Articles
The professionals beat the amateurs
The Corinthians, in one of their greatest years, have failed to secure the Sheriff of London Shield. They were beaten on Saturday at Fulham by Liverpool by five goals to one. The professionals played very fine football, and there is no desire to detract from the worthiness of the side in emphasising the lateness of the period of the year for a match of such considerable importance. Some of the Corinthians had already begun their cricket, and it was asking of them a great deal to return again to football. It was not surprising that they failed to do themselves justice. There were occasional moments of brilliancy among them, particularly in the first quarter of an hour, and the side as it was would not have failed quite so badly had not Rev. W. Blackburn, the old Oxford Blue and usually a very fine player, who was at right full back, been quite out of form. He not only failed to check the attack, but was continually balking T.S. Rowlandson, the famous goal-keeper.
Everything, in fact, went wrongly for the Corinthians; their forwards had no luck, and the climax was reached when K.R.G. Hunt, in turning to kick the ball up the field, twisted it underneath his own goal bar. This was the way that Liverpool scored their fifth goal of the match. The Corinthian half-backs worked hard; G.C. Vassall on the outside right wing made many dashing runs, often beating the full back, and S.S. Harris, G.S. Harris, and S.H. Day gave occasional glimpses of their best form; but E.G.D. Wright was completely off his game. Thus as a whole the Corinthians were a little disappointing. As for Liverpool, they found their game at the end of about a quarter of an hour, and thence o the end their play went with a splendid swing, pace, and execution. They gave as good a display of professional football as has been seen in London since the great days of the old Preston North End eleven.
Raisbeck, the centre half-back, and his two colleagues on that line – Parry and Bradley – could not have been surpassed in skill. They literally secured control of the course of the match, not only breaking up the Corinthians attack, but developing a great game for their forwards. It was a fine forward line too – the dribbling, the long or short passing, the shooting indeed every art of forward play, was executed with the greatest skill. Behind these first two lines there were the nicely judged kicking of the full backs and the almost unerring goal-keeping of Hardy. Hardy’s position was in no sense a sinecure, and S.H. Day gave him two or three shots that would have beaten most men.
Liverpool led by two goals to none at the interval, and got all their goals before S.S. Harris scored for the Corinthians. There was an attendance of 25,000 people, so that the hospitals will substantially benefit by the game; Fulham gave their ground for nothing, and Liverpool came to town for their bare expenses.
Everything, in fact, went wrongly for the Corinthians; their forwards had no luck, and the climax was reached when K.R.G. Hunt, in turning to kick the ball up the field, twisted it underneath his own goal bar. This was the way that Liverpool scored their fifth goal of the match. The Corinthian half-backs worked hard; G.C. Vassall on the outside right wing made many dashing runs, often beating the full back, and S.S. Harris, G.S. Harris, and S.H. Day gave occasional glimpses of their best form; but E.G.D. Wright was completely off his game. Thus as a whole the Corinthians were a little disappointing. As for Liverpool, they found their game at the end of about a quarter of an hour, and thence o the end their play went with a splendid swing, pace, and execution. They gave as good a display of professional football as has been seen in London since the great days of the old Preston North End eleven.
Raisbeck, the centre half-back, and his two colleagues on that line – Parry and Bradley – could not have been surpassed in skill. They literally secured control of the course of the match, not only breaking up the Corinthians attack, but developing a great game for their forwards. It was a fine forward line too – the dribbling, the long or short passing, the shooting indeed every art of forward play, was executed with the greatest skill. Behind these first two lines there were the nicely judged kicking of the full backs and the almost unerring goal-keeping of Hardy. Hardy’s position was in no sense a sinecure, and S.H. Day gave him two or three shots that would have beaten most men.
Liverpool led by two goals to none at the interval, and got all their goals before S.S. Harris scored for the Corinthians. There was an attendance of 25,000 people, so that the hospitals will substantially benefit by the game; Fulham gave their ground for nothing, and Liverpool came to town for their bare expenses.
