backs and forwards may make slips and mistakes and yet retrieve themselves. The full-back has but little chance of retrieving either his error of play or his error of judgment. Hence, before deciding that full-back is a position which you could fill with credit, you must weigh up its responsi- bilities and duties. QUALIFICATIONS. The first question to ask yourself before concluding that you can fill the role of the last line of defense is, "Am I suited for the position?" Your answer must depend upon your conscientious belief in the various qualifications which go to make the good full-back. And what are these qualifications? Very many good SPALDING'S ATIILETJC LIBRARY. 19 judges of the game argue that height and weight are necessities. I myself am no stickler for a standard of weight or inches. Good full-back play does not depend upon avoirdupois or lordli- ness of stature. You may be a pocket edition of Goliath, as is Crompton or Howard Spencer, or you may lack inches, as does Burgess, but, be you 6 feet 6 or 5 feet nothing, with weight according, you may in either case be a beau ideal of a defender. For my own part I believe that excess of inches is a drawback to a good defender. The very tall man is at a disadvantage when dealing with the Bonds and Hardmans of the attacking line. The big man cannot get down to them in a charge, and the nippy forward is ever a source of trouble to the back of many inches. It is certain, of course, that the full-back needs grit. A shortage of weight is amply atoned for by the presence of pluck and dash, and no man, provided of course that he is not abso- lutely fragile, need fear to take on the duties of full-back, so long as he is possessed of confidence and courage. A feather-weight will not do for the position, but anyone above that mark will do so long as the other qualifications are not lacking. SURE TACKLING. The first qualification of a back is that he should be a sure tackier. I put tackling before kicking because, after all, you must get possession of the ball before you can dispose of it. To be a good tackier, you must be fearless. By that I do not mean that you should be reckless. A reckless player is never safe. I have in my mind's eye, as I write, the personality of an amateur full-back. No one could ever accuse him of cowardice. If the opposing forward were as big as a mountain this man would go for him, although his inches were few. I never knew him to be daunted. He would rush, heedless of consequences, into the thick of the fray. His action spoke of pluck, but not of judg- ment. In point of fact, he was reckless, and the clever forwards were not slow to notice this weakness, for weakness it was. He had not learnt the science of tackling. In this branch of defense your method must be constantly varied. A continued repetition of similar tactics proclaims you a poor defender. To know how to tackle you must study the methods of the attackers. No set of rules will answer for all cases. A certain outside winger may have the happy knack of carrying the ball right down to the corner flag and then centring accurately. Another may not be possessed of that happy gift, and his centres must be negotiated much further up the field. A third may be an adept at transferring the ball at the psychological moment to 20 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. his inside man or to his centre forward. Yet another may depend for his success on his ability to send the ball right across to the opposite wing. The peculiarities of these different types must be noted by you, and your conduct must be shaped accordingly. The touch-line sprinter must be met fairly and squarely. Your defense is right in front of him. The man who plays to his inside man or centre forward must be met with a feint. Your rush must be made towards him, as if you were going to snatch the ball from him. Then you pull yourself up suddenly, ready to intercept the ball as he tries to pass it. In the case of the man who slings the ball from wing to wing, you must go for him, without hesitation, to rush down his kick or spoil it, and you must have an understanding with your fellow-back, that he may be ready to go for the ball if it travels across the field. GOOD JUDGMENT. The first requisite, then, for a good tackier is sound judg- ment. This judgment comes from close observation. Once you determine to tackle, let there be no hesitation. Make up your mind instantly, and, once you have done so, back up your judg- ment by your action. There can be no half-measures in tackling. That it may be successful, you must be whole-hearted. An attack, to be a successful attack, must be fearless and unrelent- ing. No quarter must be given, and, even though you go down, you will have accomplished your aim, because you will have disconcerted the plan of your opponent. GOOD KICKING. I have placed tackling before kicking as the prime qualification of a back, and do so advisedly. You may not be able to kick a ball twenty yards and it may matter but little, since, after all, hard kicking partakes more of the nature of attack than of defense, but tackling is primarily a matter of defense. However, to be a really great back you must be able not only to tackle but also to kick. Many a man thinks because he can tackle and take a charge and can kick hard that therefore he is a competent back. Hard kicking oftentimes betrays a weakness of defense. It is not a case of how hard you can kick so much as how well you can kick which determines a man's capabilities. What is the use of the long kick which places the ball at the toe of an opposing back? The secret of successful kicking lies not in how hard or how far you can kick the ball as in how well you can kick it. Give me the man who can send it to the spot where it will be of the most advantage to his side, even though it be but a matter of ten feet away, rather than the one who indulges in SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 21 mighty lunges and gigantic kicks without a notion of the ball's eventual destination. Sure kicking, by which I mean the power to connect with the ball nearly every time, is good, but certain kicking is better. By certain kicking I mean the power which a back possesses of sending the ball to the very spot which he intended. ACCURACY. In billiards you so play the objective ball that it may bring you the best possible result. So must it be in football. When you propel the ball you must have a certain end in view, and that end must be that you leave the ball in such a position that it will be of service to your partner. This accuracy of aim is not easy of attainment. Practice alone can make you perfect. The play in matches is all very well for creating a sureness of touch, but this sureness is better acquired by giving the matter attention when you are not weighted by the responsibility of the game itself. [ have read of bowlers in cricket who cultivate accuracy of length by constantly trying to land the ball on a certain marked spot. If you would be a good full-back you must follow that example. When practising you must make it your aim to kick the ball from certain positions on the field so that it will land time and time again on the very spot which you intended. Such practice work may be tedious, but no man ever excelled in any art who did not give the apparently trivial matters his serious attention. Learn then, first of all, to kick with accuracy before attempting to kick with force. SPEED. A back, to excel, should be possessed of a good turn of speed. A leaden-footed man is of little use in football, and particularly is this so in the case Of defenders. It stands to reason that on various occasions a back will be outwitted by the opposing forwards. The back who stands still under such circumstances is inviting trouble for his side. As a boy I remember Donald Gow, who played full-back for the Glasgow Rangers and Sun- derland, one of the neatest and cleanest kicks it has been my lotto know. But he had his little weakness. Although possessed of a good turn of speed, if the opposing forward beat him he would not bother to run after him, rather allowing the half-back or his partner to overtake him. It was said of him that, despite his size and weight, he could overhaul the fastest forward. Such speed is a splendid endowment. I would advise all beginners, then, to cultivate speed. Long- distance running and endurance trials are not called for. The back who would excel ought to practice short distance run- IBHEmB • Finish of a "Centre" from Left Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 23 ning and sprinting. He will find it most helpful when a flying winger gives him the slip. He cannot afford to stand still. He must go after the elusive one without a moment's hesitation, and he has the best of the handicap in this, that the opposing forward has already put in a sprint before tricking him. Under the circumstances the back stands .a good chance of overtaking the forward. It has been said of many backs that they were "one-foot kickers," that is to say, that whilst they were sure with the left or the right foot, as the case might be, they could not use both equally well. Such a failing is a bad one. Because you happen to be a right back is no reason why your kicking should all be done with the right foot. You must learn to kick with both right and left. You are not given the opportunity in a match of deciding how the ball will come to you. You must be able to kick equally well with either foot. Therefore in practice you must make it a point of giving both feet equal chances. HEADING. I dearly love to see a back who knows how to head a ball. Heading is a necessity for a good back. Time and time again, in the course of a match, the ball is sent into the danger zone in front of goal. With a host of players all hovering around it is hopeless to expect the ball always to drop where you can reach it with your foot. In scrimmages in front of goal good play with trie head is invaluable. You can reach with the head that which you cannot hope to touch with the foot. The full-back, of all men, is the one who should learn this art. Accuracy of eye and judgment is necessary for this play, but this accuracy can be cultivated. DANGEROUS TACTICS. There is one thing a back should always remember, and it is that he ought net as a rule to keep the ball. That is the perquisite of the forwards. When you get it, nine times out of ten it is in the danger zone. If you dally with it you are inviting trouble. The forwards may swoop down on you and rob you. It may seem very fine to hold the ball and trick and dodge your opponents, but such play is dangerous. The spectators may laugh at and cheer your cleverness, but they would howl at you if your trickery allowed the other side to score. After all, it is better to be sure than sorry, and so my advice to the full-back is to get rid of the ball at the earliest opportunity and to the best possible advantage to his side. Finish of a "Centre" from Right Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 25 MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING. As a back you will never excel in play if you have not a thorough understanding with your brother back. You should always have matters so arranged between you that there is no hesitancy when the crucial time comes. There should be, for instance, a mutual understanding between you that, given certain conditions, one should play the ball, the other the man. In fact, the matter is summed up in a nutshell when I say, "Study combination." This combination should also take into account your half-backs. You must thoroughly understand the methods of your fellow-players in the intermediate line and ever be ready to cover their slips and errors. ON CHARGING. The gentle art of charging an opponent seems to have almost disappeared. I am sorry for this. Whilst no believer in the argument of brute force, I am fully persuaded that a good charge is oftentimes a back's best policy. You must be fair, of course, in this style of defense. You do not need either great weight or height to be able to charge well. There is a knack in this art which, once acquired, enables the little man to overthrow the Goliaths. The full-back is generally expected to mark the outside forward in the attacking line, the outside half-backs accounting for the inside men. You must, to excel, be observant of the play and methods of the man whom you are to hold in check. Watch his manner of tricking others, so that he may not trick you. When you have made up your mind as to the line you are going to adopt in meeting him, never hesitate in putting your plan into practice. The old motto, "He who hesitates is lost," is particu- larly applicable to the full-back. As a back, remember to have some consideration for your goal-keeper. By that I do not mean solely that you are to do your best in saving him from the attacks of the enemy. What I mean is that you must not crowd him. He must be given plenty of room for his work and. above all, a clear view of the ball. For four seasons and a half there could not have existed a much better understanding than that between Doig, Watson and myself. We had confidence in each other- Have some confidence in the man behind you ; have some confidence in the man in front of you: but above all things, have confidence in yourself. Goal-keeper Kicking Out from Goal, SPALDING\S ATHLETIC L1BKAKY. 