MAORIS ON TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 23

MAORIS ON TOUR

FOOTBALL IN FIJI

"SPLENDID MATERIAL"

The visit of the Maori Rugby team has been! a great event for Fiji, and it is regarded as likely to be a considerable benefit in furthering the interests of the game in the Islands. •Interesting news of the Maori team's doings is given in the "Fiji Times and Herald," in which the following was written editorially after the team's opening match:— •*'la the Fijians you have splendid Rugby material,' said Mr. S. Dean, manager of the Maori Rugby team, after Saturday's match with the second Fijian fifteen. Mr. Dean, who has played a leading part in the administration of the Rugby game in lifew Zealand for many years past, has watched football and footballers for many years, and has seen the best players of all the Rugby countries in action. After Saturday"s match he confessed that he was surprised at the showing put up by the second team. It is indeed very encouraging to receive these comments from one who is an authority on Rugby, and we feel sure, our Fijian players will learn a great deal from the visit of Mr. Dean and his men. With the exception of the Tongan visit, we have had little opportunity to form a basis of comparison, and the Tongans have not been very useful in this respect, for, like us, they are of the Islands and not from a country which has played a great deal of football and has its own definite standards of play. But we know that Maori representative teams are good enough to beat provincial teams and good enough to meet international sides. Therefore, the showing that bur men put up will be a reliable indication of the general standard of our play. "The visit of the Maoris is going to prove of the utmost value to football in Fiji, and judging from the success! of Saturday's match the spectators are going,to enjoy some good football. A very pleasing fdature of the match was the splendid spirit in which it was. played. It was essentially a hard i game, with many hard knocks and bumps, but there was not the slightest suspicion of rough or unfair play. It was this, no doubt, combined with pleasure at a good game, whjch prompted the crowd to give both teams a rousing ovation as they left the field. "We believe that our Fijian players have been specially equipped by Nature for Rugby. They have strength, speed, and physical fitness of a very high standard, and they have the tempera-! ment. Whatever the result of the Test matches, we feel sure that the public will be treated to some stirring football, and that the game in Fiji will benefit greatly as a result."