Training footballers to kick on both sides
A correspondent wonders at the inability of so many League footballers to kick with either foot. He deplores the loss of many golden opportunities for scoring and for passing the ball on. He sees that one-foot kickers help to create the evil of crowded play. He asks why such a simple accomplishment, which would improve the game as a spectacle and the player as a footballer, is not given more attention.
One reason is that a weak, misdirected kick with the wrong foot is worthless. It is better to evade the issue, as many players do, with clever turning on to the right foot, so that the ball is sent on a long way and in a helpful direction.
To become an accurate kick with either foot requires a great deal of practice and patience. If League footballers were really professionals, with nothing else to do other than play or train at the game, probably they would all become experts in the art. As it is, the players have other work to do for a living. Training is limited to two nights a week, and it occupies from half an hour to an hour. In that short space of time are crowded the coach's lectures, very necessary kicking practice, marking, and enough running about to ensure physical trim. Little time is left for a player to get balance and a style for his wrong foot.
It certainly seems that footballers should learn to kick with either foot before joining a League team. One of these days we may find the League or the clubs taking a live Interest in the tuition of youths at school. Then, perhaps, kicking with either foot will be made compulsory for budding footballers. The youths would be better players for it when they joined the League, the game would become more entertaining, and fewer complaints would be heard from the spectators about the quality of the players.
Handball rule
An objection has been raised by another correspondent to the varying interpretations by the umpires of the handball rule. To decide whether a player has thrown or hit the ball in the correct manner undoubtedly becomes often more or less a guessing competition in which the players, the spectators, and sometimes even the umpire, join. In effect the rule is that the ball must be held in one hand and struck with the open or clenched fist of the other. It is that "held in one hand" that causes the trouble. Should a player give the slightest impetus to the ball with the holding hand as he knocks it with the other then the umpire rightly blows his whistle. Spectators who are keen to see that the umpire's decision is correct should keep their eyes glued on the player's hand which holds the ball. I will admit that the quickness of the hand sometimes deceives the eye, but if a player picks up a ball and in the same motion handballs it, or should he turn quickly to hit the ball on, the odds are that the ball is thrown.
When Hale of Carlton juggles a hand pass with his peculiar left hand action, it may be taken for granted that his movements are suspicious and that the umpire cannot be blamed for sharing this view. In any case a player's evidence, after a match, about handball decisions is not always reliable, for sometimes, even with the most honest intentions, a player's actions are not quite what he thinks they are. It all comes down to this: The umpire is nearest to the player, he is intent upon every action, and in all cases of doubt he should be given the credit for a correct decision.
Unfair marking tactics alleged
I have also before me a very serious allegation against players. It concerns that most spectacular feature of the game, high marking, which, it is stated, is not tackled in a fair manner. Players coming in from behind a pack, it is said, either judge their leaps to enable them to land on the rising back of the man in front, to help them get higher into the air, or they jump with their knees and feet in front of them to injure anybody in the way. The first allegation could not be true, as it would be impossible for a player to carry out such a plan. To mark, the eyes must be fastened on the ball. If a player glances in another direction he loses all sight of the ball. Occasionally he is lucky enough to receive accidentally a lift up from somebody's back.
The second impression is given to spectators because the man in front of a pack invariably falls over. He is rarely hurt. A player ahead of the pack knows that other players are coming behind him, and the tramp of their feet is not always pleasant music. But he is prepared to fall forward at the slightest touch, because he knows that the umpire will probably give him a free kick. His fall is never so bad as it seems.
I have only on one or two occasions since I have followed football seen players flying unfairly from behind. However, there are very few footballers who can take a run for a mark and rise straight into the air. The majority are carried forward with the impetus of their run and knock into the man in front. In many cases this year one could almost fault the umpires for their extreme leniency to the man in front. Players who fly perfectly fairly to take a brilliant mark are penalised by the shrewd actions of the men ahead who always fall over.
Best centre man
Perhaps more palatable than a discussion on the finer points of the game is a controversy that has arisen lately on the question, "Who is the best centre man in the League?" Down Melbourne way Alan La Fontaine is undoubtedly the champion. At Carlton there is no one like Keith Shea. Those two are undoubtedly great footballers, but there is a great difference in their methods. La Fontaine is the cool and clever player. He pirouettes round about in a crush until he eventually spins clear. La Fontaine is the only person on the ground to remain cool after these efforts. Everyone else gasps with astonishment. At other times he ambles after the ball, but is off like a streak if anyone dares an attempt to lay hands on him. An excellent kick with either foot, and a beautiful mark, La Fontaine is undoubtedly a player well above the ordinary.
Shea can mark, but does not fly above others for his marks, which is the one slight failing in an otherwise perfect game. Shea is a match winner and a champion footballer. Those long raking kicks of his—and with either foot, on the run—are in themselves worth seeing. But it is in the packs that Shea differs so much from La Fontaine. He shoots straight out of crushes as if he has been shot. Those long strides of his carry him farther and farther away from opponents, and the crowd roars its approval. His play always opens and speeds up the game. La Fontaine's work is inclined to make the play slower, and for that reason I am a little in favour of Shea. Shea is undoubtedly an idol, and at Carlton followers have forgotten that once upon a time they preferred him as a half-forward—or perhaps they realize that Shea would be in great player in almost any position.
Footnotes
Title: Training footballers: Few can kick with either foot Author: Ivor Warne-smith Publisher: The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria, 1848-1957) Date: Friday, 30 August 1935, p.12 Web: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11762653
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