THE SOMME CUP

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3102, 5 June 1917, Page 6

THE SOMME CUP

PARISIANS ACCLAIM VICTORY OF NEW ZEALANDERS ."'.THE "GAME IN PARIS" .(Prom Malcolm lioss, War Correspondent with the N.Z. Porces in the Field.) • April ]j. A general order to the British Annies ,h tho Field, in Friiuce, issued tonio taonths ago, emphasised the importauce Df physical training in war. Many ..of tho divisions in tho front took that order to heart, and aniongst other exercises football became tlio most popular. Boxing, crosscountry running, musketry, Ibayonet and , bombing competitions, also 'entered, into the scheme. The New Zcalanders, as is their wont, went into the scheme with enthusiasm and thoroughness.' Lieut.-Colonel Plugge, who fought on Gallipoli and in the Somme Battle, iwas appointed Director of Physical Trainting,. and at once set to work to get a strong football team together. Names of footballers from the different units of the !division were sent in, and from this list J2i of the best men were chosen to form the New Zealand Division Rugby Football ;Team.; The rteara .-was '. housed at the Divisional School, and there.it put in Ifiome hard work in training and in Ifatigues. It has turned out about five in bayonet lighting and four Kn bombing. Usually the team assembled W; 7 a.m. for half an hour's physicnl exercise. From 9 till 1 they were with the school instructors. From 2.30 till 4.30 T>.m. they -were at wad work or football ijiractico, and three nights a week they 'epent 6ome time in the school gymnasium. ISince the beginning of February they '.have been engaged on fatigues' from 9 a.m. till 4.30 p.m. sevens days a week. A Fine Record. / During the lime they have been in existence as a team they have played floine important matches, and have scored, j in these 376 points to 9. Other matches Iplayed bring their total score up to 643 'points to 9. The following is a list of ]the principal matches:— j . Against. v ' , Score. /A British Division team ...— 71 to 3 IA British Division team 44t00 !An E.E. team 22t00 (A Welsh Division team 18 to 3 !An Irish Division team 49 to 3 (An K.F.C. team 82toO !A Welsh Division team 3 to 0 Franco '. •••• 40to Q iN.Z. Hospital, Amiens 4-1 to 0 j.. ■ { 37Gt09 The New Zealaud team iacluded such 'players as Scott, the ' full-back, from Otago; three-quarter backs, E. Kyuu (Wellington), G«>rge Murray (Auckland), G. il3. Owles (Canterbury), W. Wilson (Wellington) ; five-eighths, S. Cameron (Tarainaki), J. C. Macintyro (S. Auckland), A l . fP. Stead (Canterbury); half-backs, C. ißrown (Taranaki), P. A. Eoss (Auck--land); wing-forward, B. Taylor (Taranaid); forwards, R. <T. Casey (Auckland), iH.'G. Whittington (Taranaki), J. Moffit (Wellington), T. French (Auckland), C. King (Canterbury), A. ("l?a.nji") Wilson .'(Wellington), and AV. Bell (Wellington). '■ The strongest team by far that the •New Zealanders met was undoubtedly the team from a Welsh Division, all fiood players, and v among thorn several Internationals. To eee this match I motored through part of Northern Prance into Belgium, and there in a field near a monastery I found a large crowd of British- soldiers keenly intent upon every turn of the game. Generals and many officers wero present, and a regimental band played before the commencement and during the half-time interval. Some of tlie local people who had never seen a Rugby football match were also there, and on the outskirts of tho crowd, also interested, bnt not greatly' understanding, were the big tonsured monks in their flowing robes, from the adjoining monastery. Close at hand a great captive balloon. Bwung in the air, and at intervals came the report of a bursting shell Hung from the Bocho lines. A Belgian Prince (whoso sister helped Edith Cavell, and is low in solitary confinement in a German prison on tho Rhino) was' among the specitators, and to him and to one of the ■Belgian monks I had to explain the intricacies of the game. The cheering "Tommies," the two teams- fighting their friendly battle in the arena, the Trappist Monks "in such strange juxtaposition, the excited Belgian youths, and the big balJooii swaying in the blue; made up as etrange a. eeene as anyone has viewed dn this war'. I had taken with mo one of tho official kinematographer6,.so that, one day New Zealanders will be able tol see something of ,tlie movement of the , ■scene thousands of miles away in their own country. For some days before we had been wading knee-deep in mud and Water aud ice in our own front line, Retting pictures of the shells bursting on the German trenches just' opposite. • The.game itself was an interesting one to watch, for the sides , were more evenly matched than the score would seem to indicate, and the passing rushes of the >s T ew Zealanders at times were quite '".brilliant, and drew forth enthusiastic ■comments from the Euglisk and Welsh.' experts who crowded on the touch-Ime. The return match against tliis team was ia closer contest, but it was played on a ground slushy with mud and a greasy Ml.that made good play almost impossible. ' j The Game in Paris. ■ It had been the great ambition of the New Zealaud- team to make a trip w Kngland to play the famous, and up till then, unbeaten, Army Service team, and 'also to play a match, against Wales, but the exigencies of trar.. barred the way. UVs some eoloce for this disappointment, (however, a match was played in Pans ibetween. a team representing New Zealand, and one representing France. 11ns match, arranged by the proprietors of the /well-known French, newspaper 'Lβ Jonrcnal" and I/Union to Societies l'ran■caises de Sports Athletiques, assumed khe importance of an international event, 'and drew an enormouß concours&of 60,000 people to the ground at Vineennes, just outside the gates of Paris. This attendance is supposed to be a world's record tfor a Eugby football match. Members of ithe French Ministry, British and French Generals, and representatives of such far■apart countries as America, Ruesia, Rujnania, and Montenegro "iveie present. >Tho teams were:— . New Zealand.—Full-back, Bomb, H. iW. Adams; three-quarters, Sorgt. 13. ißyan, Sergt. G. Murray (captain), Corpl. G Owles; five-eighths, Pte. N. F. Stead, Bomb. J. C. MOntyre; half, Sapr. G. Brown; wing, Lce.-Corpl.Jß. Taylor; forwards, Ptes. R. Fogarty, G. WhittingIton A. Wilson, Gun. L. Cockroft, Pte. G. King, Ice.-Corpl. J. Moflatt, Pte. T. I'rencb. v -

