FOOTBALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 279, 7 September 1936, Page 6

FOOTBALL.

IDLE ON TOUR. MANY PLAYERS INJURED. C. G. Porter, captain of the fourteenth New Zealand team to tour Australia in 1929, did not play until late in the tour on account of suffering from an injury while taking part in a game in New Zealand prior to leaving. C. Fletcher (Auckland) was a member of the ninth team in Australia in 1920, but did not play in a single match because of an injury received playing fur Auckland against his own All Blacks, when the province held New Zealand to an 11 points draw a week before sailing for Australia. C. E. Murnin, of the 1908-9 Wallabies, was taken seriously ill at Naples, and returned home without even seeing one of the 36 games played in England, Wales, British Columbia and California. W. H. Sobey, of the 1930 British team, was injured in the opening game against Wanganui, arid took no further part in tho Tour, either in the Dominion or Australia. J. van Niekerk, of tho 1931-32 Springboks, who won all four Tests in the United Kingdom, was hurt in the second game of the British tour, and took no further part in it. Don Max, of the 1932 All Blacks, was injured in the second game of the Australian tour, and did not play thereafter. A. W. Ross, captain of the 1933 team in South Africa, was operated upon for appendicitis after the eighth game of the tour, and did not play again until tho eighteenth, while S. J. Malcolm, vice-captain, was injured in the fourth match and did not reappear until the fourteenth.