OTAGO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

Evening Star, Issue 12067, 12 December 1903, Page 5

OTAGO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

The presentation of the charity banner and of the challenge cups and trophies competed fur last season by the various clubs comprised in the Otago Football Association took place last night at the Coffee ! Palace. Mr James Wilson (vice-president I of the Association) occupied the chair, and j after apologising for the ab.-ence of the i president- (M 7 S. Myers) and of Mr Joseph ! Braithwaite he complimented the Association on the excellent and representative gathering present Before presenting the Northern Club, through their captain (Mr Siedeberg). with the senior cud and cliantv banner won by them, Mr Wilson congratulated the club on at last achieving first position. It was. he said, almost a3peculiar experience not to make the presentation as usual to the Roslyn Club. However, the Northern's success hud been gained l>v persistent training, lie congratulated both the Northern Club and the Association that, though they had been in danger of losing Mr Siedeberg's services to Association football, he had returned to what he thought was the better g;une. The other trophies were then presented, the chairman remarking on the almost unbroken lisr of Northern teams who appeared as winners in the various grades. Special mention was made of the strides that Wednesday Association football had made last season, when five teams competed, being a dejid"d improvement on previous seasons—a lesult mainly due, said the chairman, to the efforts of Messrs P. Braithwaite, Ashtoii, and Clarke. The, improvement in the schools' football was also a subject of favor- ! able comment, and Mr A. Sligo and others i were singled out for praise in this comec- i tion. Both the Kensington School te:im ; (premiers) and the College team (winners of the five-a-side tournament) were most enthusiastically greeted as they -eceived ! their trophies. Mr Mootp. head-master of I the Kensington School, spoke in very ap- : preeiative term? of the oifiVers of the As- j sociation, who had done so much for the ! schools, and also of the good done to the ! boys bv playing the game, which, he said, j | had this good point about it for schools: I j that a light team playing with combination | would by no means be necessarily orer- ] matched by a team of heavier and bigger I boys. Further speeches by Mr R. Stables | (who also enlarged on the points just men- , ■ tioned) and by Mr Moncrioff (who described j the introduction of the Association tramc into Otago) were delivered in most happy vein, and were liighly appreciated. It was mentioned by the Chairman that there was a possibility of a fourth grade being introduced next season, as there was a great difference still between the schoolboys and the young men who played in third* grade . football. Regret was also expressed that five-a-side tournament for senior plavers. The following is a list of the trophies presented : Senior Cup and Charity Banner. Northern. Record: 12 matches played. H - won, 1 t Junior Cup.—Northern. : Third Grade.—Northern. 1 Five-a-side Tonrnameafe (for a handsome , t nes- eoalknze cm and individual trophic*

presented by a friend of the game).—Wakari No. 2. . Second Grade Five-a-side Tournament.— Northern. Third Grade Five-a-side Tournament.— Northern. Wednesday Premiership Cup.—Southern. Wednesday Five-a-side Tournament (for challenge cup and medals presented by P. Braithwaite, Esq.—Roslyn No. 1. Schools' Cup and Medals.—Kensington.' Schools' Five-a-side Tournament.—" College" team.