LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 August 1941, Page 9

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

NEWS AND NOTES.

Although Marist went close to prolonging it, the West Coast Rugby League’s second senior competition, for the Bradshaw Cup, closed on Sunday, with an outright win for Blackball, who also won the championship. Blackball, by winning two competitions without meeting defeat, have established a splendid record this season, no doubt largely due to the fact that they have been able to turn out practically the same team on every occasion. The positions of the teams at the end of the Bradshaw Cup competition were as follow:— P. W. L. For Ag. Pts.

Play-the-Ball Rule: In view of the decision of the Management Committee, a wise one, to request stricter interpretation of the play-the-ball rule, the following extract from the official New Zealand rule book will be of interest to all players: “Only one player from each side will be permitted to play the ball, and one player from each side (to act as half-bacic) be allowed to stand less than one yard behind the players playing the ball. All other players within a radius of 10 yards must stand at least three yards behind the player acting as half-back. On any breach of this law the non-offending side shall be awarded a penalty kick.”

The policy adopted by Maoist for their match on Sunday, in regard to players did not appear to be sound. Several of their regular players were allowed to remain on the side-line while their places were taken by former good players who had, in at least two cases, not been seen out before during this season. It was a futile hope that these players would show their best form after such long spells, and although they showed a commendable spirit in turning out, they were not the assets they would have been if they had decided to return to the game before the crucial stage of the competition was reached. This is not the first time that Marist have failed in the same way to spring an end-of-season surprise by team changes and, in future, they would be well advised to place their faith in regular players, although they might not have the reputations of others who have “retired.”

Good Tackling: One of the features of Sunday’s game at Wingham Park was the deadly low tackling of L. Beban, playing five-eighth instead of wing-three-quarter as usual. He never really missed grounding his man, in approved style. On attack, however, he. was not so impressive, although he made several good runs. He was inclined to overdo the kicking and robbed his other backs of attacking opportunities.

Found Out: The speed of the MaristBlackball game soon found out the unfit players and, as they had a lot of running to do, some of the Marist forwards were lagging in the closing stages. Blackball were obviously a fitter team and that was the biggest factor in a close game.

Fine Try: There have been some good tries scored on Wingham Park this season, but none better than the second secured by C. Mountford, the Blackball centre, on Sunday, Seeing his opportunity when the Marist backs made a mistake in handling, on the Blackball 25, he cut through between three or four opponents and used his sprinting ability in a thrilling race for the line. W. Mann made a valiant attempt to stop the Blackball player, and actually got his hands on him as the line was reached. .Mountford, however, managed to side-step sufficiently to carry him over in the corner. It was a try that earned the approval of the supporters of both teams.

New Prospect: Judging by his display against Runanga on Sunday, N. Gibson, the Ngahere winger will, be an aspirant for representative honours when the Northern Union Cup team is selected. He scored both Ngahere’s tries, with fine runs, and was unlucky not to have completed the hat-trick, in a low-scoring game. He showed great dash in his two successful runs down the line.

More Satisfactory: The decision of the Management Committee to replace the usual Knock Out senior competition with a one-round competition carrying both the Thacker Shield and the Knock Out Cup will receive general approval. For some years, the conditions attaching to the Knock Out have caused difficulties and this season a Knock Out would have had teams idle for several weeks, once they were eliminated. This, in the last eight weeks of the season, would have been fatal.

Blackball 4 4 __ 71 33 8 Marist 4 2 2 48 38 4 Ngahere 4 2 2 70 48 4 Runanga 4 2 2 44 46 4 Seaview 4 — 4 26 96 0