France.—Pull-back, S.-Lieut. Bechade; three-quarters, Corpl. Juppe,, Aide-Major 'Jaureguy, Adi. Pilots Aviateur Strohl, Lieut, do Eozieres; halves, Mar. Logis 'Pilbte Aviateur Boyau (capitane), S.iieut. Bascou; forwards, S. Lieut. Pelloneau, Sergt. Jules Porguee, S.-Lieut. de Beyessac, llav. logis Arnal. Motoc. •Manniot, ..Capitano Elnere, Aide-Major Pavre, Mar. Logis Rouzies. ■ Twenty-three French Generals were written "to and gave their consent to officers and men leaving the front io take part in tho match. Several of the Trench players had taken part in an attack against the Germans on the preceding day. Captain Eluere had been in a "tank" in an engagement at 5.130 ■ji.xn. on the preceding day. Boyau, the captain of the team, had brought down 3io fewer than seventeen German aeroplanes. The other aviators had eacli two or three enemy planes to their credit. Every man in tho team had come straight from tho front. ■ As tho teams filed on to the ground the enthusiasm of the crowd knew no Iwunds. The band played the "Marseillaise" and tho grave notes of "God Save '"the- King,' and the flags of tho Allies fluttered bravely in the breeze. . I was unable myself to go to Paris to see| the match, but I gather from thoso who Iwere present that tho play was quite interesting, and that tho 6core is scarcely an indication of the excellent light put up by the French team. The ;New Zealanders were, as usual, slow in getting to work, and in the first spell they put on only eleven points. In the second spell (hoy showed a decided suipcriority in passini and in the finer ■points of tho same! Experts say that ninco tho All Blacks visited Paris gome

ten years ago there has been a great improvement in French Eugby play, and that the New Zealaud team in this match showed that they wore better than any that had visited Paris except tho All Blacks, ami, possibly, the South Africans. Of lato years the French have been in the habit of playing four international mutches each yoar, against England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, «nd, generally, they manage to win one of these matches, so it may be conceded that their standard of play is a pretty high ono. The reception of the team at the match and generally in the few days- they were in Paris was extraordinarily euthnsiastic. They were there at a memorable time. The news of the declaration of war against Germany by the United States of America had coino to hand, and in honour of the event tho tricolour was fluttering in every street in Paris and in the streets of every village behind the battle zone in Prance. And in addition the British in the great battle of Arras had just proved, for the second time, (bat they were capable of smashing the flower of the German Army in Northern Prance. Enthusiasm in the cause of the Allies had reached a high pitch. "When, finally, the New Zealand team had lined up* and gave a performance of the wild Maori war dance, the "haka," roars of laughter and cheering resounded from all parts of the ground. Afterwards the French journals described how the strange rvthni of the dance was taken up from the capiain by the rest of the team with expressive motions nnd the beating of hands and feet aud loud aud sharp cries. "As tho men tako up. tho chorus," one writer said, "the public- acclaim our guests, who, without losing time, begin to give forth their terrible Koinati-•Komati-Ka-ourah." A. few moments later the French team entered the field in its turn," with as warm a greeting as its rivals. "Bravo! Les poiliis," frantically shouted the spectators, for they were in truth poilus, and real ones, these footballers in blue jerseys, white knickers, and red stockings, lor several of them, for instanco the young Captain Eluere, on the very eve of the match had taken part in ah attack against the. Germans.

At the conclusion of the game tho French team rushed to the New Zealanders, and in a trice they had stripped off their jerseys and exchanged them for their own. The journey from the gates back to Paris' was in the' nature of a triumphal procession. The crowds again gavo vent to their enthusiasm, and women rushed forward and kissed the New Zealand-heroes.

In Paris the members of the teem ■were feted right royally. They were banquetted by "Le Journal," invited to the clubs, arid had seats reserved for them at the theatres. "Le Journal" proprietors presented them with a spirited statuette in bronze, ,"Le Lanceur de Grenades," by tho sculptor Cbauvel, a Salon exhibitor, designed -whilst he himself was in the trenches. This "Coupe de la Somme," as it hae been named, is indeed an interesting trophy to take back across the seas to New Zealand. It is perhaps the most unique memento of our participation in the war. In addition each one 'of the athletes and.'heroes" received a beautiful medallion' in frosted silver, on -which is the famous figure in relief of La Maraellaiso from the Arc de Triomphe. They also were given tinder boxes of solid gold or gold and eilverA These also were from "Le Journal." Other journals, including the "Daily Mail" and "Sporting/ , likewise entertained tho New Zealanders. They had the time of their lives, and New Zealand got an advertisement second only to the part it has taken in the war in this generous country. ,