27 How to Play Centre-Half By Walter Bull. [Alfred Gibson ("Rover") in "Association Football and the Men Who Made It," describes Walter Bull as '"probably the best half-back who has not worn an International Cap." The best judges are agreed that Walter has not had his fair share of the plums, but we live in hopes of yet seeing him fight for his country against Sandy, Paddy and Taffy. In him Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and Northampton of the Southern League, with whom he played in 1912-13, had more than a very talented half-back. He is an exemplar both on and off the field. Walter Bull has thoroughly studied his part, and when he plays he is invariably "line perfect." In the article from his pen, which is given below, he has succeeded admirably in putting his knowledge upon paper, and with such a tutor the beginner who would play centre-half should have little difficulty in surmounting his initial obstacles. Wal- ter Bull is a man whom the beginner might imitate to advantage as a pattern of a player and as a type of nature's gentleman.] It has been said, and rightly said, that the half-back line is the "crux" of the team. A weak half-back line means, as a rule, a weak side; whilst a strong one will often convert an otherwise team of mediocrities into a powerful combination. And just as, in my opinion, a team is only as strong as its middle line, so this line is only as strong as its dominant factor — the centre man. Weakness of the left or right half can be covered, but the man in the middle, to my mind, is th ■ man who makes or mars. When, then, you resolve to give football a trial, do not hug the belief to your bosom that centre-half is the position for you simply because in that sphere you will have the best of oppor- tunities of distinguishing yourself. It is true that centre-half affords wonderful scope for the man of indubitable merit, but you must recollect that the greater the opportunity the greater the responsibility. It seems to me that in this position you must either be a great success or a great failure. There is no happy medium. Therefore you must not take upon yourself the task too lightly. As a man of mediocre ability you may do all right in every other position on the field. As a centre-half you must excel, or else give way to some one more talented than yourself. An " Overhead" Fly Kick. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 29 THE KEY TO THE POSITION. On the battlefield the general sees that his troops are so dis- posed that the part of his army which is to sustain the brunt of onslaught, and yet is the one to back up a frontal attack, is the strongest possible. In football it is the same. The centre-half is the key of the position both for defense and for retaliation. He must be strong to repel and powerful to attack, and so a centre-half must be judged by his ability to defend and his capability to make incursions into the enemy's territory. The aspirant to honors in this position must never lose sight of the fact that success can come only from hard, untiring, per- sistent work. Oftentimes there is rest for the forwards. Fre- quently the goal-keeper has nothing to do for lengthy periods The backs, too, may have spells of idleness, but the half-backs, and especially the centre-half, have no "off" moments. Their duties are twofold — attack and defence — and so, throughout a game, they must ever be on the qui vive. DEFENSE AND DEFIANCE. It has often been said that a centre-half's duties are divided pretty equally between the departments of offense and defense. To me it seems that offense has the preference over defense, because, after all, the best defense is attack. It would be well for young players to realize this fact. The novice is too apt to think that he must lie back in wait for the onslaught of the opposing forwards. Far better is it to kill the attack by you yourself becoming an attacker. The more you circumscribe the movements of the enemy, the better are your chances of over- coming him. The more you corner an opponent, the better your chances of administering the knock-out blow. So, if you would excel as centre-half, make yourself a sixth forward whenever you can possibly do so. Your aim should be to corner your opponents, not to let them corner you. But perhaps I am getting ahead of my subject, since, after all, I am talking of your duties as a centre-half before settling the question as to whether you are qualified to fill the position. QUALIFICATIONS. What, then, are the qualifications of a centre-half? First of all you must be constitutionally strong. Your position is one which must meet the buffeting of the main attack. Your position is the key to the whole situation. It is against you that attack after attack will be hurled. A wavering on your part will be fatal to your side, for, once the enemy breaks the main line of defense, every other position on your side is weakened. As 30 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. centre-half you are going to bear the brunt of attack. You may be as clever as can be, but unless you can meet force with force and strength with strength, sooner or later the foe will break down your defense. The centre pier of a bridge must be stronger than those nearer the river's bank, because it must withstand the stronger currents in mid-channel. So is it with the centre-half. The strongest currents eddy around him. Sturdy strength is needed to withstand them. So it happens that the centre-half must be well-nigh physically perfect. He must be sound in wind and limb if he is to last out the game. He is constantly on the move, either pressing home the attack or falling back in defense, and thus, without a doubt, he is the hardest worked man on the field. It follows, then, that he must have robust health and vigor, otherwise he cannot last out the game. A sound physical condition, then, is a necessity for the position, and so, if you are a weakling, if you are one con- stitutionally unsuited to withstand hard blows and knocks, if you are lacking in endurance and stamina, it will be well for you to give some other position a trial. Let us assume, however, that you are constitutionally strong. There is no occasion for you to be an Anak, a giant in physical development, to excel in the posi- tion under discussion. In fact, great size and weight are, as a rule, unnecessary adjuncts. They leave you a prey to all kinds of undesirable possibilities. Any man of ordinary proportions may excel, provided he is physically fit. You may be a giant in inches, or you may measure only five feet three inches, but if you are bodily sound and have the football knack, there is no reason why you should not excel, assuming, of course, that you are not lacking in other necessary qualifications. CONCERNING TACKLING. To excel you must tackle well, and to tackle well you must be absolutely fearless. Do not think of the reputation of the centre-forward as he bears down upon you. Promptitude of action is the secret of good tackling. Nothing so disconcerts a forward as a sudden swoop upon him. No matter how talented he is, he is disconcerted by the fierce onslaught. You may not get the ball yourself, but your cyclonic action is almost certain to spoil his judgment, his kick or his oass, and the ball will go where he never intended it should. Of course the forward will sometimes try conclusions with you. Go into the duel to win. Get the ball if you can, but if you fail at the first attempt, stick to your man like a terrier. Never say "die" because the forward outwits you. Go after him and harass him until he parts with the ball either to you or to one of SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 31 his own side. Your idea must be to break up his plan of campaign. Only incessant practice can teach the centre-half the intuitive judgment which proclaims just what an opposing forward is going to do. This intuition is, to an extent, a gift, and yet it is one which is born of close observation. Therefore, the good centre-half must make a study of the wiles and guiles of the football field. In the game of chess the good player divines the intention of his opponent and his plan of attack right from the early moves in the game. In football you must do the same. As centre-half you must learn to divine the purpose of each move of your opponents. This divination or intuition can- not be taught. It comes to you from shrewd observation. Cer- tain moves lead up to certain other moves. In time you come to recognize them without reasoning out their "why" and "where- fore." So is it with centre-half. You must not play your game unthinkingly. At first you will reason out the happenings on definite, logical lines. "Such a thing will happen," you say, "if a certain other thing is done." In time the constant reproduc- tion of certain events from certain given causes will teach you that given this, that, or the other condition there must result a logical sequence of events. In time you look for the result without going through the process of reasoning. That is intuition. JUDGMENT REQUIRED. A man may be a good tackier, he may be able to snatch the ball from the toe of an opponent, his judgment and intui- tion may enable him to intercept the pass of the opposing for- ward, but if he does not know how to deal with the ball when he gets it, then his other qualifications are of little avail. At a glance he must be able to decide what is best to do with the ball, he must know instantaneously which forward is most suitably placed for taking advantage of his pass, and he must make up his mind on the spur of the moment as to whether it will be better to have a shot at goal, to dribble, or to send the ball out to the wings. The learning of this sharp, decisive action is not easy of acquirement, but much practice teaches you to do the right thing mechanically. Many authorities contend that speed is a necessity for the centre-half. If by that the sprinter's speed is meant, then I agree. Every centre-half should learn to sprint. Long-dis- tance running is not so essential, although it is valuable. Inso- much, however, that the centre-half must constantly be making dashes here, there, and everywhere, it is necessary that he should have a turn of speed. Therefore to all beginners I would counsel sprinting exercise. A Case of " Hands." SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 33 I am a great believer in the centre-half having a shot at goal as frequently as possible, and for that reason I recommend goal- kicking practice from the thirty yards range. Many a time I have outwitted an opposing goal-keeper by having a "pot" at goal. The goal-keeper never counted on such a happening. He was watching to see to whom I would pass the ball, and lo and behold, I sent in a high shot for which he was unprepared. I have found that it pays to essay the unexpected. That, after all, is the secret of attack, to make your onslaught where your enemy least expects it. Unconventionality is always perplexing. SELFISHNESS A SIN. The centre-half, of all players, must be thoroughly unselfish. He is in the position where selfishness is most detrimental to his side. He is the feeder of his forwards, and he should learn never to hold on to the ball when he sees an opportunity of advancing the interests of his side by passing to one of his own men who is unmarked. Nevertheless, if the centre-half is a robust player, there are many times when it will pay both him and his team better for him to rush through the opposing defense on his own. The very fact that he/ is doing something which is totally unorthodox will oftentimes throw the enemy off their guard. I have seen many a goal scored in this fashion, but I would warn beginners not to make a habit of this pro- cedure. Once in a while it answers admirably, but only once in a while. Strictly speaking, it is not good tactics, but the best of generals occasionally throws tactics to the wind and counts on the success which sometimes accompanies a surprise. Accurate kicking is essential in a good centre-half, and accu- rate kicking can only come from assiduous practice. It is use- less to think that this attainment can be acquired by playing in the game itself. Accuracy of kicking is solely the outcome of assiduity in practice. There is no use thinking that you can walk on to the field on a Saturday afternoon and place the ball truly and well. You must experiment and experiment and get your accuracy of length as does the bowler, who learns his art when bowling at the nets. No matter what position you decide to play, you must ever remember the old adage that "Practice makes perfect." A thing to be remembered by the beginner is that there are ten other players in the team. In other words, if you would excel in the position of centre-half, you must not be selfish. You may consider yourself very clever and very gifted. Try to forget the fact. Selfishness is an unpardonable error in any player. Therefore you must learn the art of combination. Do not hang on to the ball just to show your friends how you can 34 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. trick opposing players. Such gallery play is a big mistake. When you get the ball you must make up your mind instantly as to what to do with it. If an opponent is right on top of you it will probably be necessary for you to try to trick him before getting in your kick. If you are unhampered, however, see where you can send the ball to be of most service to your side. It may be that your outside-left is unmarked ; then you must transfer the leather to him. If the. centre-forward is better placed, then send it to him. It may happen that the interests of your team will actually be better served by kicking to one of your own backs. Again, it may be preferable for you your- self to carry the ball along. Whatever your judgment tells you to do, do it promptly. But, above all things, don't be selfish. MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING. In playing centre-half you must have a thorough understand- ing with your fellow-halves. You must so dovetail your methods that each one knows what the other is going to do under certain given circumstances. When you see your wing man making for an oncoming forward you must place yourself in the position in which you are most likely to intercept the enemy's pass. In fact, you must cover your fellow-player's attack. And all the time you must study the methods of the attackers. You must note their little tricks. All the best forwards have certain methods of their own. Thus different tactics are needed to checkmate different players. Some depend on their sudden sprint, some on their feinting, some on their combination with a certain other forward. You must be quick to note these methods and to draw up your plan of campaign accordingly. The art of combining with your fellow-players cannot be taught by written treatises. Better far is it to study the play of the promi- nent players of the day. ABOUT HEADING. No half-back can play the game properly who has not learnt the knack of heading the ball. Any one can head the ball, but it is one thing to bring your cranium into contact with it; it is quite another, when doing so, to send it with accuracy to the player you intend to receive it. This accuracy comes from practice. Do not be content, then, at practice time to simply have pot shots at goal. Rather have a spell at heading the ball. Get one or two of your clubmates to practice heading with you. Learn to receive the ball on your forehead, not on top of your brain-box, and cultivate the knack of directing the ball to the man for whom you intend it. Correct heading is of as much consequence as correct kicking. