FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 858, 2 July 1910, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

-9 T" RUGBY. _ (BY AP.istoivolub.) Only Mediocre. Better form , was shown by Athletic in their match against St. James last Saturday, but there is still room for a lot of improTement. The forwards did well in the first spell, and again towards tho end of the game, but in the early stages of the second spell eould not foot it with St. James, who at that stage only gave a proper glimpse of what they are capable of doing. As regards play, i't was much the same as usual, there being.a paucity of concerted movement. "Only mediocre" w;as tbc quality of the St. James play—they have been seen to better and to worse advantage. Lack of dash marked their forwards' work; and it .seemed to be due to bad generalship'. Owing to readjustments,, tho back division did not show their accustomed speed or vigour in attack, nor was their defence as good as usual. "Rangi" Wilson 11. Of tho Athletic backs, Evenson was the mainstay. Sim Wilson fielded well at times, did a lot of running about—sometimes without result—and obtained a pretty try. M'Kenzie, who played the major part in securing this score, is %till weak." M'Vay and M'Donald were worth tliek places, and Cnnninghnmo was "offcolour/' but Leahy did not shine in any direction. ' A bright spot among the Athletic forwards was Wilson, jun., who played somewhat after the style of his elder brother "Eangi." Once he got awpy splendidly, his effort being warmly applauded. Of the other Athletic forwards,' Osborne and Rapsou were the pick. St.'James Unearth Promising Junior. St. James backs had hard luck in losH. Roberts at half-time through an accident. Together with Bradley and E. Roberts he did a lot of valuable work. Of the other players in tho St. James Rearguard, W. Crewes, on the left wing, attracted a good deal of attention, and it \rfll not be surprising if he proves a big acquisition to his side. Thomas fielded slovenly at times, witting for tho bounce repeatedly. P.- Orewes was not entirely happy in his work, and Jl'Orrath gave a feeble display. As regards . tho St. James players, it should be mentioned' that Wellington worked hard. Bruce frequently showed up well in the loose, but he was not at tho top of his form. None of the others did anything worthy of special mention. Oriental and Old Boys. Jlatheson, Oriental's fleet three-quartor, appears to have gone off considerably during tho past week or two. In Saturday's match against Old Boys, he scarcely did anything right, though it must bo said that in the majority of the passing rushes the ball was never sent on to him properly. It was generally a wild pass ho received, over his head or down by his feet, and generally he failed to accept them. Pyle, who plays on tho right wing for Oriental, still evinces a tendency to play far too deep, and is generally much too distant from his centre. On Saturday, 'however, he did plenty of useful work for liis side. Among tho Oriental forwards, fiuckenburg, Tyrell, Cameron, and Perry deserve mention for their play. While speaking of tho Oriental pack, it might be said that an opinion prevails in some quarters that some of tho black and white forwards wero inclined to play tho man rather than tho ball. If that was so, they will probably have decided to adopt different methods after, tho tussle with tho burly Old Boys forwards. Feature of Old Boys' Play. Tho feature of the Old Boys' play was tho excellence of the scrummers, the ball almost invariably going. to their backs from tho scrum. If there, is any of them deserving of being singled 1 out for mention, Dodd, Jacobsen, and Alexander were probably tho pick. The backs were all in great form, aiul when Gilberd commenced to send tho ball out to them, they played most attractive football. In tho second round of the competition, any team will have to put forward its very host efforts to defeat tho cx-collegians. H. D. Thomson May Play Again. Members of the Old Boys' Club aro very anxious that H. D. Thomson should once more lake tho field and play for their senior fifteen as full-back in tho second round, and there seems to be a possibility of his acceding (o their wish. When Inst ho played in Wellington Thomson was a member of the Oriental senior team, but originally he was in the ranks of the Old Boys. Were he to come out again lie would strengthen . what is already a fine team of backs. 1 A Step Up. Tho Wellington senior team has not taken'its accustomed place in local football this, season, having commenced with

seven successive defeats. Last Saturday the tide turned. Tho cause was not difficult to find, for was not the match against Southern, tho team whoso back division is far below standard? It cannot be said that the members of the Wellington rearguard aro particularly bright, but tho forwards helped things considerably at Karon last Saturday, and Lambert, the tall wing threequarter, mado good use of two opportunities which presented themselves. He was the ouiy scorer in tho match. Turner and Wilton were prominent in the operations of the Wellington vanguard. Hutt are to bo congratulated on their gallant display against I'oneke last Saturday, although it is true that tlio Hutt team were sorely pressed many times, tlio three points defeat indicates that tho suburban players are improving rapidly. The forwards were weak in following up, and lacked dash at the start, but in the closing stages of the game their play rivalled the form of any senior team in the