San Francisco Call, Volume 114, Number 143, 29 October 1913 — NEW ZEALANDER CRITICISES AMERICAN COACHING SYSTEM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEW ZEALANDER CRITICISES AMERICAN COACHING SYSTEM

This photograph shows McKenzie, the great passing artist, in action, illustrating the best method of passing the ball. McKenzie is one of the greatest feint or fake passers in the business and his work against the local teams has been one of the features of the AllBlacks' work.

McKenzie's great stunt •is to bluff his opponents. He gets the ball out of the limit of his pass. Then he sidesteps in the opposite direction and takes the other fellows by surprise.

Men Should Be Allowed to Use Their Own Judgment in Close Plays

GEORGE H. MASON

Manager New Zealand All-Black* Local Rugby teams have practically only one method of attack, showing a lack of versatility. This all cornea under the ideas I expressed yesterday and only goes to show that your coaches do not encourage the players to use their own heads. I am told that If a man goes into a game and does not carry out the instructions of his coach, he stands a very good chance of being fired off the squad. To my mind the coach who does this ls undoubtedly throwing off one of the brainiest men on the team. I admire the player who is able to go on the field and use his head and bring out a play which is different to that taught and expected. Because a coach says a man shall play such and such a way, it does not follow that the coach is right.

It may be that the player In a game sees an opportunity to solve the problem with far greater benefit to his team than what the coaches ideas have in view. If a fellow wants to use his head, let him. Then you will see your game develop. The methods of your coaching are apparent in every game we have played. Take the passing of your men. Every team we have played against shows the same weakness. The men are taught to pass in only one direction, and only on very rare occasions has this been the exception. SHOULD STUDY PLAY Every time there Is a passing rally your men shoot the ball out to their left. What is more simple on such occasions than for our men to get on the working side and nip the pass? There is no necessity for us to watch the blind side at all. You always keep the blind side closed and never try to work it- Furthermore, the pass is always made by all players with the same elaborate methods, which bring about a loss of energy. There Is no attempt to feint or bluff the opposition. Your players always pass to the man nearest to him, whether that man ls In a position to take a pass or not. Why not use your heads and se* which man Is best situated to receive the pass? Why not try to send the ball sometimes, not to the man nearest you, but a man three or four places away? Try these things; practice them, and see what results will be obtained. Playing the man rather than the ball Is quite evidently a legacy of the old game. There ls nothing we enjoy more than a hard, strenuous game, but our strenuous efforts de not go beyond the law. We always keep within the law when It comes to tackling or kicking. The laws do not permit the players being kicked to death, but the laws do allow you to kick the ball from here to New Zealand and back and kill as many ovals as you please. Klek the ball, not the man. LOCALS MAKE MISTAKES The laws distinctly state that you can not tackle a man until he has possession of the ball. Here, however, our men are tackled when the ball is yards from them. They are tackled on the Hneouts when the ball is flying over their heads to a point half way across the field and 80 yards from where they are standing. Our men are tackled when running down the field dribbling the ball. We are tackled at the most inopportune moments and without provocation, as it were. We do not mind getting a hard tackle and taking a hard fall, but we do most strenuously objeot to

belnp tackled when we are within the law. Your tactics are spoiling the game In this direction. What brings about this illegal tackling? One of two things, or perhaps a combination of both. First, the breaches are so bare faced and so regular that lt seems to me that the men must be coached to "get" certain men under certain conditions. Do the coaches teach their men to tackle men on the llneouts? Are the men taught to grab a man in a loose ruck play? If so, it is wrong. REFEREES ARE INCOMPETENT The other contention I raise Is that the referees are not competent to interpret the laws, or deliberately overlook these glaring and unsportsmanlike actions of the players at fault These are hard words, but I speak as the situation appears to me. The kicking to touch seems to be overdone by every team we have played against. We admire your kicking ability, but the game is spoiled and slowed up by so much unnecessary touch work. Kick more to center rather than gaining ground through touch work. You will gain more ground by keeping the ball in the field and giving your attack an opportunity. There are, of course, times when kicking for touch is necessary, but the teams here do not seem to have grasped the Idea of just what those necessary times are. In my estimation there are only two occasions on which the touch lines should be used. These are for the purposes of defense and to place your team in a good position for attack. This latter occasion, however, needs to be well thought out and not used indiscriminately. When you are attacking in your opponents' 25 yard territory it is hardly a good piece of play to get touch. Why not, under these conditions, center the ball and keep it in the field? You will find that much better results will be obtained.