Page:Football, The Association Game.djvu/62

 football, and the first lesson that a young footballer must take to heart and learn thoroughly is unselfishness. It is essential that he should grasp as the fundamental principle of the game a complete abnegation of self in the interests of the side. He is, as I have said, a section of a machine which cannot act properly unless even the minutest part does its work to a nicety and in harmony. A selfish player, one who enters a football field with the idea of contributing purely to self-glorification, will very soon find himself out in the cold, and his place filled by one who is more capable of advancing the general well-being of his side. Combination is the only possible way to the attainment of anything like perfection of working in a football team, and the sooner the tyro recognizes the importance of mastering this first lesson, the sooner will he be on the way to advancement.

CHAPTER VI.

The capacity of the football machine is, as will be gathered from the foregoing remarks, dependent on the measure of the motor power, which is strong or weak accordingly as it is well directed and in capable hands. The efficiency of an eleven is generally in proportion to the power and skill of its captain, and it goes without saying that the appointment to fill the post should not be lightly made, and the choice fall on a player merely on account of his personal skill. The qualities required for the proper fulfilment of a post requiring peculiar skill are not inherent; they are, in fact, a gift The power and ability to command are not given to every one;