RUGBY

(By "Drop-kick.") DEATH OF ROY LAMBERT. To many members of football clubs ifl Wellington the reality of the war will be brought home with a distinctness even greater than before by the death of Roy Lambert, a player admired and liked by all. This is the first dea,th of a really prominent footballer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Lambert com-, menced Ms football career in Wellington with St. John's Club, playing in tho junior grades unnoticed for a while, till a. Wellington Club supporter happened to see him and recognised the quality of the long player. Lambert transferred to the Wellington Club, and played senior football with great success. Centre-three-quarter was his usual place in the field, but he could also play fiveeighths, and it was generally considered that his best position was full-back. He was not a graceful player, for he was tall and had an awkward appearance. In taking the ball he appeared uncertain, but he always managed to stretch his limbs to the requisite length and surprise the men who expected him to miss. For two years he was captain of the Wellington Club, and it was from that club that he gained his representative cap. When he left Wellington for Auckland > he joined the University Club, and obtained a place in the Auckland representative team. In the provincial teams he played full-back. Lambert's reputation for clean, sportsmanlike play was of the best, and this made him doubly popular. He was not a one season sport, but played cricket for some years with the North Club. The Wellington Football Club, which has lost an ex-captain, has a very large number of representatives in the Forces, including last year's captain, "Army" Grace. THE LATE B. SWANNELL. It is reported of the late B. Swairaell, who was formerly so weHltnown in English Rugby circles, and who was killed in action at the Dardanelles, that when he was in New Zealand with BedellSivright's team, he had the reputation of being the roughest player in the team. In the test match, New Zealand v. the British team, at Wellington, Swartnell had a particularly rongh time. New_ Zealand's plan of campaign made provision for the watching of Swannell by 'a. vigorous Maoriland scrummer, known as "Angry." At the conclusion of the game in which no quarter was given or asked for, the Welshman (who could hardly see out of a pair of lovely black eyes) walked off the field with his "shadow," and ventured the remark that the match had been "a bit rough." "Rough," retorted "Angry," who had not come out of the fray unscathed himself; "that's nothing. You should see a North v. South Island match." TRIBUTE TO AUSTRALASIANS. It may be claimed in time to come, when peace returns to a war-battered world, that the battles of the colonials at the Dardanelles were won on the Australasian football fields, writes Quidnunc in the Canterbury Times. This paraphrase of a famous saying will havo some solid backing, for the dash and "ginger" that characterised the bayonet charges of the New Zealanders and Australians iri the trench-lined hills of Gallipoli were undoubtedly largely due to the rough-and-tumble training of the football ground. It is certainly a fact that the football clubs of this Dominion have been a first-rate recruiting ground for the Expeditionary Force and its Reinforcements. All over the country the remark is made that the call to arms has drained the clubs of their best men. From South Otago, for example, comes the statement that not one club in that district can raise a team this season for flag matches. This is a matter in which the followers of the game may well take pride; the fewer players .there are left while tho war lasts the greater the honour for what may ba called New Zealand's national pastime. GALLANT CAPTAIN'S DEATH. The Australasian, commenting on the large numbers of Australian footballers who ha.ye enlisted, says that "about four out of every ten are active members of the association. The death of Captain Herbert H. Hunter (killed in action) will be generally deplored, for he was known in amateur circles all over Australasia, and a finer man never put on a shoe. He is a great loss to the association, for when his own triumphs ended he put heart and soul into the promotion of all classes of clean, honest sport. He was footballer, boxer, swimmer, runner, and good in all. Before leaving Bendigo he was presented with a beautiful inscribed sword by the Football League, and his reply was thus reported : 'I appreciate very much the gift that has been handed to me, and hope I will be able to do some good work with it. My action in volunteering my services to the Empire is, I consider, the culminating point in my_ athletic career. I loved my athletics, and when my training was finished, and my character formed, I tried to show the young generation the benefits to be derived from amateur sport. In my opinion, one of the objects of athletics is to fit the mind and body to defend one's country.' Strong, sterling, steadfast, the world is the poorer for the loss of Herbert Hunter." OTAGO BOYS AND THE WAR. Amongst Otago footballers who have been wounded at the Dardanelles (says the Dunedin correspondent of an exchange) is Private M'Queen, the Otago 'Varsity front-ranker of last season. It is a singular coincidence that the two University front-rankers, Lieut. Nisbet and Sergt. M'Queen, should have been wounded practically in the same forward rush on the Turkish lines. Another old University player is off to join the Royal Blues already at the frout. This is Dr. Tom Harrison, a well-known forward in his day, and an ex-Otago representative. He has left a good practice at Palmerston to bind up tho wounds of New Zealanders and Australians fallen in the battle, and if there is any chance will do a bit of fighting between times. First off the football ground and first into the field of batt^, Pirates have sacrificed their first grade team to the nation's cause, and still more of the Blacks are going to the front to join those already j there. E. Currie, A. E. Duncan, and C. Jamieson left on Saturday with Lord ] Liverpool's Own for Trentham, where a number of Pirates have been in training for some time ready to depart with the next reinforcements. Prominent amongst these is the old Pirates forward Smeaton, who lias received a commission in the Battery, and Roy M'Kellar, brother of Gerald M'Kellar, ex-New Zealand, exWellington, and Otago forward, who is also at the frojjt. Roy M'Kellar was wing three-quarter in the Pirates first | grade team last season. UMPIRING PROBLEM. Writing on the subject of the umpiring problem. "J.W.," . the able Austialasian writer, says that "it must be taken for granted that umpiring is a most difficult undertaking, for exceptionally few have solved the problem. Knowledge of the governing laws, character, temperament, intelligence, tact, and firmness are necessary qualities for a man to succeed, and, in looking back on the last three, decades, only three umpires have in any way justified themselves." He urges that while players should bo ooachoo in tha ruW, it itn jßAoniiaJ thai, .thA.iiAwdiaiLatjijihwlfi be ,

taught, and if not by a specialist, then' by the chairman of the committee. Their errors should be pointed out to them, the laws explained, and they should be told in no uncertain terms that it is their bounden duty to carry out the governing laws as printed and interpreted, irrespective of what their own opinion may be in the matter. NOTES. Owing to patriotic attractions none of tho competition matches were played today. A special reminder is given to the secretaries of junior and lower grade clubs to send in results of matches played every Saturday in time for the Evening Post Sports Edition. The well-known Rt' .'1 family of footballers in Southland »vill be well represented in the firing line shortly. N. L. Steadi, a Southland representative, brother of W. J. Stead, the All Black, lis the latest to enlist. A cousin of the i once-famous New Zealand five-eighths is also about to join the reinforcements, while another member of the family is already at the front, and reported wounded in the Dardanelles operations. H. Whittington, of the Hawera senior team, and one of the best forwards in Taranaki for some years, who has been a Taranaki representative for several seasons, has enlisted, and will probably leave for the camp shortly. He will be the second Whittington to go to the front. • Private Day (Wellington Infantry Battalion), who died of wounds received in the Dardanelles fighting, was a keen footballer in the Wanganui district. Private Edmund William Fahey (Otago Infantry Battalion) wounded at the Dardanelles, was a well-known footballer in Central Otago, and a man of hercnlean build. The Taranaki representative team which played at Wanganui on Thursday last was individually a very strong list, but as a combination was not a success. The backs are a, good lot and would probably combine well if they had opportunties to practice together.