RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1926, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

THE GAME IN NEW ZEALAND. PARS FROM THE SOUTH. Petone and Athletic are showing the ■way to nine other senior teams in the "Wellington senior A competition, and the woollen mills township is already being nominated for the club championship. Out of its club players in Christchurch alone, Canterbury could field a back division, every man of whom has worn the All Black jersey, viz., Harris at fullback, Robilliard, Ford and Elvey three-quarters, McGregor and Johnson five-eighths and Dalley half. How's that for a start?

The marriage of George Xepia, the Maori footballer, took place at Tikitikj last week, to Miss Huinga Kohere, eldest daughter of the late Lieut. Henare Kohere, who died of wounds in the late war. The Rev. P. M. Kohere, uncle of the bride, officiated, assisted by Canon A. F. Williams. The wedding feast was partaken of by a great concourse of Maoris and pakehas.

Two All Blacks were fn action in Invercargill recently for the first time in many moons. One was "Son" White, who has not played since the All Blacks went home a couple of seasons ago. The veteran showed good form, and kicked a couple of penalty goals. The other was Jim Archer, the crack eouthern distance runner and. member of the .1925 All Black team which visited Sydney. Archer sustained an injury to the cartilege. of his knee in the first Test match against NewSouth Wales, a class of injury which has cut short the careers of many > a brilliant footballer. Archer has not been able either to run or play football since that ill-fated day, and although he turned out at wing threequarter in an endeavour to work gradually back to form, the knee soon started to swell again.

Sydney Rugby League's attempt to get another lease of the Sports Ground, which it has monopolised for years, has been frustrated (says a Sydney Rugby writer). The ground trustees were willing, hut Lands Minister Loughlin was not, and he has the last word. The Minister can see no reason why the ground should not he allotted on different days to other sports bodies. Although it gives Hawke's Bay a closer grip on the shield than ever, the decision of the N.Z.R.F.U. that except under the special circumstances of a two-year tenure or more, the Ranfurly shield shall be played for on the ground of the holders, is a sound one. Provincial tours these day* have become such lengthy affairs that few provinces can get really representative sides to travel. The new rule was sponsored hy Wellington which lost the shield on tour to Southland in 1920. Southland in turn lost the shield on tour the following year, hut for several years past Southland has only lost one match on its own ground on which it has defeated New South Wales, Hawke's Bay and a host of other provincial Sides.

The passing of time has sadly thinned the ranks of the old N.Z.E.F. team, ■which, in the heydey of its victorious career, ran to some 40 ir 50 men all told. Now, a bare half 'ozen remain to carry on its football traditions in Maoriland. First on the list comes the (ever-green Alfie West, of Taranaki, wearer of an All Black jersey and an imperturbable grin; Dig Jim Moffett, the massive lockman of the Springbok year, is still boxing on in Wellington; Moke Bellis, grim of visage and girthy as of yore, successfully defies the onslaughts of Time in the sawmilling township of Taihape; Jockey Ford still flashes down Lancaster Park in Christchurch of a Saturday afternoon; and burly Dick Fogarty, and Singe, the dashing forward, are froth in Auckland, Dick being a Rugby representative of proved standing, and Singe a crack League forward. The casual spectator who ' strolls along at any old time during the afternoon to criticise the play usually overlooks the fact that many of the players who provide the fun of the afternoon have to scurry over their lunch, grab their togs and off to the playing arena. It may even happen that sometimes one young athlete will grab the outfit of the other fellow, and, as routes to playing areas do not always run in the same direction, this may account for a straycoloured jersey appearing in some particular team. The inevitable mix-up happened the other afternoon on a northern ground, when a prominent player unearthed a whole set of mysterious togs from his brief hag, the property of his better half. Unfortunately for the player, they were distinctly out of season, so he hastily bundled them up again and an obliging emergency came to the relief.—Christchurch "Star."

The growing tendency of sports bodies to shield their opinions and their deliberations under the cloak of the magic phrase " in committee " is causing comment among those who have put them in these positions (says the "New Zealand Times"). The New Zealand and Wellington Rugby Unions are cases in point. No one suggests that there i 3 any underhand business going on, but when the parent body is arranging tours running into thousands of pounds collected from the pockets of the followers of the game, then those who subscribe the money have a right to know everything that is transpiring. The appointment of two managers for the Maori team, in the face of the appointment of one for almost every preceding team should be explained. Why i 3 the game being put to the big extra expense* The policy of the Wellington Rugby Union in hearing in committee the cases of players ordered off the field for fighting'should also be explained. The Star Chamber methods of dealing with the culprits are not British, and in fairness to all sides these matters should he made open. Two senior players commit a bad breach of the rules; their names appear in the daily papers on Monday; and yet, at the meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union, both sides of the story are heard in committee.