RUGBY & THE WAR HEAVY LOSSES IN THE RANKS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 34, 10 February 1915, Page 8

RUGBY & THE WAR HEAVY LOSSES IN THE RANKS

COMPETITIONS TO BE CARRIED OUT NO INTERFERENCE WITH MILITARY ARRANGEMENTS. Shortening twilights are a reminder that the football season is creeping on apace, and a good deal of conjecture has arisen as to the effect the war will have on the "good old game." There is no sport which has more loyally answered the call to arms than that of football. Not by dozens, but by hundreds, have footballers throughout New Zealand thrown aside their jerseys for khaki tunics, and naturally Rugby is going to be very seriously crippled. With the destiny of the Empire at stake, this is, of_ course, a minor patter. In common with the other provinces, however, Wellington football for the season close at hand will be very hard hit. A safe estimate of the number of men eligible for service abroad who have joined the colours is about 35 per cent., and as more Reinforcements are sent away this average will largely increase. Not only will the game be affected by the loss of men who are going into the actual firing line, but there are a large number ot footballers doing duty at the forts, and these men will only be available when football does not clash in any way with their duty to the country. Although under a serious handicap, the Rugby competitions will be ushered in as usual in Wellington somewhere about the middle of April — a. definite date ha 8 yet to be fixed. As to interprovincial matches, these will be very materially curtailed, if/ not abandoned altogether. This step will be rendered necessary by the fact that none of the provincial unions will be able to put really representative teams into the field. And there will be no visit from an overseas' team this season. Australia has abandoned the intention of interchanges of visits for the present, and a similar decision was arrived at by the New Zealand Rugby Union a week or two ago. HAND IN HAND WITH DEFENCE. The position with regard to local football was reviewed by Mr. E. 0. Hales, chairman of the Wellington Rugby Union, in the course of a conversation with a Post reporter. " Personally," said Mr. Hales, "I do not agree with Mr. Mason, president of the Canterbury Rugby Union, when he states that football is likely to interfere with military training or recruiting. It is desirable that the competitions should be continued, so as to provide healthy' recreation for a large number of people, who would otherwise be walking the streets.. Our union does all it possibly can to assist the military authorities, and it is not likely that a man is going to let football prevent him from joining the Forces." Mr. Hales added that by an arrangement with General Sir A. Godley a conference is held between the military and Rugby authorities prior to every season, and the former indicate the dates they require for military purposes. The union makes its fixtures accordingly, and dates required for camp or parade purposes are abandoned as football Saturdays. Speaking for himself and every other member of the Management Committee he could positively state that if it were a question between defence and football the union would step aside at once. " Football," asserted Mr. Hales emphatically, "is not going to interfere with recruiting in the slightest." FILLING THE GAPS. As some of the ,clubs have lost the. services of about SO per cent. ' of their active member the question arises as to how the various grades will be filled. So far as the senior teams are concerned, St. James appears to be in a precarious condition, and there is a likelihood its team may drop out altogether. This will leave Poneke, Wellington, Athletic, Mejrose, Petone, and University in the senior competition, and it is possible that one of these clubs will also be a "nonstarter" in the senior cup. Every local club will be hard put to it to fill the gaps caused by men going away on the country's service. Many of the old familiar faces on the Rugby field will be missing and naturally the sport will suffer in consequence. But with the sporting instinct which characterises enthusiasts of the game, the club officials are doing their utmost to keep the Rugby banner flying in the face* of heavy odds. Men who laid aside their football "shorts" seasons ago will once more be seen in hot pursuit of the leather, and other vacancies in the senior ranks will be filled by men promoted from the junior grades. With the heavy withdrawals, especially from the junior ranks, it will be impossible to maintain five grades of football as at present, and one or two of the lower grades will have to be cut out. RUSH TO THE COLOURS. To come to the losses sustained by the individual clubs. One of the heaviest losses in active membership is that experienced by the Wellington Club, which, with Athletic, tied for senior championship honours last year. The competition could not be fought to a definite conclusion by reason of the fact that the rush for enrolment made it impossible for the Wellington Club to continue. Eleven or so of its senior players joined the ranks in the height of the season, and the remaining three or four wanted badly to do so, but were prevented from doing so because they were required at the forts. A convincing refutation to the argument that football induces young men to shirk their obligations to their country is afforded by a recent photograph taken in Samoa, which shows no fewer than fifty-six Wellington clubs' players in uniform. The ranks of the Athletic Club have been badly thinned. Adams, Bell, Robinson, and Gosling have all volunteered, and other absentees from the football field will probably be Evenson, Murphy, S. Wilson, Cunningham, and Osborn. In addition to these absentees, thirty-three juniors in the different grades have enlisted. Oriental, too, will feel the pinch very badly. Many of their crack players are now in the ranks. Of their senior forwards, G. King, T. King, S. Chapman, S. Thome, C. Gair, S. Perry, and J. Hills have joined the Forces, also Carmichael, G. Owlea, and G. Pearce, all well-known backs. Then there are thirty-seven junior players who have gone, or aro going, to the war. And all these were men who were actualy playing last season. The same condition of affairs is reflected in the other clubs, though to a lesser extent. IN DUNEDIN. Our Dunedin correspondent telegraphs that, owing to the large number of Rugby footballers who have gone to the front, it is exceedingly probable that all interprovincial matches for 1915 will be cancelled. The president of the Otago Rugby Union (Mr. H. Harris) holds this belief, and adds that he* knows that Auckland certainly does not intend to travel. Local matches will be played, but the season will be curtailed owing to some of the clubs being unable to raise senior teams. It is estimated that from sixty to seventy per cent, of "Rugger" players who

cd. The Union Club, one of the oldest | established clubs in this city, has lost 25 members, and the Pirates' ranks have also been appreciably thinned. The Otago Rugby Football Union has written to the various clubs, asking to be supplied with the number of players who have gone, and these figures should be interesting. Nothing definite in regard to the curtailing of local matches, however, will be decided upon till the annual meeting of the union next month. FROM FOOTBALL TO DRILL. Touching on the same subject, our Sydney correspondent writes :— "Sport has been dropped for drill and nfleshooting. _ Generally speaking, that is; prize-fighting at stadiums still goes on, but public opinion is becoming so strong that this sport too must go. After the war we can come back to our games. The New South Wales and Metropolitan Rugby Unions are following the lead of the play era in the home of Rugby. It has been decided to play only a limited number of fixtures this season, and to devote the time thus gained to the military training of their players, ex-players, officials, and supporters. The fixtures with Queensland and New Zealand have been abandoned, as also has the proposal to send a team to the Panama Exposition. If the followers of the game pin with the union in this matter the company will be a very considerable one. Night drills are being arranged for in each district, and it is hoped that country players and supporters win also take the movement up. MILITARY CAMPAIGN SPREADING. "It is of interest to notice that of the players engaged in the Rugby game last year over 90 per cent, from Great Britain and France, 75 per cent, from Canada and considerably more than 50 per cent, from Australia and New Zealand are* on active service. Five of last year's New South Wales fifteen are in this State's quota, while 78 first-grade players, besidee great numbers of old players, and the second and third grade players are in the Australian Expeditionary Forces. A remarkable record has been put up by the Eastern Suburbs and Manly Clubs— the whole of their last-year fifteens have left for the front. The contagion spreads every day. Even men well on in years want to drill and learn to shoot. Everybody—nearly everybody-— is becoming a eport of the right sort."