Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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THE ASHBURIAN SGCCER ASHBURY vs. SEDBERGH N A cool and pleasant Thursday, October 7th, Ashbury Soccer Xl played hosts to Sedbergh on our first football lield. Both teams were obviously somewhat lost playing on such a large piece of terrain, but perhaps Sedbergh suffered more in this respect, for although their condition was evidently better than ours, they didn't press this advan- tage to the full and only looked dangerous two or three times. Un each occasion, Heney I, Clark, or Kerr I Cor some combination thereofi partied the thrust. Pettigrew was easily the outstanding player for our opponents, but his halves worked well with him to form a constant threat to the security of our goal. For us, perhaps Gutierrez was the most useful but, due to lack of speed, was in no way the scoring menace he usually was on our small practice field. Cray, on the right wing, was nursing a weak ankle and was not able to feed our centre with his customary long passes in front of the goal from the touchline. On one occasion, Sedbergh forced their way past our defence but luckily for us in such a way as to be clearly offside. Kerr breathed again and the score remained o-o until the final whistle. The Sedbergh goalie spent a lonely afternoon but cheered up again after some cakes and cocoa in Hall. The game was chiefly notable for lost opportunities due to weak kicking with the 'wrong' foot and poor control of the ball with regard to bounce and spin, Pettigrew and Gutierrez being honourable excep- tions. That we were lucky to hold Sedbergh to a tie was quickly evident when we played the return match two weeks later in Montebello. lt was agreed at the outset to play an 8-man side as the ground was not really big enough to make a good game for II a side. This gave nearly all our players an occasional rest and they needed it for Sedbergh pressed strongly and were soon banging in goals with some regularity. Pettigrew, as usual, was the chief cause for concern, being fed plenty of scoring passes by his lieutenants. Cray again twisted his ankle, thus reducing the strength of our forward line almost to zero, he being our only strong kicker besides our fullbacks and Gutierrez. Abbott and Grimsdale played well but lacked the speed and strength necessary to force a score. Final score on this occasion was 5-o and no mistake. This disagreeable portion of the afternoon's agenda being complete. we quickly turned to pleasanter activities-consumpticin of a magni- ficent tea in the senior common room. NlacRae and cohorts soon showed our kind hosts, Nlr. and Nlrs. XYood, how bracing the Nlontebello air can be.

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TI-IE ASHBURIAN HOUSE GAME HoR'i'I,Y after the rugby season had ended, clans XYoollcombc and Connaught gathered with blood in their eye for the annual comedy called a house soccer match. Anything less like soccer could scarcely be imagined but perhaps the Ancient Order of Hibernians would recognize in it some faint echo of a charwomcn's hurling match, with- out shillelaghs. To see linemen of the first football XII galumphing about in shorts with little or no idea of how to manage a spherical football is more than flesh and blood should be required to endure, but endure it annually we do. Interspersed among these behemoths, one could occisionally catch a fleeting glimpse of a first soccer Xl forward making dainty pirouettes, for all the world like a goat loose among some North American Bison. The outcome of the game fto wit, nervous exhaustion of all for- wards and halvesl was never in doubt, and the south-westerly gale of wind made proceedings if anything more absurd. After some three- quarters of an hour of ineffectual shouting, gesticulating, and surrepti- tious handling of the ball, it was centred, doubtless by accident, in front of the Connaught goal. 4fAt this point it would be only decent to draw the veil across the next few moments, but your scribe has a duty to performl. Then, rudely trampling Kerr into the grass, what seemed like 75 percent of the IYoollcombe team formed a hacking, snarling box around the ball, proceeded through the goalmouth, and emerged triumphantly halfway to the Headmaster's house, claiming a score. IYhat was undeniable was that the ball, after striking some portion of Cray's person, had passed beneath the crossbar. It must be admitted that a good deal besides had passed that way as well. The referee, a VVoollcombe man, loyally Ci.e. without a blush or a moment's hesita- tionb and magisterially pointed to centre-Held and the inglorious busi- ness proceeded to its dismal end with the score 1-o in IYoollcombe's favour. Dreyfus, I-Ieney II, Pritchard I, Gutierrez, and Hood did their best to make it a soccer game but to no avail, it remained a typical game of 'housoccer'.