SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27191, 7 November 1953, Page 9

SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

ALF. FANNING A New Zealand Rugby representative, the brother of a, famous player, and uncle of an other who has won the All Black jersey in both Rugby Union and League,* Alf. Fanning has a background of Rugby football that few can claim. His brother, Bernie/ was one of the most famous locks in the days of the 2-3-2 scrum, and was a member of the New Zealand team which visited Australia in 1903 and is still regarded by many as the best team ever to leave New Zealand. He also played against Bedell-Sivright’s team in. 1904, played more than 50 games for. Canterbury and was a member of the Linwood Club which won the Canterbury Rugby Union’s championship five years in succession.

Another brother, Leo, was one of the prime movers in the foundation of the Christchurch Boys’ High School Old Boys’ team and when well past his best took many a beating in the good company of Bob Deans, Jack Guthrie and other stalwarts who later saw their team develop championship class. AIL Fanning’s nephew, Lou Peterson, who played after the First World War, was described by Bernie Fanning as the best Ime-out forward since the hey-day of Charlie Seeling.

With two brothers to set him an example it was only natural that Alf. Fanning should follow in their footsteps and in learning his Rugby he was brought up in the tough way. His early grounding was given him at the Marist Brothers’, School where he played on a ground which as be says “Was as bad as a road .with more boulders than tufts of grass and, when tries were scored, the goal-line was a hawthorn hedge at one end and a horse-tethering rail at the other, with side-lines another hawthorn hedge and a paling fence.” This was tough going for the Rugby enthusiast and he recalls that during the week-ends he and his friends usually managed to secure a pig’s bladder from one of the slaughter works and got as much fun out of their substitute football as the average senior grade player does out of his game today. The inflation of the ball was a job in itself and “if a bike pump could not be borrowed then each would take it in turn to transfer all his available breath into the bladder, through a straw. The unfortuate boy was the one who took a breath while he still had the straw in his mouth.” After playing for his school in matches mainly against Waltham, where Mr Frank Pratt,' a real Rugby enthusiast, was in charge and Sydenham, of which Mr John Baldwin, of revered memory, was headmaster, Fanning became apprenticed to the carpentry trade. He recalls a year when after his school team had won the primary schools competition the successful fifteen was sent to Timaru to play the Marist Brothers’ School there. The result was not what was expected. The team was beaten by more than 30 points, and Fanning had his first introduction to T. W. (Tiger) Lynch, later to become one of New Zealand’s greatest three-quarters, and Paul Kane, who also played for New Zealand under the name of Markham.

When Faiyiing and some of his cronies met under a city shop veranda one evening, the talk was on Rugby, and it was decided to form the Shamrock Club, for which he played two years in fourth grade. His next move was to his brothers’ club, Linwood, for which he played three years in third grade. He made still another change in 1910 when he became a foundation member of the Marist Brothers’ Old Boys’ Association team, which in its first game was beaten by Merivale by 45 points to 0. Other men playing at that time included the three Mahoneys, Jack, Jerry and Billy, and Steve O’Brien, all from the Sydenham Club. Dick Moloney,. Charlie Baker and Peter Amodeo. “We had a hard row to hoe in those days,” Fanning said, “and if we were not beaten by 30 points we thought there was something wrong.” In later years, however, he was to see the club which he helped to establish rise to the top and establish a record which is not likely tc* be beaten for many years. In 1913-14 he was a regular member of the Canterbury team which included Don Sandman, Billy Maxwell, Charlie Hegarty, “Nuts” Hasell (Merivale). Harry Watson, and Ernie Fraser (Sydenham) and Ernie Taylor and George Guthrie (Old Boys). He played 12 games for Canterbury and one for New Zealand against Australia at Lancaster Park before war was declared and football became a secondary consideration. In the international match he scored the only try credited to New Zealand which was beaten by 13 points to 5. ( During the closing months of the vzar he played football in England for the Torquay Discharge Depot in ghmes against Wales, Cornwall and Devon-

shire, besides army teams. Returning tc New Zealand he put his football togs away and took no part in the game until about 1946 when he joined the Albion Club. For three years he fought hard for recognition of the Junior Advisory Board of which he was chairman in 1950 and was elected a representative on the management committee „of the Canterbury Rugby Union. He played a big part in gaining representation of the board on the union and the invaluable work being done by this organisation has only recently been appreciated. ' “The boys of today are just as clevet at Rugby as ever they were, although not so tough and well-trained as in years gone by. This is attributed to the easier conditions of living. A bit more good roast beef and Irish stew and fewer motor-car rides would be an advantage to many we know and the 40-hour week has also upset the proper training,” said Fanning. “In our day we worked till noon on Saturdays, had a light dinner and got down to the serious business on hand fit and welj. Now the idea seems to be a dance or a party on Friday night and a "Sleep in on Saturday. To really enjoy a game you must be fit for the game and the tough roosters/you will meet.”

One of the fastest forwards playing in his day Alf. Fanning was something of a sprinter and competed wjth sue/ cess at many sports and picnic meetings in Canterbury. Bernie Fanning, the most noted of the family in the Rugby* field, was a blacksmith by trade and, as tough as they are made, it is said that he could strike matches on his calloused hands. When he locked a scrum it stayed locked. He was a born humourist and the worst sailor imaginable. When he travelled with the New. Zealand team to Australia in 1903 he was confined to his bunk for the full trip. “Can I bring you anything, sir,” said a compassionate steward after the ship had-been out several days. ‘Yes,' said Bernie, “bring me that Sydney wharf as quick as you can.”