RUGBY LEAGUE Kiwis Have Made Their Home At Likley

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1947, Page 3

RUGBY LEAGUE Kiwis Have Made Their Home At Likley

(Special to Star —Air Mail). ILKLEY, October 1. After only a week in England, the thing that has struck the members of the Kiwi team most is the beauty of the English countryside. Many of the team recalled having seen beautiful pictures of England’s countryside, but most of them had thought maybe these Were only of specially selected spots. After several journeys it has been found that everywhere there is to be found the same simple beauty for which rural England is noted. On the first journey, from,London to Yorkshire, the team constantly gazed from the windows of the bus at the fine panorama constantly changing before them. The bus did not leave London until three in the afternoon and until dusk the only conversation was relative to the beauty on all sides. After dark, the more material things of a football side came to the fore.

It was after midnight when, the Stoney Lea Hotel loomed up out of the darkness. As the team, stepped from the bus the welcome even at that late hour was hearty and it was pleasing after the 200-mile journey. It was well after 1 a.m. when 29 weary travellers finally crawled into comfortable beds which are to be theirs for the next three months. . Mail from home was waiting at the hotel and during supper each member of the party would suddenly impart some special news of interest to the whole team.

Only One Night Away The next morning saw all out of bed at the crack of dawn anxious to view in the light of day the surroundings of their new home. The hotel has a beautiful setting and all were of the opinion that here was a “swell” place to return to after the trials and tribulations of hard football. It is interesting to note that the tour has been so arranged that the team probably will have to spend only one night away from Ilkley and that is when they travel to Swansea to play the Welsh team, on October 18. Close to the hotel, on the famous Yorkshire moors, the Ben Rhydding Sports Club has placed at the disposal

of the team its fine sports ground, and it is .there that all training will take place. In this connection, reports from Ilkley advise that the continued refusal of the English Rugby Union to allow the team to use the Ilkley Rugby Club’s ground has turned the townspeople against the Union code. When the team went to the Ben Rhydding ground for its first run on the morning after arrival it was followed by a squad of pressmen equipped with a barrage of cameras, and members were photographed from every angle. The members \ of the team are hoping that they can live up to the vast amount of publicity that they are being given. On the first afternoon of their stayin Yorkshire they travelled to the city of Bradford to witness a game between Bradford and Leeds. The size of the famous Odsal Stadium was the first thing that impressed them on arrival. (Last Saturday the Kiwis produced fine football on this, ground). The game witnessed was a fine one and the team all received an insight into the manner in which Rugby League is played here in England. The game was particularly hard and one incident was when Frank Whitcombe, well known to West Coasters, got entangled with an Australian, Arthur Clues, and both received their marching orders. One thing that impressed the team was the firm hold that the referees have in England over the game at all times. Auckland members of the team commented especially on this point. Reception at St. Helens The following day saw the team off

to St. Helens in Lancashire to step out for its first game. Before the game the team was given a civic reception by the Mayor and afterwards it returned for a dinner. During the evening the Kiwi captain, Pat Smith, was presented with a fine photograph of the famous New Zealand Premier, Richard John Seddon, for it was from St. Helens that this great man originally came. Each member of the team received a suitable miniature. Also at St. Helens all the party received a present of two tumblers and a water jug inscribed with the New Zealand coat of arms and inscribed, "N.Z. v St. Helens, 25/9/7.” Saturday saw the team off again to Lancashire, this time to Swinton, where they ran up against trouble. Swinton has a great reputation and at the expense of the Kiwis they continued it to the degree that still no overseas team has routed the Swintonites on. their own ground. This is a great record for a team who is not rated high on the English table.

Sunday saw the team indulging in other sport than football, for on that day they were the guests of the Ben Rhydding Sports Club for a game of cricket. It was a surprise to all the team to find another type of sport at which some excelled; so much so that the Kiwis had an easy victory. Training and team talks occupied most of the time during the following days, but on the Tuesday evening the team travelled to Keighley to see Keighley play Castleford. At halftime all members of the party were presented to the Mayor and Mayoress and at their request the team performed its haka. Incidentally this haka is proving very popular wherever the team appears and already it had been recorded by the 8.8. C. and has been taken by newsreel cameras.

New Arrangements For

Broadcasting

Arrangements for the broadcasting of additional, summaries of matches played by the Kiwis have been announced, according to advice received today by the secretary of the West Coast Rugby League, Mr T. F. McKenzie.

Nine-minute summaries will be rebroadcast direct from London at 9 a.m. (N.Z. time) on the morning after each match by 2YA and 3ZR., These summaries will be in addition to the commentary given by Mr Harry Sunderland at 11.15 p.m. No advice has yet been received concerning arrangements for the second test match, but it is expected that an improved service will be given.

SYDNEY CLUB TO PAY £2OO FINE

(Rec. 10.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day.

The New South Wales Rugby League has fined the Canterbury Bankstown Rugby League Club £2OO. It found that Canterbury players had been unfit to take the field when they played a floodlight game against Brisbane. The League cited two Canterbury players to appear before the general committee next Monday to answer charges of drunkenness. The Brisbane League has been asked to nominate a charity to which the £2OO fine imposed on Canterbury will be forwarded. The co-manager of the Canterbury touring-team, Mr H. Culbert, admitted to the general committee that four Canterbury players were unfit, but said that only two were “really drunk.”