first-rate players, but we have not seen enough of Sutcliffe and Alderson, of whom great things are predicted, to be able to compare them with their predecessors.
CHAPTER VII.
HALF-BACK.
When the modem style of play was first introduced it was predicted that we should never get men to fill the unenviable post of half-back, so poor did the prospect for them appear when compared with the share in the game enjoyed by half-backs such as Hutchinson, Evanson, H. Taylor, and Twynam; but, as a matter of fact, from the very first some of the old players adapted their play to the new style, and Alan Rotherham at once came to the front as a pattern for all who followed. We have only to mention such names as those of Bonsor, Payne, the two Scotts, Fox, and Richards, to show that there has been no dearth of good men for the post. At the same time some clubs, who have had good men for every other department of the game, have failed notably in recent years, simply because they could not secure a couple of halves who would pass enough to let their three-quarters show what they were worth. The whole machinery of the passing game breaks down unless the halves are smart and unremitting in starting passes; therefore, if a captain has no better material to start upon, he must try forward after forward at the post, until he finds one who is quick on to the ball, and quicker still in getting rid of it. The first mark of a good half is that he gets the ball when it comes out of the scrummage oftener than his