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 35 How to Play Haif-Back By J. T. Robertson. [The life of an International player is proverbially short, but when it is realized that during his International period J. T. Robertson took part in twenty-three matches, captained Scotland to victory three times, kicked six goals in these games from half-back, ai.d secured twenty-three Caps, it will be apparent that the writer of the article printed below must be an authority on the subject with which he deals. Surely a more brainy player never stepped upon the field than this fair-haired, genial "heather-bloom," who is at present the manager of Chelsea F.C. Whilst you watch his play you can almost see his brain at work, and he writes as ably as he plays. Glasgow, Southampton, Everton and London know him best, but wherever football is discussed the name of J. T. Robertson will ever be recognized as that of one of the greatest half-backs that ever kicked a ball.] When I was a laddie up in Scotland, and thought more about my football game than about my studies, I used to save my half- pennies during the week so as to be able to see a game played by two of the leading clubs on the Saturday. How I used to watch every bit of clever play, and how I wished that I could do it myself ! The wish in my case was father to the deed, because, in kicking an old ball about on the village green, I essayed the tricks which I had seen performed by the football artists in the big games. That is what the novice must do if he would become perfect. Do not let him be content with witnessing the doings of the * * * , and saying, "My word! Isn't that pretty?" No, he must take these leading lights as examples and patterns on which to fashion his own play, and try to get as much effectiveness into his work as do the masters of the game. He may never attain their high standard of success, but he will undoubtedly improve his style wonderfully. After all, the greatest artists in every line began their career by studying from models. Consequently I am not one^of those who would decry the attendance of boys and youths at" our big football matches, provided the said juveniles are there to study, as it were, and to learn. Begin by copying. Copy the best, and in time you may hope to equal those players who have served you as teachers and exemplars. A Shot at Goal by Inside-Right. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 37 LEARN TO ATTACK. In giving you my ideas and conception of the "Left Half- Back" game I am bound to traverse, to an extent, the same ground as is covered by Walter Bull in his article on "How to Play Centre-Half." Such a happening is unavoidable, since the qualifications of each man in the middle line are very much identical. The best training for any one playing on the "Half- Back" wings is that which comes from having played as a forward. A time there was, of course, when forward was my position. In those days ail my strategy was centred in outwit- ting the defense. Naturally I practised all the wiles and guiles which a forward ought to know. There were not many tricks with which I was not conversant. Now that my mission on the football field is to check the flying winger, the remembrance of my own tactics when I was one of the advance guard stands me in good stead. As the wing-man comes rushing down the field, I take in at a glance the disposition of the enemy's forces and, instinctively, I reason back to the time when I used to create the attack, and I know, almost without thinking, what the forward is going to do under the circumstances. Such judgment is not, of course, infallible, but I contend that the man who has at some time or other led the attack is the one most competent in the line of defense. I would suggest, then, to the beginner who would excel in the half-back line to make his first lesson "How to Play Forward." After all, is there anything so wonderful in the half-back learning the mysteries of attack? Certainly not, for although the middle line is one which must be at once offensive and defensive, its attacking powers should be more pronounced than its repelling ones. Particularly is this the case with the wing men. The centre-half may lie back a little ready to cover the slips of either of his colleagues, but the outside men should lie close up behind their forwards watching their every act, ready to accept their back pass, and ever helping to press home the attack. The best defense is a strong attack, and every half-back should remember that truism. You must carry the game into the enemy's territory. Strive to keep them well up towards their own goal. Do not allow them to force you back past centre-field if you can possibly help it. In fact, learn this lesson, "Worry, so that you may not be worried." STUDY TACTICS. It stands to reason that if you keep well up with your for- wards the ball is very often going to be passed to you, and to Goal-keeper Ready to Save a Shot from Inside-Right. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 39 learn to do the right thing at the right time with it is a science which comes only with study and practice. Your outside winger may pass back to you. You must understand his tactics. That pass has not been given thoughtlessly. He sees that you can draw the defense, which will give him an opening if you only make good use of your opportunity. True enough, you draw the defense, and you see at a glance that your winger is unmarked. To him you must return the ball. But next time the enemy expects that dodge. Different tactics are necessary. You may feint to repeat your former play, then with a hard kick you transfer to the opposite wing, where you see your extreme wing man lying unmarked. Left half-back should feed centre and inside-right as much as the wing man. Again, a glance may show you that neither of these courses would benefit your side. The game to play is for you yourself to take the ball right through. Whatever course you adopt must be the outcome of judgment and experience. This experience and judgment comes only from close observation — in fact, from the study of men and their methods. No man can ever excel who trusts to fate and luck for guidance in his actions. Genius is the capacity for taking pains, and if you would excel in your special department you must have a thorough grasp of all its details. LEARN TO KICK. To be able to kick strongly and accurately is a great desidera- tum in a half-back. As a forward you may have learnt the gentle art of the "tip-top" game. It is a good acquirement to be able to dribble and to pass in an attacking movement, but as a member of the middle line you must, moreover, be able to send the ball long distances. And why? Let us imagine that your left wing is pressing home the attack. The enemy have concentrated their defense in that quarter. To rush them is impossible, trickery is impracticable, but a long kick will trans- fer the ball far across the field to where there is a clear space and where one of your side is lying in wait to accept your long pass. Many half-backs that I have seen seem to confound long and hard kicking with good kicking. The long kick is no good in itself — in fact, it is often dangerous; but the long and accurate kick is a splendid weapon of offense. Let your practice begin with learning to kick a long distance. Develop your leg muscles by so doing, always remembering, however, to kick with either foot. The man who can kick well with only the right foot or the left, as the case may be, must ever remain a weak defender. There is a chink in his armor. When you have cultivated the 40 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. art of the strong kick, then you must give your attention to accuracy of length. Practice alone can make you perfect in this particular. Have you ever watched Braid or Vardon play golf? Their driving is beautiful to watch, but it is their accuracy in gauging distance which makes them wonderful. That accuracy did not come by chance. Hours and days and weeks and months of constant application were taken up in the practice which has made their names household words. In cricket, again, who has not heard of the pains C. B. Fry took to make himself master of every stroke. So must it be in your case, to kick accurately you must practice assiduously. BEWARE OF SWOLLEN HEAD. I would issue a word of warning to beginners who are under- taking duty in the half-back line to be,ware of selfishness and of that terrible malady "swollen head." A half-back, of all men, has no right to be selfish. His duty, when he gets the ball, is nine times out of ten, to get rid of it. This must not be done in any haphazard fashion. The uppermost thought in your mind must be as to how to dispose of the ball to the best advantage. As a rule you will pass to the forward best placed to take advantage of your pass. Or you may transfer it to your centre-half, who at the moment may not be so hampered as you yourself are. Or it may be necessary to send the ball to one of your backs who has a clear field in which to maneuver. Your decision must be instantaneous, but the golden guiding rule is "Part with it." In the vast majority of instances that is the correct thing to do. I admit that exceptional circum- stances do arise when it is better to dally with the ball and to maneuver for an opening, but, if you are a beginner, an observance of the general rule will pay you best. Nothing can be worse for a team than the selfishness of one or other of its members. Always try to remember that your neighbor is, more than likely, quite as good a player as yourself. Do not keep all the bun to yourself. It is greedy and selfish to do so, and the spectator has a horror and detestation of the man who fancies himself a tin god. Again, no matter how clever you are — no matter how the people round the enclosure cheer your play and greet you by your Christian name and hail you with "Bravos !" — do not get a "swollen head." Conceit begets selfish- ness, and I have seen enough of the downfall wrought by both to put you on your guard against two of the besetting sins of youth. J SPEED AND STAMINA. But I am digressing, since I find myself giving you a lecture SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 41 on morals instead of hints on how to play the half-back game. What other qualifications, then, are needed for the man playing either of the outside positions of the middle line? One of the chief is speed and the other is stamina. It will fall to your lot in the game to hold the flying winger. In nearly every instance the outside forwards are very fast runners. If they once get past you, there is nothing for it but to race them, and for this you need speed. This qualification is not easy of attainment. The lethargic and lazy man will not suit at all. To excel, you must go in for running exercise on the football ground on week- day evenings. If the football ground is not available, you must take the road for it. Such exercise will give you speed and that which is of as much importance — stamina. Believe me. if any man needs the latter it is the half-back. He must be able to go up the field as rapidly as his forwards, but, if one of the other side's fliers gets possession and races down the touch- line, then he must go after him at tip-top speed. Thus he gets a double dose of sprinting, once up the field with his own men and then down the wing in pursuit of the fleet-footed enemy. THE ART OF TACKLING. The half-back, too, must learn the gentle art of tackling. Let us imagine that you are playing the position of left-half. Your first duty in defense is to watch the outside-right forward of the other side and incidentally to break up the combination between him and his inside-right man. To do this you must tackle fear- lessly. Just as faint heart never yet won fair lady, so the half- hearted tackle is a thing of precious little utility. When your judgment tells you that your correct play is to tackle, do not wait to debate things ; go fearlessly forward. It is my experi- ence that the man who goes doubtingly into a fight gets the worst knocks. Get in front of your opponent, for thus you will retard his progress even though you do not obtain possession of the ball. If, however, your man gets past you, do not stand thinking the matter over. Go after him. Stick to him like a terrier. You know it is as hard to shake off the terrier as the great big dog. SHOOT OFTEN. I have been blamed occasionally for having had during play too many shots at goal. Well, I may be wrong, but I think that our half-backs make a mistake in not shooting more frequently. I think a ball coming at hurricane speed from behind a mass of forwards and defenders is more apt to disconcert a goal-keeper and to take him by surprise than any other kind of shot in the Placing the Ball for a Corner Kick. