FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Issue XXXVI, 21 October 1905, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

%--. • RUGBY, ■'..#?,■ • The following extracts irom an ar■tjejte. written by a well-known Wellington footballer, And which appeared in a college are well worthy pi reproduction can he little doubt that the public mind is seriously exercised at the present time as to whether Rugby as she is played jiiter all, -that clean and wholesome -influence on the life of the people" of ; our country which its proud position as the "national" game -gives us .the right to expect. Some, indeed, have arrived at the conclusion that Rugby is a game which lends itself entirely ito the satisfaction of vthe more brutal instincts of mankind; that the players »re -"roughs" who are everready to take advantage of .their opportunities; and that the "barrackers" are removed

only in dress arid language from .trie| crowd which thronged -the amphitheatre on a Roman holiday. Such cpnclusipns ; are -not likely to commend t-hemselyes i to us as fair and just, -but T am led to pen these 'lines because X believe: that they contain an element of truth, ! and because I believe that unless the. truth is promptly recognised by the, players themselves there -is a danger that one of the best of all winter games, New Zealand's national game, will lose its hold-upon those whose support alone makes the game worth play-, iug. For there are circumstances in. which the best of games may lose itsj worth and find the wages of rsin in. death. If football were to a, great ejt" tent-in 4he bands of men to -whom -ivie-: tory was dearer than fairrplayrr-if ii. did excite the b.aser -impulses of -the mob at the expense of its finer feelings -Mbe case for its .exteiminatipn would be complete. The talk, hofweyer, is but' ; pne of the expressions of ap ipphealthy ■ spirit. Even in representative 'foo.tball: ope sees such a thing as a player de- 1 liberately playing the man before he. has touched the ba]l. In the AucklandWellihgton match this year op several' > occasions I distinctly saw a -man .on ihe line-out pushed wlven he was about to jump for the ball. Wben the ball is being placed, as from a mark, it is \a*. common thing to see.men -endeaypurmg 1 to imprpve on the position, law and," good faith have assigned to them. Tripping and ptber branches of theobstrue-' tion game are more apt to he dpne on: the .spur .of the moment, but it is ba.rd" : to make excuges for the man, who; s.crews your neck in the obscurity of a. rough-and-tumble. I suggested .at, fthe-' beginning that football is judged by its friends. In . tirutb -no> game bad .ever more reason tp pray for? deliverance from its friends than foot-' ball in Wellington. I beard an old re- ; preventative player declare, after witnessing the Auckland-Wellington match; this year, that he bad seen his last football match. If the game, he said, had that .effect upon tbe -crpw.d, -the: less it was encouraged the better. And, indeed the Wellington crpw.d-rrpr rather,; sections pf it—gave an. exhibition of »n-; generous and unfair and inhospitable partiality widen was pttierly .distress-; ing. Some men were so carried away: by their discreditable bias jthat tbey. bppted an Auckland player -when be was acie to take the field ftftcr an accident..: What football wants is not the bPpdlum who smokes cigarettes on the bank and bowls down the side he does not happen to support, but the man wbP ba-s. the spirit of sppr-tsmanship, Jbe-jj lieves in its highest traditions, and °an.| j see the merit of an opponent's jpbiy. The London "Daily MaiF just to bapd| jby the last 'Frisco mail, contains the I f ollpwing remarks appertaining to the I fpptball' prpspectsOpf the crack Rugby j i teams in Wales whom the New Zcalanders meet at the end of the year:rr"SVaiisea, the great invincible team of: last season, will have the whole of theirplayers at command again. , The migra- 1 tion of Jim Davies "to -the Northern' Union .will not affect the team in ihe least, as he was only played as a reserve last season? !>pt he was a very; capable reserve, and as such his loss will be felt. Frank .Gordon, last season's captain, has been re-elected, and a more capable leader has not led the all whites since Bancroft's retirement. The three-guarr ters line will be Gordon, "yrew, Dan] Rees, and jpweit. G. Dayies, the in- ■ lernation.al back,-will be in Ms usual;, place, with the brilliant youngster, Jack J Bancroft, as his understudy. At half-back the incomparable pair pf, ''Dicks" —Owen and Jonev—yrill again, be seen, and with such a -brilliant threequarter line to feed Swansea's passing: game should he up to the very high J standard of last season. ,

The forwards. Serines, Parker, D. J Thomas, Hunt, D. D,avies ? Mumbles Davies, E. Morgan, Joseph and Coles axe again ayaiiable, so it is safe to saj that Swansea will lose very fevi matches during the season 1905-6. Cardiff, who had a very good reeprc last season, notwithstanding one or twe uncountable defeats op their owx gTound towards the close, will hav< c£ et 1y neariy~the same "fifteen" as lasl : s r ,? ar: &*"% Bush, who made such a name for himself' with the Anglp-Ans tralians last year, is the new captain and a very popular choice it has been Frank Young, the full-back, is agair available, and the old international Winfield, is ready "to be called unoi should occasion demand."' "' ' ••-"-«■. ■ The line will be (Jabe (who also visited New Zeaamd with Bedell-Sievright's team), Biggs, Gun stone, and J! L. Williams, while A. WB, bams will again nta£e a bold bid for a flaoe. Cardigwßc-atn not ekw.