championship. Turner, J.udd, and Tanuihill led the pack in practically every movement, Turner's tackling being especially clever. Of the backs special mention . must be made of 1!. Hayes, who checkmated tho opposition repeatedly. Cudby's kicking and tackling was the best ho has given this season, lioutley was again couspicuous principally in attack; and showed a fine turn of speed. It may be thought that Poneko wero taking tiio game with a certain amount of ease. This view, however, is eatirely wrong, and even their supporters must ndmit that they were lucky in securing a win. Hunter, the Dennehy Brothers, and Leahy—a very hard-working forward indeed is Leahy—showed excellent form, and were responsible for some fine forward rushes, and clever "line-out" work. Among the backs, Tilyard and • Slater were called upon to extricate tlieir side from danger several times, and invariably did what was wanted of them, Slater being most unostentatious in his style of defence. Not Brilliant. The Petone-Melrose match was by no means a brilliant display, line-kicking being indulged in far too much, and on many occasions Petone's back division spoilt good movements by kicking to touch, instead of passing. Melrose got possession of the ball from the scrimmage, 8 times out of ten, but could do no good with it. To Suppress Obnoxious Spectators. It is the intention of the Ota-go Rugby Football Union to endeavour to suppress the spectator who gives tho referee tho benefit of fr-oc advice, liberally intermixed with' judicious or injudicious adjectival comment. Mr. Campbell mentioned at the last meeting of tlio union that a gentleman had told him he was prepared to give tho name of ail individual who had favoured a referee ,at Carisbrook, with some choice comment. It was decided to correspond with tho official and afford facilities for carrying tho matter further. Mr. White mentioned another incident whicli occurred on Saturday, and in this caso it was resolved that, polico assistance should be invoked. The suggestion was, mads by Mr. White that members of the committee should place themselves amongst' the spectators on some occasions. The result, he hinted, would be informativo if not edifying. Other comment was mado which fully showed the desire of tho union to suppress this type of obnoxious individual. Spectators and Our Referees, It is rather a coincidence that this matter has also been discussed in Wellington recently. When 'the Referees' Association .w,is discussing a letter from Mr. Keys last Saturday concerning an official who had questioned his decision, _tlie general opinion' was that firm steps should be taken to suppress anything of the kind. Mr. Mullins said that on many of the grounds where senior matches were played referees had to put up with a constant torrent of comment from a certain class of spectators. He was of opinion that these individuals ought to be "settled." Towards the end of the first spell in tlio St. James-Athletic match last Saturday, somo of the occupants of the grandstand imagined that tho referee, Mr. W. Speucer,. had lost his temper. Ho blew his whistle and said sternly: "Too bloomin' offside." He was referring to the fact that, two Athletic players (two Blue men) had infringed tho rule. "Two Blue men": and "too bloomin"' are, of course, not quite the same thing. A problem lately put bofore the Referees' Association by a dissatisfied fifth-class team was as follows:—A scrum is formed near the line, and tlie attacking liqjf gets the ball and dives over, but in liis passage ho has hit the referee, should a try bo allowed? The decision is that another sc.rum should bo ordered. This is in accordanco with law, although it would not always meet with the approval of lower-grade players when it actually affected tho result of a'match. bather Overdrawn. Tho following from an English papot seems to rather overdraw the position so far as New Zealand is concerned:— Developments have taken placo even further afield, for in Queensland, in New i South -Wales, and in tho North and South Islands of New Zealand tho game, of Rugby, as played by the Northern Union, is firmly established. Soon our legislators will'need consider their title, for Northern Union sounds too parochial. Tlio Woodstock Football Club possesses a youth, who is the joy and the pride of the Oxfordshire folk among whom he lives. This is Guy Buckingham, who plays centre forward 'for the club. He is only 1G years of ago, niul lias scorcd 114 goals this season in league, shield, and cup matches. Doings in Other Lands. . A lot has been heard hero about.! American football (says the Australian "Star"), and the accompanying death-1 rate, and there were not a few of the spectator? on Saturday who fully expected a lot of . tho real Yankee game to be infused into( the visitors' display. However, tho Americans wero out to play Rugby, as it is played here under Union rules, and whether attacking or defending never introduced any phases of tho Yankeo rules into their play. They wero ugainst a much lighter side, and apparently knew it, playing tho game as it should be played, if they aro to learn anything. Three New Zealand footballers took part in tho final for the Northern League championship (England) between Oldham and Wigan. For Oldham tho veteran G. W. Smith, of the "All Blacks," was playing wing three-quarter, and on tho opposing side were Seeling, another "All Black," in the forwards, and Launcelott Todd at centre three-quarter. All three were prominent in the game, which was won by Oldham by 13 points to 7.