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 43 game. It is the unexpected coup which does the most damage and so my advice to the half-back is : When unhampered up near the enemy's penalty line, have a go at the net. It is wonderful how frequently these chance shots score. USE YOUR HEAD. Learn, my dear beginner, to head the ball. The greatest artist in heading I ever knew was McMahon, of the famous Celtic Club, Glasgow. He was a marvel with his head, being able to direct the ball as accurately with it as any other man could have done with his hands. The art of heading is easy of acquirement. Practice will enable you to excel in this par- ticular line. Cultivate it assiduously, for, in those scrimmages in front of goal when the ball comes sailing in from a corner kick, the value of a good "heading" forward is incalculable. There is no use waiting to get your kick in. The other side will see to it that many chances are not given you of getting your foot to the ball, but your head reaches where your feet never would. I shall conclude my article as I began it, by counselling the aspirant to half-back honors to watch the play of our most noted performers in that department. Note how they do things. See how they trick and tackle and head and pass. Study their every action and then go and practice what you have seen done. Let your models and patterns be the best. Strive to copy them faithfully and you must succeed. Finish of a Corner Kick from Left Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 45 How to Play Centre-Forward By A. Common. [If merit always met with its meet reward, Alfred Common, the Sunderland player, Woolwich Arsenal, 1912-13, would have been full of honors. It was for him that the big Tees-side club paid the record transfer fee, £1,000, and good judges of men and players are not going to pay such a sum for any but a tip-top man. And Common is indeed one of the finest forwards of our time. To him football playing came as a gift. It is in him to do the right thing at the right time. His play is the outcome of natural aptitude. In his article on "How to Play Centre-Forward," he gives to the beginner the best possible advice and counsel, advice which has been matured by study and experience of the game. What Com- mon does not know concerning his subject is not worth knowing, and he imparts his knowledge delightfully in the present article.] The greatest artist is the man who conceals his art. If you watch one of our greatest musicians perform — Paderewski, for instance — his every action is so simple that it seems to you that a child could very well execute any or all of his finger move- ments. In a similar fashion it seemed to me, when I first witnessed G. O. Smith perform on the football field, that any child could do that which I witnessed. He seemed to saunter along with the ball at his toe, just as if threading his way through the opposing defenders was as easy as shelling peas. A tap here and a tap there, a glide, a sinuous twist, and the cleverest of defenders was outwitted. It seemed too absurd for words that some of the best players in the land should be so easily circumvented. Verily, G. O. Smith was one of those conjurers whose tricks looked so simple that the merest tyro believed he could perform them. Yet therein lay the perfection of his art. Its very simplicity was the outcome of studied practice. The best footballers are those who have given strict attention to training. To excel you must be fit. You may have listened to a pianist who, with the greatest ease, rattled off the Overture to "William Tell." It sounded so easy, and yet, when you gave the matter a thought, you must have realized that this perfection could not be attained until the "Five-Finger Exercises" and "Czerny's 101 Exercises" 46 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. had been mastered. So is it with the centre-forward's play. The excellence of a G. O. Smith is the excellence of a finished artist, of a man who gave thought and study to the rudimentary prin- ciples of the forward game. The simplicity of true greatness is the outcome of diligent application to the early lessons in whatever art is taken up. Therefore, I would say that if you desire to become the finished artist, you must begin with the rudiments. Accordingly, I say to the beginner, learn thoroughly your ABC, learn your multiplication tables, learn your five- finger exercises if you wish in time to become the expert. No man becomes thoroughly good, or, for that matter, thoroughly bad, suddenly. Your ascent or descent is a matter of gradual development. BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING. I assume that you wish to become a G. O. Smith or a Geordie Kerr. The finished article is a thing of greatness, but G. O. Smith and Geordie Kerr — the latter the prince of Scottish dribblers — had to begin right at the beginning, just as you are doing. They had to learn how to kick, how to dribble, how to dodge; and if you would excel, as they have done, you too must apply yourself to a study of the game which you are adopting. But just as every man is not fashioned by nature to be an artist or musician, a sculptor or a painter, so every man has not the necessary natural qualifications for becoming a centre-forward. I do not think that any standard of height or weight can be accepted in this connection. You may be short or tall, or heavy in build, or bantam weight, but poundage and height are minor considerations in the case of a centre-for- ward. I know that numbers pin their faith to a man of weight, but I contend that the heavy man is often at a disadvantage when compared with the lithe and slippery light-weight. The too heavy man is cumbersome, and consequently lacks the sup- pleness which goes to make the ideal centre-forward. Anyone under the heavy-weight standard is, consequently, fitted for the position. It may be said that because the centre-forward is, generally speaking, a marked man, he needs weight to oppose the vigor which is displayed against him, but B consider that it is easier and better to dodge the attack than to meet it with force against force. THE ART OF DRIBBLING. It is said that dribbling is becoming a lost art. I should be sorry to think so. It seems to me that dribbling is a qualifica- tion to be cultivated. Apart from its prettiness, I believe in it SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 47 because of its great utility. A good dribbler is always an unset- tling factor against the best of defense. There is something irritating in an attack which keeps, the defense on tenterhooks. A good dribbler always keeps the opposing half-backs and backs guessing. A good dribbler can always draw the defense. Notice in boxing how the clever feint, the strategic side-slip, and the swift dash disconcert your opponent. So is it in football. The cleverness of the dribbler will often do more to disconcert a defending line than a combined attack from the five forwards. How is the art of dribbling to be acquired? Need I say that constant practice is essential? To be a good dribbler you must have thorough command of the ball. You must be able to control it as if you were manipulating it with a piece of string. To get a thorough command over it, let your practice take the following form. Instead of a football, use a cricket- ball. Even without opponents you can learn to control it. Keep it right at your toe and see how far you can carry it along without allowing it to get more than a yard in front of you. One of Scotland's finest dribblers learned his art from practising with an old hat. All his science resulted from tricking his fel- low-players on the school-ground. With the old hat at his toe he learned the art of disconcerting his comrades by the perfect control he obtained over the battered headpiece. Therefore would I say, cultivate dribbling. It is not so much a lost art as a neglected one. THE ART OF PASSING. Do not, my dear beginner, let dribbling be detrimental to your passing game. Dribbling may so easily beget selfishness. Therefore you must learn the art of passing. Any player can get fid of the ball when he is hard pressed, but it takes an expert to get rid of it to advantage. It behooves the centre-forward, then, to be a man of quick reasoning and sound judgment. The one necessarily follows the other. He must learn to take in at a glance the existing condition of affairs in the enemy's lines, and this reasoning will beget the judgment which decides whether a short or a long pass ought to be adopted. In this respect I may quote W. N. Cobbold, the famous Old Carthusian, and one of the greatest lights of the Association game. He says : "As regards actual combination, my firm belief is that a judi- cious mixture of long and short passing is the most effective. . . . The great object of short passing is to pass quickly and accurately while going at full speed. . . . With regard to long passing, let it be done directly one sees one of the outside men with a clear opening. Often, when a good run is being made Finish of a Corner Kick from Right Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 49 by one of the wings, the backs on the other side gradually come across and leave the extreme part of their own side quite unguarded. This is the time for a hard pass — over forty or fifty yards, it may be. With regard to all passing, the man must use his judgment and decide quickly, and always pass slightly ahead of the player passed to." The chief thing to remember is to pass as seldom as pos- sible, provided that you always do so when an advantage may thus be gained for your side. Remember as a rule not to pass to your outside men when you are close to your enemy's goal, just as it is the safer policy to do so when the enemy is swarming round your own. ESCHEW SELFISHNESS. This question of passing brings up the subject of selfishness. Nothing is so unpardonable in a centre-forward. Self-sacrifice is always a better policy than self-service. Personal ambition ancLvanity should have no place in his make-up. The interests of his side should govern his every act. It must not be for him to consider who is to get the glory of a scored goal. His only thought should be as to how a goal is to be obtained. If ever you feel tempted to play to the gallery and to try to "score off your own bat," try to recollect that the gallery will be the first to condemn you when you fail to accomplish the end you had in view. Try to remember that there are four other forwards besides yourself, each of whom has got his position in the team because the selection committee considered him a good man. In other words, recollect that you are not the only pebble on the beach. LEARN TO SHOOT. One thing I would impress on the budding centre-forward, and it is to learn to shoot. Much may be done at practice, and yet ordinary practice is not everything. It is all very well for you to have the ball punched out by the goal-keeper, and for you to receive it at twenty yards out and to bang it between the uprights. Such practice would be all very well if matters^ were so arranged that you would regularly receive the ball in similar fashion during the game itself. But things do not transpire in that way when you are engaged in a match. You receive the ball, as a matter of fact, in all kinds of impossible angles. In your practice, then, make it a point of taking your kick from all sorts of positions and with all kinds of obstacles between you and the goal-keeper. Do not maneuver for position, but try 50 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. to score no matter how you may be placed. In the game itself, follow the advice of Mr. Cobbold, than whom there cannot be a better preceptor. "When the time comes for shooting, the forward should not make straight for the goal-keeper, as then there will be but little room to shoot past him. A good cross shot is the best; and often, too, a shot with the outside 1 of the foot will quite puzzle the goal-keeper, as he cannot tell to which side of the goal it is coming. Some goal-keepers who are efficient at saving lofty shots will often fail at a low shot, and vice versa. Therefore let the forward note his opportunity and shoot according to circumstances." The centre-forward must ever remember that his chief duty is to get the ball towards the goal defended by his opponents. Every movement, every play that he makes should be subordinate to this main idea. "Forward" must be his watchward. There- fore I say, "Do not send the ball backward, even to your own men, when there is even the remotest possibility of getting nearer the enemy's citadel by a forward pass or kick." STUDY THE WING MEN. The centre-forward must ever remember that he is the pivot of the attacking line. Round him the other forwards revolve. He must have a thorough understanding of his wing men, a thorough knowledge of their powers and capabilities. He must realize their limitations of speed and skill and must act accord- ingly. This is no small matter. It means something more than being a clever football player. It means that he must be a student of the ways and capabilities of his fellow-forwards. At a glance he must be able to tell whether the outside left or the inside-right is the man capable, at any given time, of advancing the interests of his side. It is waste of time and energy to pass the ball out to a winger who is too well marked to be able to take advantage of your pass. Reason and judgment are as necessary in football as in any business with which you are acquainted. A cool head and a calculating judgment are necessities for a good centre man. The retention of a cool head is a difficult matter for the centre-forward chiefly because he is a marked man. He is the target for the attacks of the defenders, and so I would counsel you not to undertake the duties unless you are of a very equable temperament. You must learn to take hard knocks with sangfroid, because, once you lose your temper, no matter how great the provocation, you are going to sacrifice the cool, deliberate judgment which is necessary for success. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 51 CONCERNING HEADING. The art of heading is not so necessary in this department, but nevertheless it is an accomplishment which ought to be culti- vated. Times there are when you cannot get your feet to the ball. At such times, nothing but the head will prevail. Espe- cially does heading come in handy when your side forces a corner kick. When the ball comes sailing in from the flag-posts there is generally such a skirmish in front of goal, defenders and attackers being mixed up in glorious confusion, that it is impossible for you to get your toe to the ball. It is then that your head will prove of service. If you have learnt by practice how to use it, you may be able to score by heading through. To do this you must have practised and have learnt how to head the ball in the required direction. A word to young players. When playing centre-forward, do not ramble. Remember that you are the pivot of the forward line. If you wander, you disconcert the entire attacking line, since it is for you to control the wings of the army. Remember that in all frontal attacks you are the unit to beget success or failure. After all, you are the one to lead the charge. If the leader is out of position, the attack will fail. In conclusion, be unselfish, be militant and be untiring, and, above all things, do not neglect your practice. After all, it is practice which begets perfection. Back "Heading" Ball Up the Field. