FOOTBALL

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 184, 6 August 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOOTBALL

And so Auckland's first and most important 'interprovincial' has been decided in favour of our boys. May it be a.happy omea for the remaining fixtures! The excitement caused by the Wellington match has quite toned down by now, and the subject has been thoroughly thrashed out. Of course the match of 1898 is one that will never be forgotten , nor the brilliant achievement of the local team in scoring 16 points in the face of a strong wind, and against a Wellington fifteen. But at the time of writing the match against Canterbury is the principal football topic, and for the time being has thrust the victory of last week more or less into the background. This afternoon's match has not of course excited the tremendous interest which centred in the game decided last Saturday; few matches indeed could do that. But nevertheless if the -weather is fine this afternoon there will be a great attendance at Potter's, for everyone is anxious now to see what the Auckland boys can do on a dry day, if they perform so brilliantly in the wet. Our team is bound to show up better on a fine day, and had last Saturday been such, Wellingtoniaris must shudder to think what might have been the score piit up against them. While on the subject of Saturday's match, I may say here that I.was really disappointed with the play of the Wellington men, particularly in the second spell, and although not wishing to detract from the credit of the Auckland team's victory, I must say that I have never seen a poorer team do battle for Wellington

It speaks volumes for the popularity of the winter game in Auckland, and the. Auckland-Wellington match in particular, that 4000 people' should brave the storm on Saturday to see the football match. I* think I am right in saying that had the game been played in Wellington in such weather the attendance would barely have numbered 500. But this city always has been the stronghold of the Rugby game. A good story is at present going the .j-pund,s of an up-country town, which snows clearly that referees are sometimes appointed who are not suitable for the* position. It appears that a plaj'er received a pass from one of his team and punted towards his own goal-line. The ball went outside the posts, snd a player appealed for a goal. The referee gave it a goal, stating that as his back was turned away frota the player at the time the kick Was taken, he was not in a position to state whether it was correct or not, but having a doubt in his mind he would award a goal! Cock-a-doodle-doo I The Thames 'Star' crows over the Auckland-Wel-lington match: 'This win places Thames again in a position of champion of New Zealand, this honour being theirs'also, last season.' Before the match last Saturday a commission was sent up to Auckland from Wellington to ba<Jk the visitors to the extent of £250—a pretty good indication of the confidence felt by followers of the game in Wellington as to the success of their reps.

1 The success of the Auckland reps, last week in thus referred to by the reporter of the Wellington 'Post,' who accompanied the team: 'The Wellington team was fairly and squarely beaten on its own merits by a much superior team in every department of the game. From the outset the Aucklanders proved too clever for tile reps, from the Empire City, and as the game progressed it was painfully evident that in point of skill Auckland's was an immeasurably {Superior combination. At the start it delighted its supporters with some. clean and accurate passing amongst the speedy local backs, while the forwards surprised everybody by making suoh a splendid fight against the formidable Wellington combination. The 'jsrottibern scrummers played a 'geniiihe 'dashing game, and had decidedly the best" of the bout in the first spell.

•.'-:■.. . In the second half it was confidently anticipated that the wind, which" freshened as the game proceeded., would afford material assistance to the visitors, but these hopes were dashed to the ground by a bril-liant-and unexpected, display on the part of the Auckland pack. . . . Their brilliant loose rushes sa.voured very much of the display of the Wellington team in last year's Southern contests, with the exception that it was far more effective in its results. Several clever little bits of hand-to-hand work amongst the Northerners were the best seen in interprovincial football for a long time. They were much the better and deserved to win. Wellington had not the ghost of a show with the local men in the second half, and was never in the hunt. The visiting pack did not play up to expectations. There was a decided lack of combination, while those brilliant loose rushes for which they were famous were, with a few exceptions in the early part of the game, wanting on .this occasion.' What can be done in s the way of short, quick passes was well illustrated last Saturday when Asher and R. McGregor between them carried the ball along the line almost from one 25 to the other.

Harry Dansey, the half-back of the Canterbury rep. team, learnied his football at the Auckland College and Grammar School.'

Our 'veterans' should be able to put a strong* team in the field this year, judging by the names mentioned at their meeting last Tuesday. Last year's fifteen are all to be found among the eligibles, with? the exception of C. Caradus, M. Herrold and Rab McKenzie. The^rst two are evidently not going to come out of their

retirement this season, which is a pity, while McKenzie is a veteran no longer! Strange as such a statement may seem, it is the strict truth. 'Rab* played for the veterans last year and played so well that he was picked to represent the province againstth© New Zealand team. This season he has played continuously for Suburbs Club and easily won a place in the 'rep.' team of 1898 when the representative matches started. So that no doubt this year we shall see him playing against the very veterans ot whom he was 'magna pars' a twelve month ago. Everyone will remember what a good fight of it the veterans made last year; how the reps.1 were hard put to it to win, and only did so by a bare three points, the final score being 11 to 8. This season, in spite of the loss of the trio mentioned, the team should be every whit ah strong, for among those willing to play, in addition to last year's veterans, are E. B. Lusk, A. D'Arcy, R. Whiteside, T. B. O'Connor, E. Masefield, A. Braund, Murray, E. Handcock, and others whose names are intimately associated with past triumphs in the football field. At thb same time I must say I can't see how players like Murray, Roberts, Braund or Handcock can by any stretch of the term be called 'veterans.' All four have been playing regularly this season, and not one of them has retired from the game. The veterans' team should be made up of footballers of the past, and it loses all its significance if players who are still actively engaged in the game are brought in. The fifteen will be picked next Tuesday evening, and it is to be hoped that a match against the Auckland reps, can be fixed for an early date. The proceeds of the,match will be devoted to local charities. - At the last meeting of the Council of the N.S.W. Rugby Union Mr Macmanamey, referee, submitted the following report: —'In the match Queensland v. New South Wales, played on the Sydney. Cricket Ground on Saturday, my decision was challenged on a point of law under the following cir : cumstances: A Queensland player bounced or patted the ball down in the New South Wales' in-goal. When his hand- lost contact with the ball the ball was about 2ft ' from the ground, and on my ruling that a try was not gained the Queensland captain at once challenged it. I report the result of the match as a win for New South Wales by 13 points to 5.' A protest was lodged against the referee's, decision by the Queenslanders. In view of the referee's report, the matter will now rest pending a communication thereon from the Queensland R.F.U. The use of a scoring-board in the Auckland-Wellington match last Saturday was a good idea. The figures could be read plainly from all parts of the field and must have saved a vast amount of mental addition, when we consider the thousands who watched the game.