B3-Sunday News, September 28, 1980

The other evening old dog and I were out on
our nightly constitutional when we decided to
stop and watch some of the goings on at a North
Van park. It was good to see at least 60 youngsters
and adults all chasing about at soccer and football
while others played “Let’s run fast then stop and
look like we're going to throw up” on the

sidelines.

Somewhat worn out from
watching all that violent
physical activity we sat for a
while and watched the GSL
teams run through some
plays. But something seemed
amiss.

There were only 11 kids
out there. Thinking that
perhaps a wide flanker was
beyond my limited range of
vision, we checked a closer
team. Eleven.

Now as every red blooded
Canadian knows, football in
this country is played with 12
men on the field, not eleven.

Using somie great in-
vestigative journalism we
soon discovered that they
also play four downs. Just
like the high schools. And
Simon Fraser University.

In fact, it soon became
apparent that Canadian
Football is not in very high
profile on the West Coast —

Referees’

Girls and boys 14 and
older are invited to attend a
free soccer referee's clinic,
to be held from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. at the Legion Hall, 15th
and Lonsdale, Sept. 30, Oct.
1 and 2.

At the conclusion of the
chaic there will be an op-
portunity to qualify as a
youth referee. Current youth
referces are also encouraged
to attend to upgrade their

except by the B.C. Lions
who use mostly Americans
to coach and play.

Try as we could, old dog
and I just couldn't figure out
why U.S. football was played

in preference to the
Canadian game.

Unless, of course, we
come back to my perhaps
paranoid conclusion that it is
nothing more than our good
old Canadian inferiority
showing up yet again.

If this feeling is prevalent
across the country, (no, Bill
Bennett, we do not just
mean B.C.) then perhaps
Canadian football should be
scrapped. After all, we
employ Americans for key
positions both at the
coaching and playing levels,
and we virtually demand that
the Canadiag players
graduate from 4p American
University.

Doesn't it stand to reason
that if we get rid of that

clinic

knowledge of the rules of the
game.

Coaches and managers of
soccer teams can take this
opportunity to obtain their
referee's pass.

by Andy Fraser

On becoming American

bigger field, the extra man
(who is usually sent wide in
motion to draw out a
defender so they are back to
11 men) and all those silly
rules that used to make the
game unique in this country,
then we can get down to
being a second rate farm
system to the N.F.L.?

What is the obsession with
the American game and
where is the imagination —
and pride — to take ad-
vantage of the Canadian
rules?

Or are we so sucked in to
the Yankee tailwind that we
have no ambition, no drive,
no desire to excel at what is

uniquely ours?

As the way things stand
now, it is patently absurd for
us to support Canadian
Football with our hard
earned dollars when we
don't even allow our kids to
play it.

It's probably too late to
alter the follow-the-leader
winds which blow across the
Canadian imagination, but it
would be nice to see us take
pride in something we do
rather than in cheering for
someone else who does it for
us, whether it be for our own
kids playing in thé GSL on
the North Shore, or for the
Lions at Empire Stadium

HERE'S WILLIE

Remember Willie
Johnston? Remember the
Whitecaps got rid of him
because he wasn’t a “team”
player? And remember how
the local media experts
downgraded his play?

Well, the wee man who
wasn't good enough for
Whitecaps has gone full
circle. He is now the Captain
of Glasgow Rangers, the
team he started with in the
60’s.

And his many fans (and
even detractors) will be
happy to know that he hasn't
changed a bit. His patented
runs down the wing, his
challenges, his long throw
in, and his toying with the
crowd are still there and
delighting that strange

Glasgow commando group
sometimes known as Ranger
fans.

Fimess is a national issue.
We call it Body Politics.

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