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 63 How to Play Inside-Right By S. Bloomer. [We know not what football has in store for us, but we might safely predict that, come what may, there will never be another Stephen Bloomer. Such a genius can live but once. As inside-right the old Derby County man has never had an equal, and he has gained more International Caps than any man living. The Football Association, by virtue of his record of International Caps, presented Bloomer with his portrait. That is a unique honor for a football player. We have been fortunate in getting him to prepare this article on the art of playing the position which he understands so thoroughly. The beginner could not possibly have a better preceptor. Bloomer is not yet a spent force and further honors may come his way, but when he does actually retire we shall have lost absolutely the greatest forward the game has known.] It was with some diffidence that I acceded to the editor's request to supply him with an article telling how the inside- forward position on the football field should be played. It may sound absurd for me to say, seeing that I have been fifteen years in the game, that I am not qualified to write on the matter, but such I feel to be the case. Remember that I say this in no self-deprecatory style. I know quite well that I have had my fair share of the honor and success to be obtained in our glorious game. My country's selectors have from time to time signified that they considered me the best man obtainable for the inside-right position. As a human being, there is just enough leaven of original sin and vain- glory in my composition to make me feel proud of the honors which have been accorded me. And yet I do not feel that I am qualified to give instruction to others concerning the art in which I have, to an extent, excelled. APTITUDE A GIFT. This is not to be wondered at. My aptitude for football came to me as a natural gift. Give a certain boy drawing materials and paints and the best of tutoring and yet he will never become an artist, no matter how much he studies. Another boy, denied the advantages given to the former, takes Back Volleying. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 55 to art as a duck takes to water. They say that the poet is born, not made. Why signal out the poet? So is it with the artist, the musician, and down through the crafts to the humble footballer. The Woodwards and G. O. Smiths, the brothers Walters and the Cobbolds, the Needhams and the Commons are born with the ball at their toe. With them it is natural to play the game correctly, to do the right thing at the right time, and to fill with amaze their humble imitators. But when the gift of football is born in you, it is a most difficult task to impart to others the knowledge which you yourself possess. On the football field I am constantly doing all sorts •of acts, but, whilst so engaged, it never enters my head to analyze the why and wherefore of my actions. I just do them because the acts spring spontaneously from my football nature. But now, when I sit down, away from the football field, to set forth in black and white the secret of an inside-forward's success, I am appalled by the task I have undertaken. Give me a ball and come to the football field and I will show you how to do certain things, but how I am to explain in writing baffles me. However, I must begin somewhere, so here goes. As I have suggested above, the first requisite for an inside- forward is that he has an aptitude for the game and for that particular position in the game which he is going to fill. If you are not constitutionally strong, do not go in for serious football. If, however, you are sound in wind and limb and wish for a game which will develop your physical powers, then come with me and let me see if you are suited to play the position in which I myself have almost constantly figured since the day I took to chasing the leather with the Derby Swifts. As regards height and weight there is no standard for an inside-right. You may be diminutive or massive, stunted or strapping, puny or portly — these qualifications matter little if you are gifted in other respects. Of course, I would never recommend a player of Foulke's proportions to play the forward game. He is altogether too exceptional a type of player. What I mean is that the lengthy man possesses certain advantages over the short one and vice versa, and the heavy-weight has as many drawbacks and advantages as has the feather-weight. Let not considerations of size and avoirdupois, then, weigh with you. CAN YOU KICK? Before you play any position on the field you must learn to kick. That sounds simple, but it is not so simple as it sounds. Any man can make a lunge at the ball with his foot; 56 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. but something more is required than this. By practice you must know how to vary your strength of kick so that when you are in the game you are able to send the ball to the exact spot which you intended. Most beginners think they have learnt to kick when they propel the ball with their toe. That is the kick of the novice. You must learn, especially when kicking for goal, to do so with the hollow of your boot, that inward curve just in front of the ankle. As inside-right you must learn that lesson well, since your passing to your centre-forward or outside man must be done by the side of the foot. It looks simple when you see a Woodward or G. O. Smith do it. It can become simple to you only by practice. Let me impress on the beginner to learn to kick with both feet. The "one- foot'' forward can never excel. I have noticed players, time and time again, when practising in front of goal, maneuver the ball so that they may make their shot with their right foot. This is an error to be avoided in practice. Make your shot with whatever foot the ball may come to. In the game proper, the harassing half-backs and backs do not alloiw you time to select your best method of kicking and shooting. ON SPECIALIZATION. When you have learnt to kick correctly, find out for what position you are best suited. Your experience in a few games will soon decide that matter for you. Once, however, you have made up yomr mind what part you are going to play, take my advice and specialize. This is the age of specialists. The "Jack of all Trades" and the "Rolling Stone" should be the guiding- proverbs of all footballers. I mvself specialized, and I owe most of my success to the fact that I made myself master of the position in which I intended to play, viz., inside-right. Let me assume that you intend following in my footsteps. What are the requirements for your position? SELF-POSSESSION. I place first on the list self-possession and control. If you get flurried and worried, not only do you spoil your own play, but you considerably hamper the good work of your colleagues. Particularly is this the case in front of goal. It is there that the cool head and collected judgment are most needed. You may have dribbled beautifully and passed beautifully and have won the applause of an admiring multitude, but if you fail at the crucial moment the applause is apt to be converted into ridicule, and that will not add to your self-possession. Coolness and SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 57 judgment will come to you if you will bear in mind that the men to whom you are opposed are only men after all. Some of them may have big names in the football world. That is the more reason why you should not worry. If they circumvent you, well, you have been beaten by a "big pot." If, on the other hand, you outwit the "big wig," the greater will be your glory. As an inside-right you ought not to have a single streak of selfishness in your make-up. All the world despises the selfish man and all true sportsmen despise the selfish player. You must ever remember that the centre-forward, on your left, and the outside man, on your right, are as much a part of the machine which constitutes the side as you are. Do not, consequently, hug the ball, and try to» score all the goals yourself. No player is so easily dispossessed of the ball as the selfish one, for the simple reason that the opposing defenders know quite well that he will hang on to it. They have not to concern themselves as to where he will pass it. The selfish man gives them only one course to pursue. They have only to watch him. THE ART OF COMBINATION. The art of combination is one which the inside-right must learn. It cannot be taught. It is only constant practice with your fellow-forwards which will beget accuracy in this respect. You must learn the peculiarities of your brother-players and must dovetail your style of play to theirs. A hint which may sound superflous, but which really is not so, is to watch the game. Something of the unexpected is constantly happening and you must be ever ready to snap up any opening which fortune may present. How frequently do we see a winger carry the ball up the touch line and make a pass to his inside man, only to find that the man is not there to seize his opportunity. If ever you realize that you are in a position where you would be unable to use a pass if you got it, you must change your position so as to remedy the defect. I do not think that our modern players give enough attention to the science of dribbling. In my young days it was looked upon as an art, and an art it certainly is. As such it needs cultivating. As the name suggests, progress is made in dribbles. You must acquire the knack of keeping the ball at your toe even when going at top speed. Learn it on the practice field when you have no opposition. When you can carry the ball along, then extend the scope of your practice and try the dribbling with your fellow-players opposing you. As with dribbling, so with everything else in football, it is practice which makes perfect. «£ Goal-keeper Drop Kicking. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. How to Play the Outside-Forward Position By J. Kirwan. FA dainty little winger is Jack Kirwan, Irish International. His name first came prominently before the public when he helped Tottenham Hotspur F. C. to bring the English Cup to the South after its long sojourn in Northern climes. Kirwan has captained the Irish team on many occasions, and it has been for none of his shortcomings that Erin has not yet succeeded in conquering the Sassenach. Kirwan has the bright intelli- gence characteristic of the Irish race and he uses it to advantage on the football held. In his article given below he gives much useful advice and helpful hints to the be- ginner. He has embodied the experience of years in his treatise, which should prove invaluable to the novice.] I fear that I am courting trouble in undertaking a task wherein the enunciation of dogma affords ample scope for the onslaught of the critic; but I would say at once that, whilst I proclaim a certain standard of merit necessary for the outside-forward position in the football game, I by no means claim that I myself am up to the standard which I proclaim. Rather am I in the position of the fabled preacher who said, ''Do not do as I do, but do as I tell you to do." Even on such an understanding I am at a dis- advantage, for I fear that as a preacher or teacher I am not gifted with eloquence of tongue or pen. However, I have under- taken a task and I am in duty bound to see it through. I fear that I am not much of a philosopher, but nevertheless, in my more thoughtful moments, I feel that the great footballer, like the great poet, is born, and not made. Oftentimes you hear a man described as a born actor, a born general, a born diploma- tist, a born humorist, etc. In the same category you must rank the born footballer. His ability is in the nature of a gift. He takes to the game instinctively and he rides triumphantly over every obstacle to success. Such a one needs no guidance from me. Just, however, as there are but a few shining lights, a few geniuses in art, in poetry, and in letters, and a very big percentage of lesser luminaries, so is it in football. The lesser lights are infinitely more numerous than the brilliant "stars," but, neverthe- less, hard work and study can supply an amount of polish to the former which will render them sufficiently luminous to shine in the company of the latter. We cannot all be Bloomers and Taking Ball Down Right Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 61 G. O. Smiths, but we can do the next best thing, and that is, make ourselves colorable imitations of the genuine articles. With this end in view I am penning the present disquisition on how to play the outside-forward position. THE FIRST ESSENTIAL. I consider that speed is the first essential for the player who would operate on the wings of the army. In an enveloping movement, such as the Japanese used so frequently against the Russians, the horns or wings of the attacking force were the ones which had to execute the rapid onward movement. In the football attack it is the same. The wings are the speedy units and the outside wing men are those who must move the fastest. If you are slow, you allow the opposing halves and backs to nip in and checkmate you. Remember that an intelligent enemy soon discovers your weakness, and, if your foemen are strategists and tacticians, they concentrate their forces on your weak spot. The centre-forward may be slow and the inside men fairly so and yet much harm may not result from their tardiness, because by a deft pass to their fleet men on the wings the attack may be well sustained. If, however, the wingers are leaden- footed,^ an attack cannot be sufficiently pressed home. The first qualifica- tion, then, of the extreme wing men is speed. TO ACQUIRE SPEED. How is speed to be acquired? By good, consistent practice. There is no use in depending upon the game itself to bring forth your salvation. Before you step upon the sward you must feel fit enough to do yourself justice in a sprint race. The man who can do the hundred yards in even time is not a product of the moment. He has trained himself for the ordeal by gruelling work on the running track. It must be the same with you. Your sprinting power and your stamina are products of the work of which little is seen. The actor who plays to you at Drury Lane or the Adelphi goes through his part so naturally and easily that you never stop to think of the many rehearsals