Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

44 feet, down with your head and dive at his buttocks. The head goes to one side of him, you catch him fair and square with your shoulder, and your arms go round him. If properly timed you are certain to knock him over like a shot rabbit. It is the most certain of all methods. The one thing you have to remember is that you make sure of getting the ball at the same time. This in the open; at close quarters e.g. out of touch, take him by the shoulders and pull him down. There need be no roughness; it is only necessary to be firm. The neck is a poor thing, and sometimes leads to exhibitions of ill temper. Why a man should object to be collared by his neck more than anywhere else it is difficult to see, but he does object, and it is best to leave it alone. Good hard tackling is necessary throughout a fifteen. Two paragraphs in his chapter on captaincy are of particular interest, one on choosing a captain which could still be relevant today, and the other on training where methods have certainly changed. In choosing a captain there are many things that must be carefully considered. The first is the work of a man as a player. A captain who leads his team is far more likely to be a success than one who gives orders from the rear of a rush; and, furthermore, if the captain be the best man on the side, he is far more likely to command respect and obedience from all the men in his team, and he will be able to silence all growlers against his authority. Secondly we must agree as to which is the best position for a captain to occupy. In the old days one and all said that he should certainly be the centre three-quarter, but now one is inclined to think otherwise. It is generally conceded that the forwards have the destiny of the game in their hands, and on that account I would have the captain as a forward. There is much art in managing a forward team, much more than in looking after the back division, and therefore I consider that the captain’s first duty is to his forwards. The thoughts on training relate to Varsity and club players and not specifically to internationals: It is to the City man that training is a necessity. He lives, perhaps, in a humble lodging in Bloomsbury – that most hateful of all fates – or perhaps in a suburb. He journeys to the City, where he toils all day, and when he gets home at night and has had his dinner, can one wonder that he is disinclined to take violent exercise? But in the present day of competition he must do something to keep fit, or others will get his place... The writer keeps himself fit by travelling round Blackheath at night. The best method is to run sixty or seventy yards at top speed, and then walk a like distance, alternately running and walking for about half an hour. It is really wonderful how fit one finds oneself if this is done once or twice a week. If only it were so easy today! Frank Mitchell wrote no complete books, and his chapters in the Isthmian Rugby Union - as a player and writer