to a good position to receive the ball from you. There are a few other general principles which may guide you in every case. Be within the goal-crease whenever the ball is thrown at the flags. If “Home” is so near that he might check your block, prefer to let balls pass which shoot wide of the flag poles. Do not attempt a run down the field if the game has been, and is likely to be hard against you. It is not safe to venture past Point’s position if he is the only man to replace you, unless your men are having it their own way. If there is no reliable man to relieve you in a match, better keep your position; but while that is, emphatically, defender of the goal, you should occasionally relieve some over-taxed player, when you judge it to be safe,—who can either replace you or change places with an easier post. There is a sort of duality in the duties of a goal-keeper, which depends for its exercise upon his own judgment.
There are many puzzling occasions which test the worth of a goal-keeper. For instance:—the close throw and strike of an opponent who has reached your flags; the sweeping of the ball on the wing into goal by “Home”; and the quick succession of tips, swipes, and kicks of a crowd of checks. The most