which were necessary to beget his perfection. If, however, he came on the stage without having given a thought to his lines, his perform- ance would partake of the nature of a fiasco. It is just the same with you. One might as well expect the actor to be letter-perfect in his part had he not rehearsed it beforehand, as for the winger to show his best paces without preliminary practice. If your heart is in the game, if you wish to excel, you must learn the useful lesson that it is the hard work, done out of sight of the 62 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. spectators, which will fit you for the trying part which you are to play under the limelight of public observation. Your first aim, then, must be to cultivate a useful turn of speed. Once you get into form, a few turns on the sprinting path will keep you in condition. But with speed you must generate stamina. In your position you will be called upon to keep almost incessantly on the "go." Again it is practice which begets this necessary qualification, but stamina is not begotten by running exercise alone. Anything which accentuates your powers of physical endurance will be advantageous. Thus, manipulation of the dumb-bells, skipping-rope training, gym- nastics, swimming, boxing, physical culture exercises— in fact, anything to beget staying powers can be recommended. Yet one word of advice to the beginner, and that is not to overdo the thing. Too many youngsters, and, for that matter, grown-up people, think that they do themselves good by absolutely fatigu- ing themselves. There could not be a worse mistake. The man who overtaxes his strength, in any form of athleticism, absolutely does harm to himself. CONTROL OF THE BALL. Let us assume that by sensible attention to training you have generated speed and stamina ; what is the next qualification for the outside-forward who would excel ? You have learnt to sprint. You must now go a step further and learn to do your rapid run the while you keep absolute control of the ball. The sprinting powers of an Athersmith or a Bassett would have been of little use to these wonderful forwards had they not possessed the happy faculty of keeping the ball at their toe the while they careered down the wing at lightning speed. The matter looked so simple to the uninitiated. But that is the way with genius, which is the capacity for making that which is most difficult look as easy as the proverbial "falling off a log." It is impossible for me, or any one else, to explain how such a perfect control of the ball is obtained. Only assiduous practice can teach the art, and,, when you learn it, I'll guarantee that you cannot well explain how the thing is done. I know you will blame me for not giving you useful hints and recipes, but what can I say? You have watched the masters of the art. Go tc your football ground" and emulate their example. At first your attempts to combine ■ speed with control of the ball will appear to you ludicrous. Do( not despair on that account. Just keep on trying and you will reap the reward of perseverance. Have you ever had a trick at cards or legerdemain explained to you? You attempt it. At' first your manipulation of cards or coins is ludicrous, but after SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 63 a while you become perfect in working the illusion. So is it with control of the ball. At first your movements are clumsy and unconvincing, but in time you obtain an amount of skill which perplexes the onloojcer. So will you rind it in controlling the elusive leathern sphere. Here again practice makes perfect. CONTROL OF THE TEMPER. After control of the ball comes control of the temper. No man ever excelled in any sport or pastime who had not a complete mastery over his temper. Anger is the enemy of reason and judgment, and so I contend that the best training for the footballer, no matter in what position he plays, is that which produces an equable disposition. This characteristic is specially needed in the case of an outside-forward. He it is who will receive the special attention of the defenders. Too often a back or half-back thinks that the best way to stop a flier is to bundle him off the ball, and the methods adopted are none too lamb-like and gentle. It is not, I admit, a pleasurable sensation to be charged again and again by a man a stone or two heavier than yourself. It is far from enjoyable to find yourself a target for the heavy charges of your adversaries. But, do you gain any- thing by letting loose the floodgates of your ire? Not at all. By so doing you sacrifice judgment to vindictiveness. When you do that you make a tacit admission that you are beaten. Such an admission is against the canons of sport. WHAT IS A STRATEGIST? One of the most necessary qualifications for an extreme wing man is adaptability, the secret of suiting your play and your tactics to the ever-changing vicissitudes of the game. It was the poet Pope who wrote : "Or with the occasion and the place comply, Conceal your force, nay, sometimes seem to fly." You are not a strategist when you have only one set of tactics. The methods which will enable you to outwit a Bonthron may be totally unavailing against a Howard Spencer, and so you must learn, and that early in the game, what procedure is best under existing circumstances. If you find that you are fleet- footed enough to out-distance the back in a sprint, your game may be to tip the ball past your opponent and then outpace him. On the other hand, you may find a back opposed to you who is practically as speedy as yourself ; then you must look to your inside man and centre-forward to combine with )'ou in non- plussing the defense. The great thing is that you must cultivate & I Placing Ball for a Penalty Kick. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 65 judgment sufficient to note the weakness of the enemy and then you must adopt measures to make that weakness your strength. You must recollect that a player who has but one course of procedure is soon summed up and it is easy for his opponent to checkmate him. Just as in chess or draughts the man who indulges in but a stereotyped kind of a game is soon under- stood by his opponent, so in football the player who does not develop originality of opening and attack is soon understood and mastered by his antagonists. It will be well, therefore, for you to cultivate originality of procedure. Remember that it is the unexpected movement which perplexes the enemy. You must vary your attack. On one occasion you may outwit the full- back by giving the ball a deft touch past him and then beating him in a sprint. The next time he is looking for you to repeat the operation. Instead, you tap the ball to one of your own forwards and then get into position to take the return pass. Again, you may carry the ball right up to the full-back and then suddenly pass back to one of your half-backs. The great thing is to vary the nature of your attacks so that the opposing back may be kept guessing all the time as to your intention and play. THREE STYLES OF PLAY. The outside man must also remember that there are three styles of play — (i) That of the individual, (2) that of combina- tion and (3) that of collectivism. I have spoken above, of the individual play. That of combination means the blending of your style and method with those of your fellow-players in the forward and half-back lines. A side which combines well will always beat a team of individual stars. The whole secret of combination consists in remembering that you yourself are not the only player on your side, and that your aim must ever be to dovetail your work into that of your fellow-players. You must understand their peculiarities, their powers and their limitations, and knowing these you must, when you get the ball, so play in conjunction with your fellows that the greatest possible good may accrue to your side. Selfishness must be "taboo" to you. Remember that selfishness never pays in the long run. By try- ing to score off your own bat, as they say in cricket, you may gain a momentary, fleeting glory. Lasting glory comes from unselfishness. Collectivism is purely an accentuation of combination. Com- bination is the art of associating yourself with the doings of your immediate colleagues. Collectivism is the science of subordi- nating your personal prowess to the welfare of the entire team. Goal-keeper Ready to Receive a Penalty, SrALDlNCTS ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 67 You must remember that you are but a unit, after all. You may be a very powerful unit, but you are only one of a team of eleven. Your own peculiar style may fit you to attempt this, that or the other play, but you must recognize that your individual brilliancy can only be of service if it is in harmony with the style and method of the entire team. Oftentimes, then, you will find it necessary to sink your individuality, to sacrifice your peculi- arities, to adopt a style foreign to your nature because your individualism does not blend harmoniously with the collectivism of your side. In other words, you must model your procedure so that you play a game suited to the requirements of your team as a whole. LEARN TO SHOOT. Shooting for goal is done, as a rule, by the inside men, but the outside forwards, nevertheless, must learn this splendid art. Time and time again it will pay you to send in a slashing shot. These shots from the wing are particularly dangerous because they come, as a rule, from a very oblique angle. They are most perplexing to the goal-keeper, and, even though they only hit the upright or cross-bar, they rebound in such a way that an opening is created for the inside men. These wing shots partake of the nature of a good centre with the added advantage of flurrying the goal-keeper. In fact, your motto should be, "Get the ball into the centre, and the closer you get it to the defending goal- keeper, the greater the chance of your inside men scoring." One word more before I conclude. You may be either outside right or left. No matter which position you occupy, you should learn to kick with either foot. In the game itself, your opponents will not allow you the opportunity of choosing your method of shooting. So you must be able to kick instantly with either foot. You can learn the secret of kicking accurately with both feet by practising the art at practice. However, pen descriptions can never teach you the science of the game. More can be learnt by example than by precept, and so my advice to you is to watch the exponents of the game. Note their methods. Make a study of the best players and then try to emulate their example in practice and in the game. 68 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. Advice and Hints to the Young Football Player By John Cameron. [No more talented player ever came over the Border than John Cameron. He was a member of the famed North London team which brought the Cup South in the season 1900-1. He, more than any other, was answerable for this result, since it was he who introduced the classic style of play which made the Spurs a puzzle to their opponents. It was with the famous Glasgow club, Queen's Park, that Cameron first leaped into fame. Then he played for Everton, but it was with Tottenham Hotspur that he made his name a household word. He was the best type of brain player, He is a rare judge of character and of men, and is a coun- sellor whose advice must be always treated with respect. You will be convinced of this when you have read the fol- lowing article from his pen.] If there is one piece of advice, one helpful hint, which I would emphasize more than another it is do not make Football your business. As a recreation, a strength giver, a manly pastime, it cannot be excelled, but football as a profession should be avoided. It is the most precarious of callings. In it a man may be at the height of his fame to-day. An unlucky kick, an awkward fall, and to-morrow may see the end of his career. My own case may be cited as an example of argument to the contrary, when I thus deprecate football as a business. I'll readily admit that I have been very fortunate. My playing days over, I find myself in a comfortable billet in connection with the game. That is very true, but against my case I could cite, I may say, hundreds of footballers who were players of my time, and who would now be glad :o accept the wage of the ordinary mechanic. Remember, I am not claiming any merit for myself because "I am not as others." The fact of the matter is that I have been one of the very few fortunate ones. I remem- ber my friend Mr. Pickford writing the Morning Leader on this very topic and telling of the old professional players who, great men in their day, now hang round the football grounds on the chance of receiving a "bit" for the sake of the days gone by. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 69 THE GLAMOUR OF THE GAME. I know there is a glamour surrounding the personalities of our great players which attracts the youthful as the light attracts the moth. To me as a boy up in Scotland there never had been such heroes as Charlie Campbell of Queen's Park and Geordie Kerr and the brothers Vallance of the Rangers, and Doctor Smith, and McAulay, and McKinnon, and Gillespie, all of whom are but names to the present generation. Not even Robert Bruce and William Wallace, with Bannockburn and Stirling Brig to their credit, could hold pride of place in my affections. To me the great footballers were demi-gods. And so I warrant it is now, but do not be led away, my youth- ful friend, by the glamour and glitter of things as they seem. It is all very well to receive the bouquets and the flowers, the cheers and congratulations, but these things are ephemeral and you realize it when you have been in football as a business for a very short time. In your calmer moments you pause to con- sider things. You say to yourself, "Ten years is a lengthy career for a professional player. After that, the reserve team. After that, what?" Yes, what? A pity it is that the old professional cannot live on the cheers and applause which one time greeted the well-shot goal. But recollections, be they ever so sweet, will not put bread and butter on the table and a leg of mutton in the larder. Go out and watch your favorite player this afternoon. As you applaud his pretty play, pause to .ask yourself the ques- tion, Where will he be ten years from now? A POPULAR MYTH. Please do not run away with the notion that I expect all old professionals to end their days selling matches and boot-laces. Such is not my meaning. What I would say is that the plums are so rare in professional football that the game, as a business, is not worth adopting, unless you combine with it another trade or calling. My youthful critic will say, "Oh, but I'll get four pounds a week wages, and in ten years I'll save enough to start some other business." My answer to that is, who told you that you would get four pounds? There is a popular impression that nearly every paid player draws the maximum wages. That is a mistake. I know of a good team which last year did not pay a single one of its players more than two pounds ten. Apart from that, however, how are you to guarantee yourself a ten years' career? Be you ever so gifted and clever, an accident may at any moment put you out of the game forever. Moreover, each succeeding year sees the addition of hundreds of talented players Finish of a " Penalty" Kick. