The San Francisco call., 1908-11-01
By Bob Shand

e.
"wANTED-Mens or. women pos
sessing knowledge of association foot
ball TO act as referees Splendid in
ducements offered. Pay your own ex-
ers hand you, and spend your sundays
learning how to cuSS. The players
will show you free Come early and
avoid the. crush. Apply Referees.
union" .',..
There is a likelihood of an ~ad''
something like the foregoing appear
ing in the daily papers .sOons as, the
Referees union is almost UP against
it. and it is an extremely hard matter
to get men with suthcient knowledge
of the game to handle the. league con
tests. The dearth of good referees is
more apparent this year than. ever be-
fore, and the fact that two games
of these useful officials clearly demon
strateS that something wal have to
be done soon If. the schedule. is To be
Tom Wood, secretary of the Referees
union, has explained his position in the
matter, and no blame attaches TO him
explanation of the scarcity of referees
is that the players expect too much
OF the official in charge OF the game,
and if he should happen to make a
mistake, at least IL strong -Iunged
players join in a "cuSSing" chorus,
which is neither attractive nor eIevat-
ing.
Then there are a number of .coInpe-
tent referees who think they know too ..
much to go before the union and an
swer a few questions concerning points
OF play. These gentlemen can be
readily excused, as they. possibly know
far too much TO waste their time ref
ereeing football games. Another bunch
of good referees is: hiding in retire-
ment, having been driven out of the
game through the treatment accorded
them by players. Wood slips over
nice one in concluding his letter
when he states. that the work of the
average referee is generally as good
as the playing of the average player
This remark touches it off rather
niftfly, and. to those who know the
soccer player as he is, the truth Will
| be apparent. 1t is an undisputed fact
that great majority. Of the players
are troubled with the big head. .&9}
| their antics on the field and Off. it
cause only amusement to those who
know. Nine-tenths of the players TAX
ing part in the, series of the Cali
fornia football league do not know
enough about the game to-. play ON n
third rate junior team in scotland. or
England. and the majority of them
only played in Juvenile. teams before
is that when they reach. here and join
one of the local teams they get their
in their lives, and at once lima gine
that they are real football. PLAYERS.
The solution of the difficulty would
seem to be very simple--pay the ref
ereeS their expenses and make an ex-
ample of the next player to- get OBJ
streperous on the 'fieId. This should be
easily done- as the football association
is comparatively prosperous and sf0uld
come to the assistance. Of the referees.
and it is an easy matter to put player .
on the shelf for several weeks.
The Independents sprung. a surprise
On an unsnSpecttng public last sunday
by defeating the hitherto unbeatable /.
ThistleS by four clear goals. That was
one surprise, and the other was the
reappearance ON the sOccer-ield of Pat
! Tierney and. Tommy. sydon. two former
members Of the greatest football team
ever seen in CalifOrnia--the Thistle
team OF three years ago. 'Iierney. has
been playing football for 20 years and .
is as good as ever. while LydOn has
lost none of his cumming during his
two years. absence from the soccer
gaines As now. arranged the indie
pendent team is one of the -stron gest :
in the, league and will be a strons
contender for the peRnant. There will
be something. doing when the Indies
line up. against the RoveEs and YAM
pires. and it..wilI be no surprise If
the former cup. winners take both Of
the fancied teams into. camp.
TodayS schedule does " not give .
promise of producing any great con-
/ test, the Vampires, Burns. Independents
winners in their respective games. 2
However, there. may be- a surprise, and
| il some Of the: weaker teams get a. .
couple of points: there will be no harm
done .
The new league. which Eaomeroy: has.
| formed has elected officers and. got .
j
main alive for the balance of. .tllessea-
/ son remains to be: seen. Several q Of
these .mushroonr bodies have come and :
gone and none of. them lasted very
/ long The fact that an games..sir
to be played Sunday mornings wodld.
seem to be against the success of. the
new body. as it is not sxery body's na-
ture' to get out SO early on that day,
especially for the purpose of. chasing a
ball around a vacant lot; The idea
OF a junior League. is. all right. but II
wa nj n = rNa
Moons there would be more. hope for
PomerOys. venture. If the manage
ment is open TO suggestion We would
advise that the games be played as
preliminaries to the big 4eague. games.
The grounds could be obtained more
easily that way. and mere persons
spending increase OF interest in the
playing Of the youngsters
/ Here are the teams and referees for .
Thfstles-McRitchie. Gore. Kay.
Townes w. jackson, E. jackson.
i Shanks, Dupcanson, Gray. Nichol and
Vasmpires-McFarlahe, Hunter. Scott.
/ SWAIN Lee A. Mckenzie. Bernard.
Downie. J.. Mckenzie. Thinner, and
/ Singer.
Building Trades. smith Dewar.
( Mckinley. Orr, Brown. Spence, Haigs
! r. Smith, Carswell. Bremner and Ham
iltOn.
/ pendents-Crowley. Kirvin. Sou.
tar. Tierney, Anderson Lydon. Smith.
I Donohue, T. Fay. Airey and Highett.
Referee-C. ID. Bennett
Albion Rovers-Marra. Selkirk An
+ derson. AIcKiernon, Mizen, McIntry.
4 Walters, Marshall Aitken, Pike and
/ Balmain.
ScotiasEWf1liamson. Sommerville.
Bfddick, Dewar. Copeland. Balm, Glen
/ denning. LeCOutier. Wardlaw, Hamil-
/ ton and Armor-
Referee-Wflliam Canning.
Robert Rurns-Buchanan. Sharp
/ Black Young. DOig. Brown. Grant
Munroe Harris, Welsh and Jackman
Hornets-Not selected
/ Referee-Fred FewSter.