Page:Football, The Association Game.djvu/80

 passing to them or by preventing any of the other side from interfering with the back or obstructing his kick. As a general rule, a half-back should not kick very hard. In defence he will often be of infinitely more use in worrying the opposite forwards, and checking them, than in kicking; and in fact the backs are successful or unsuccessful in the majority of instances in proportion as the halves assist them by keeping off the opposite forwards.

If the halves have to take their part in the attack, their tactics will of course be of a different kind. In this case they have to assist the forwards, and the object is in the main to pass the ball to the player in the best position. Here, too, dribbling is unadvisable, though it is often practised to advantage. In passing to the forwards the ball should be sent as low as possible, so as to give the least possible chance to the other side of meeting it. Passing of this kind is done with greater precision with the side of the foot; and indeed it will be found that it is much easier to attain accuracy in this way than with the point of the toe. Gallery kicking should be altogether discountenanced; and indeed the ability of a half-back is not in any way dependent on the extent of the work he does in this particular way. Opportunities occur, and not unfrequently, in a game where he has a good chance of a shot at goal; but, as a rule, his occupation consists chiefly in providing openings for others. He ought to be the mutual friend of the backs as well of the forwards— of equal assistance to the latter in defence as to the former in attack. At the same time, it must be remembered that they have to watch the opposite forwards carefully; and I had better add, in case I have omitted to lay any stress on it, that the centre half-back should always keep the centre forward of the opposite side well in his eye.