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 71 to the ranks of professionalism. Youth will be served, and your position on a team is never sure for a single season. In point of fact, you may take it from me that the calling is distinctly over- crowded. HAVE A TRADE. Let me assume, however, that you have a distinct bent for football. You feel that you are gifted and talented enough to make a first-rate professional football player; your inclination is towards the game and your heart is in it ; you feel that you could distinguish yourself chasing the elusive sphere. Very well. You are approached by some prominent club to sign a profes- sional form. If you do so, take my advice and make such terms and arrangements that you may continue the exercise of your trade or calling. If you are a good man there will be but little difficulty in arranging matters so. I know quite a number of players who follow their ordinary avocations the while they arc professional members of a big club. In fact, club directors prefer men who have a trade or profession to fill in the great amount of spare time which the paid player must have on his hands. It is a recognized fact that the great trouble with the professional is that he has too much leisure. If he has nothing to engage his attention, there is always the temptation existing for him, of the saloon bar and the billiard room. Only too many players have had their powers impaired and their careers ruined because they had too much time in which to do nothing. Therefore, I say, if you decide to adopt football playing as a career, always have some other business on which you can fall back when the occa- sion arises. 'A good name at home is a tower of strength abroad," and I have invariably found that the professional players who have earned the greatest respect, both on and off the field, are those who have not allowed the glamour of fame to blind them to the stern requirements of life. I recollect reading an article by Sandy Tait — surely one of the steadiest and headiest players that ever donned a football shirt — wherein he dealt with this very question of professional players having a trade or pro- fession to fall back upon. He cited the instances of Walter Bull, Charlie O'Hagan and Alec Glen having attended evening classes with a view to preparing themselves for the serious business of life. If I could only impress upon beginners to take pattern from these men I feel that I would have done something for the benefit of the game I love. . Play professional football if you like, but learn a l«rade that it may keep you out of temptation. '■ ■ . ■ . Back Ready to Tackle. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 72 SOME .TEMPTATIONS. The worst temptation a beginner has got to face is that of drink. When you become a popular pet your admirers think that they can best show their appreciation of you by buying you beer and Scotch-and-soda. To many of your fatuous admirers it seems an honor to _ be allowed to pay for your drinks at the "Pig and Whistle." Men who know you solely by having seen you play for their favorite team will love to brag how they met "Jack So-and-so" or "Tom So-and-so" who played so well in the Cup Tie, and had several drinks with the said Jack or Tom. Beware of such admirers. Such hero-worship, at best, is very transitory. When your playing days are over, free drinks will not be so plentiful. 1 am not a preacher of teetotalism, much as I admire the teetotaller. I have met splen- did players who were total abstainers, and equally splendid players who were what I would call moderate drinkers, but I have never yet met a heavy drinker who could be said to have been a lasting success in professional football. These drinkers may last for a time, but invariably they shorten their career, and, when the playing pitch knows them no more, we find them amongst those whom Mr. Pickford quotes as haunting the en- trances of the football grounds in the hope of borrowing a bit. Borrowing indeed. Too often it is a case of begging. BEWARE OF BACCHUS ! Nor is it the grand stand admirers alone whom the young pro- fessional has to guard against. I do not think he is anything so dangerous as the old player who worships at the altar of Bacchus. The beginner is only too apt to be led by the old stager. To the novice it is a sort of an honor to associate with a man who has already made his name, and so an invitation to come across to the "Red Lion" and "have one," or to "run in to-morrow and have a game at billiards" at the "White Horse" is an allurement which too often is not recognized in its true light. Tread warily when you first join the professional ranks. It was the old Latin poet Ovid who wrote, "Withstand be- ginnings ; too late comes the medicine when the evil has grown strong through long delays." It is far easier to say "No" at the commencement than when you have got into the habit of say- ing "Yes." Begin with "No" if you are wise. THE STRENUOUS LIFE. The beginner must recollect, that the professional's career is not all honey. It may seem, at first glance, that the player who Heading into Goal." SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 75 performs in only two games a week has an easy time. But has he? Apart from the fact that he may be badly kicked or maimed in any match, he must keep himself absolutely lit by a severe course of training. In ordinary trades or professions a man may indulge himself in all sorts of enjoyments and pleas- ures and yet be successful in his calling. In professional foot- ball the player must lead a Spartan life. He must keep in condition all the time, and so a hard course of training and of self-denial must be his lot for eight months out of the twelve. Therefore, if you are not prepared to forego many of the pleasures of life and to make yourself a sort of machine to be wound up and kept going quite independently of your own wishes and inclinations, a football professional's career is not for you. WATCH AND PLAY. However, I may be going ahead of my theme in an article which should comprise hints as well as advice for the young football player. Much has been written by critics of the game concerning the tendency of the youth of the present day to watch the game rather than play it. Personally I do not like to see boys giving over their Saturday afternoons, which ought to be devoted to health-giving exercise, to the passive enjoyment of witnessing others perform. I do heartily agree, however, with the young fellow who occasionally watches a good class match that he may make a study of the play of the masters of the game. He goes there to learn, to see how things should be done, and he utilizes the knowledge thus obtained in perfecting his style and methods. Such procedure is praiseworthy. The youthful spectator who is also a student will ever have my best wishes for his success. There is no more manly pastime than football. It is essentially a British game which brings out all the best points and characteristics of the British character. It teaches pluck, endurance and resourcefulness, and begets physical strength and stamina which will stand you well in the ordinary battles of life. I have seen the weakling made strong by a course of football, but to reap its benefits you must not overdo it. Do not live for football. Let it be solely a recrea- tion which will fit you for better tackling your studies or your trade. DO NOT ATTEMPT TOO MUCH. The great mistake made by youth is in trying to do too much.; \ young fellow may promise well in his play and forthwith he is invited to join a club whose members are much older: .and bigger than himself. In striving to show his capabilities A Shot at Goal from the Left. * SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 77 in such an instance he is apt to overtax his strength. Far better is it to play with young fellows of your own age and size and so develop your powers of endurance ere you take on the stiff encounter for which yen are physically unfitted. In time you will develop strength and stamina needed, but take my advice and begin warily. In your early days never play so hard that at the end of the game you are exhausted. The exercise which begets exhaustion is distinctly harmful, and it is in youth that folly most frequently sows its seeds. Play, then, with lads of your own age, and play so that you feel physically benefited after every match. GOVERNMENT OF TEMPER. One little bit of advice, which will do for players of all ages, is to cultivate an even and equable temper. You will need it on the football field. The man who cannot control his temper when he receives the hard knocks of the game ought not to participate in it at all. It is better to give than to receive when it comes to a matter of a kick on the shin or a dig in the ribs, but you must be equally prepared to receive as to give. To learn to meet "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" with a smiling face is to cultivate a character which will stand you in good stead in the strenuous warfare of life. It is not my intention to give you any hints as to how to play the game. The other writers in the handbook — and better authorities could scarcely be found — will do that, and so I shall conclude with a little advice on general matters. Many youngsters when they finish a match contim;e to wear their football clothes for the rest of the day. That is a great mistake. By so doing they are inviting chills, influenza and pneumonia. When you have done playing do not continue to wear any article of apparel in which you played. Change into your ordinary clothes and see that your football knickers, shirt and hose are properly aired before again playing in them. COMFORTABLE CLOTHES. Whilst on the subject of clothes let me counsel you to wear only the garments which fit you comfortably. Apropos of this, I can never recall the first match in which I played without a smile. It was when I was a laddie at school up in Scotland that, by a penny collection, we were able to purchase a ball. When I went home and told my mother that I was selected to play on the Saturday for one of the teams, the old lady felt pleasurable pride in the honor which had been conferred upon Goal-keeper Saving a Shot from the Left Wing. SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 79 me. Now she knew as much about football as a cat knows about the hieroglyphics on Cleopatra's Needle, but she was determined that 1 should go forth in raiment which would redound to the credit of the clan Cameron. Therefore Saturday saw me arrayed in my Sunday clothes and, tell it not in Gath, the dear old soul had starched my shirt-front and cuffs. When r.iy coat and waistcoat were doffed for the fray a more glossy- fronted warrior than I never faced the foe. It was the stiffest game I ever played, and I was proud of that shirt-front. For a time I guarded it from harm, but eventually the wet and muddy ball landed fairly and squarely on my chest. I could have wept for the desecration of that beautifully-laundered shirt, but realizing that the harm was done I bustled into the game with a vengeance, and before its finish there was more mud than starch in my make-up. We won, but all the glory of victory was dimmed by the look of horror on my mother's face when she saw my cuffs and shirt-front. I think that the dear old lady had confounded football with croquet. I have told this tale to point a moral. Wear clothes which are comfortable, and particularly must this be the case with your boots. Get your boots from a reliable athletic outfitter (A. G. Spalding & Bros, carry a most complete line of football shoes), and when you have got them, guard them carefully. Well do I remember my father hiding mine in my youthful days, so that I should not be able to play. I borrowed my brother's, two sizes too large, and came in for a double dose of whacking, one lot from an exasperated parent, the other from an outraged big brother who could not find his boots for his own Saturday game. My last word to beginners, and, in fact, to footballers generally, is "Play the game." Never let your conduct bring discredit upon it. Its enemies are ever waiting to raise their voices against it on the slightest pretext. Take the best men for your models— the G. O. Smiths and the Woodwards— who play the clean game. Stoop to nothing shady and you will be esteemed by friend and foe alike. 80 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. A Chat on Many Football Topics By J. A. McWeeney ("McW." of London Football Star and Morning Leader.) [J. A. McWeeney, who contributes the following article, is better known to the Southern football world as ''McW." of the London Football Star and Morning Leader. He thrives on football nourishment and has done so since the days when he used to play the game in Scotland. He has played, too, in England and in France, and even in Southern Italy. Football is his best love, but after football he knows of no game so entrancing as baseball. In fact, he is one of the Organizing Secretaries of the British Baseball Association and contends that the game will, in less than ten years' time, be as popular as his beloved "Soccer." He is working hard for such a consummation. His hobby is the writing of very wicked poetry, which he gives to the world under the titles of "Bad Ballads" and "Odious Odes." He does not allow his innate modesty to stand in thd way of his business success and that is why he is editing the present book.] As an ardent lover of the best of British sports and that is football, I oftentimes feel wroth when I read the criticisms of it from the pens of those who know practically nothing about it. Thus, a year or two back, one of our leading actor-managers took the British public to task because it patronized the football games rather than the theatres on Saturday afternoons. To him it was lamentable that youth should give more attention to sport than to art. Here, in passing, let me say that we hear far too much nowadays of theatrical art. Not one man in a thousand goes to the theatre to be educated. We go, one and all, for recreation and amusement, that our minds may be dis- tracted for a time from the stern realities of life. Therefore it savors much of cant when I hear the actor say, "Come and see me and be educated. Do not go to the football game which is debasing and brutalizing." To him I reply, "Why go to the stuffy theatre and breathe vitiated air simply to see a number of men and women playing the parts of other men and women, when I can breathe the fresh air of heaven and watch actors, just as clever and artistic in their way, play their parts on the football field?" Time and time again as I have passed down the Strand on a Saturday afternoon and have seen the anaemic and SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 81 neurasthenic youths waiting for the theatre doors to open I have regarded them with sorrow. Those weak-kneed, spineless, pale- faced youths had hetter far spend their afternoon chasing the leather, or, failing that, tilling their lungs with pure air whilst watching a match. It is all very well to prate of theatrical art. Candidly speaking, J have never met much of it. I have written a little for both the theatre and the music-hall, but always with the view of amusing rather than of educating, and that, I contend, is the aim of ninety-nine per cent, of the writers. Holding, as I do, that the theatre exists almost entirely for recreation and amusement, I cannot see wherein it is one whit better than the football field and I love not the actor- manager who condemns our sport without knowing anything concerning it. The argument is adduced, "How can you expect good sport from paid players?" You might as well say, "How can you expect good acting from hired mimes?" A football match is as much a spectacle as is a Haymarket or Adelphi play, and the players are the actors who serve up our entertainment. Amateur theatricals are very well in their way and so is amateur football, but to get the acting of a high standard you must pay your professionals. They play for pay, it is true, but that is the very reason why they give us of their best. Like the actor, the paid football player may soon be out of a shop if his ability desert him. There are constantly springing up fresh artists all eager to appear before the public. They are pushing out the worthless ones, and so you may take it that the paid player gives of his best because the game means bread and butter to him. The amateur may be lackadaisical or dilatory because he has nothing at stake. Not so the professional. He must always be up to concert pitch to keep his place in the team. Fault is found with football because the various clubs all over the country are not run with home-bred talent. Thus, for instance, Middlesboro' or Manchester City. Tottenham Hotspur or Fulham, may not employ any local players whatever. To that I again reply that football is an entertainment. When Beerbohm Tree produces "The Winter's Tale" does he draw his caste entirely from London? Certainly not. He selects his actors and actresses on account of their ability to play certain parts. What does it matter to him whether his selections hail from London or Liver- pool or from Sheffield or Newcastle? He is providing a certain entertainment, a certain spectacle for those who care to pay their money to witness it. The better the caste the more chance of success and the greater the surplus in the treasury. It is just the same with football clubs. They are supplying an enter- Oh be a SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 83 tainment, a play, as it were, for all who care to pay to see it. As the actor-manager selects his actors, so does the club manager select his players. His aim is to get the best possible set to give satisfaction to his patrons. Then why should anyone grumble at the importation of players from towns or districts other than their own? They do not grumble at Newcastle when George Alexander brings his play there from the St. James's Theatre, London. We do not raise the cry of "Support home talent" when Caruso comes to London. We want the artists to entertain us and we care not whence they come. Then why should it be otherwise in football entertainment? Let us here change the topic. Critics of the game, even clergymen amongst them, are never tired of telling us that football usurps too much of our leisure time. We are told that we could be better employed in reading or gardening or some other profitable pastime. That may be so, but I contend that football has done more than any other agency to lessen the evil of drunkenness. Too often the mechanic and workman does not indulge in a hobby. Hard graft during the week is hobby sufficient for him and on Saturday afternoon he looks for a pastime. I can remember the time when the rule of the worker on leaving the factory or shop was to make for the public bar, there to meet his boon companions and fellow- workmen. One drink used to lead to another and the money which ought to have been taken home to the wife was too often squandered on beer. Football has worked a marvellous change in this matter. The workmen and mehanics who follow the fortunes of their club rush home to snatch a bite of something to eat before proceeding to the match. During the game there is precious little opportunity for drinking and when the game is over it is time to hustle off home to tea. It can be seen, then, that football by claiming its devotees on Saturday robs the public-house of much of the patronage which it used to have. Very rarely indeed will you see a man drunk at a football match. As with the spectators so with the players. I do not mean to say that there are not certain black sheep in the fold, but it is wonderful what temperate lives are lived by our football professionals. A better type of player has been evolved, too, and we have only to contrast the teams of to-day with those of some years back to be convinced of it. The days when teams used to raise riot in the hotels at which they stayed, when night was made hideous and sleepless by the din of bolster fights and horseplay, are gone. Saunter into the hotel where one of our professional teams happens to be staying and you will meet a set of healthy-looking young fellows, muscular and well de- Dribbling the Ball. SPALDING'S A1I1LETIC LIBRARY 85 veloped, whose conduct is all that could be desired from a set of University athletes. The football professional in nine cases out of ten knows how to behave like a gentleman. Never was I more convinced of this than when I met the Spurs and Wool- wich Arsenal players on their travels. I found them gentlemen in every respect. Once again let us change the topic. Let us discuss another matter which is ever bobbing up in football controversy and that is, Has the quality of our football deteriorated? Nearly every writer who knew the players of the game twenty to thirty years ago contends that it has, but, nevertheless, I will not have it so. It is in nearly every man's nature to be what Horace called "laudator temporis acti se puero" (a praiser of the good old times when he was a boy). Early impressions, as you know, are the most vivid and lasting. I can remember so well as a boy gazing upon the town hall of the little Scottish town in which I was born and considering it a grand and imposing building. The streets, too, seemed, to my youthful eye, long and broad and beautiful. Then I went to college in Aberdeen. Returning, some three years after to my native place, how shrunk and shortened seemed the streets, how mean and insignificant looked the town hall. Of course I know that my earliest impres- sions were erroneous and yet, do you know, when I think of my native place I invariably remember it with all the imposing grandeur with which my boyhood's fancy first clothed it. So is it with the critic. His memory may carry him back to the days when Queen's Park, and Vale of Leven, and Dumbarton, and the Rangers were making football history in Scotland ; to the days of McKinnon, Doctor Smith, McClintock, Charlie Campbell, Geordie Kerr, Gillespie, and the brothers Vallance. To me it sometimes seems that I never knew such a centre-forward as Geordie Kerr, such a prince of half-backs as Charlie Campbell, and yet I know, when I sit down to reason out matters, that I have seen many players, since those early days, who have quite outclassed them. The fact of the matter is, moreover, that we are too apt to form our judgment of football in the past by the individualism we re- member. The Cobbolds and the brothers Walters impressed us as being giants of the game, and because they were individually brilliant we write down the football of their period as brilliant. There is not, nowadays, sufficient room on the stage for all who deserve the limelight. You may pick out certain individual players of the past and say, "There! I defy you to match them." It may be that I could not do so, but I hold the opinion most strongly that better all-around football is being played now than ever before. The individual players and individual teams SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 87 shone in the past because there was room on the stage for their display of heroics. Nowadays we have a plethora of heroes and universal excellence begets in our minds an idea of squat mediocrity. Once more changing our topic, let us chat concerning the improvement of the game. I am one of those who believe that it has not yet reached its full development. It is very well to sit down and view the game and to say that all is perfect with it. For one thing, the off-side rule must sooner or later be amended. It is very well to say that the rule is easily understandable. It may be so when you are working out matters by diagrams and explanations, but in the hot contest neither player nor spectator has the leisure to reason things out on strictly logical lines. The result is that the constantly pulling up of men for being off-side detracts from the interest and the enjoyment of the game. For my own part, I would rule that a player could not, under any circumstances, be off side in his own half of the field; that is, the half which his side is defending. This arrangement would check the one-back method of play, which is irritating to the on-looker because of the stoppages in the game which its adoption necessi- tates. Again, who can say that eleven men on each side is the correct number to give the best exhibition of football? Is it not possible that the field is just a trifle overcrowded? Why should not the game be played by nine men on each side, a goal-keeper, a back, two half-backs and five forwards? Do not brand me as a heretic and schismatic for advancing such a suggestion. It is, after all, merely a suggestion, but I should like to see the nine- men-a-side experiment tried all the same. The play, I believe, would be more open and more goals would be scored, and goal- scoring is what spectators like to see. There are various other topics on which I would like to discourse, but limitations of space forbid. For instance, there is the maximum wage question. But no, I will not start on it as I should need many extra pages to deal with the pros and cons of that vexed tooic. y;< SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. Definition of Terms Place kick A Place Kick is a kick at the ball while it is or the ground in the centre of the field of play. Free kick A Free Kick is a kick at the ball in any direction the player pleases, when it is lying on the ground. A Place Kick, a free kick, or a penalty kick must not be taken until the Referee has given a signal for the same. Carrying Carrying by the goal-keeper is taking more than two steps while holding the ball, or bouncing it on the hand. Knocking on Knocking on is when a player strikes or propels the ball with his hands or arms. Handling Handling and Tripping. — Handling is intention- ally playing the ball with the hand or arm, and Tripping Tripping is intentionally throwing, or attempting to throw, an opponent by the use of the legs, or by stooping in front of or behind him. Holding Holding includes the obstruction of a player by the hand or any part of the arm extended from the body. Touch Touch is that part of the ground on either side of the field of play. ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTE THE SPALDING TRADEMARK GUARANTEES QUALITY Spalding's Championship "Olympic Soccer Foot Ball Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. No. G. Made complete in the Spalding English foot ball fac- tory, Leeds, England. Hand- stitched throughout. Twelve- piece leather cover. Guaranteed pure Para rubber bladder. Com- plete with rawhide lace and lac- ing needle. . . Each, $15.00 The Spalding No. G Championship "Olympic" Soccer Foot Ball has been used exclusively during the past six Seasons — 1913-14 1915-16 1917-18 1914-15 1916-17 1918-19 in the semi-finals and finals of the United States Foot Ball Association Champion- ships. Spalding American T ^ce' Soccer Foot Ball No. GA. Similar model to our Championship "Olympic" No. G Ball. Made in the Spalding American foot ball factory, Brook- lyn, N. Y. Selected leather, twelve-piece cover. Guaranteed pure Para rubber bladder. Com- plete with rawhide lace and lac- ing needle. . . Each, $15.00 Spalding 0fpciAl5Aelie Official Gaelic Foot Ball No. K. Made with eight sections and "black button" ends. Best quality foot ball leather. Guar- anteed pure Para rubber bladder. Complete with rawhide lace and lacing needle. . Each, $15.00 No.GA ATTENTION GIVEN TO ANY COMMUNICATIONS ADDRESSED TO US A.G.SPALDING &, BROS. 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