With The Kiwis— Police Restrain Admirers Of The Tourists

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 November 1947, Page 8

With The Kiwis— Police Restrain Admirers Of The Tourists

ILKLEY, October 28. The visit of the Kiwis to Oldham was triumphal. Following their meritorious wins at Leigh, in Wales, and at Wigan their reputation has become magnificent and where it was necessary to have a police reinforcement to keep back their admirers at Wigan, only the Kiwis themselves could keep the enorrtious crowd quiet on the arrival at Oldham. Their bus had had difficulty in making its way through the crowd and on the steps of the Town Hall waiting to welcome them were the Mayor and local notables, but even an appeal by the Mayor failed to keep the crowd back. Quick thinking bj one of the party solved the difficulty. He called for the team s haka and the crowd was quietened. The team s popularity is now so great that it looks as if they will soon, have to have a specia] police escort.

Following the reception a civic luncheon was given the visitors and after this they were taken on a visit to the local art gallery and museum, holding about £50,000 worth of art treasures. When the time came for the team to leave for the Oldham ground two police motor 7 cyclists had to force a way for the team through the crowd all the way to the ground. There was quite a procession. First came the two motor policemen. Then a police car containing the chief constable and a police reinforcement. Next came the mayor and his councillors in another huge car and then the Kiwis bus. Surprisingly Big Crowd The ground was crowded much to the surprise of everyone as only 17 miles away France was playing England in the international at Huddersfield. It was able to draw nearly 5,C00 more than the big fixture and Oldham has not the population of Huddersfield where the, test match took place. A high wind was not conducive to good football at the interval when the Kiwis led by 15 points to 5 everyone was happy and enjoying the game. Bill McKenzie produced his best game of the tour at Oldham and one of his efforts which led to a try by Hardwick was splendid. The ball came loose from an Oldham sortie and McKenzie raced in and picked it up. This occurred right on the Kiwi line. McKenzie set sail and bumped off three would-be tacklers in grand style at the same time running around two others before handing on to Trey Hardwick at the full-back and the Aucklander scored.

The second spell saw both sides take a try and the final score read Kiwis 18, Oldham 8. As the team left the field the swarm of autograph hunters became an embarrassment and it was necessary to call in the police to clear a way to their bus. In the evening another fine dinner was given the team and during this the mayor took the opportunity to present each member of the team with a silver serviette ring inscribed with his name and the city’s coat of arms. After the dinner a brief halt was made at the Oldham supporters club ball but the. lot of the international footballer is not all pleasure and only half an hour was allowed at the bah before the party left on return to Ilkley. Winning Sequence Broken After Oldham came Hunslet where the winning sequence was broken with a good win by the home team. This was the first time the Kiwis struck a wet ground and a greasy ball and this proved their undoing. It appears that they have concentrated on fine ground football and when they arrived at Hunslet to find the ground was soft and the ball playing tricks it was too much for them. Vic Hey, the Australian international, was

quick to seize upon the weakness in the Kiwi’s play at Hunslet and with an inspiring game he led the home team to a good victory and so broke the Kiwis’ winning streak.' The poor conditions also accounted for the poorest attendance that the Kiwis have had, only 5,347 attending. Once again the Kiwis could not gain possession from the scrums and the home team was quick to take advantage of this. On the day they handled the heavy "ball- far better than the visitors and the final score of 18 to 10 against the Kiwis was a true indication of the respective ability of the teams on the day. It is surprising that the Kiwis have not yet mastered the art of winning the scrums. Pat Smith’s Message Following the game the Kiwis were entertained by the Hunslet executive at the Victoria Hotel and it was at this function that Kiwi skipper, Pat Smith, was able to deliver a message from home. Prior to leaving New Zealand Pat had visited a mem - ber of the first football team ever to visit England, the 1888 Maori team. One of the members of this team was Riki Taiaroa, who is today a farmer in New Zealand. Mr Taiaroa commissioned Pat to deliver his good wishes to anyone who had seen the original Maori combination. When Mr Joe Lewthwaite, the Hunslet president, was making his speech during the dinner he mentioned that he had played against the Maori team, and Pat was immediately able to pass on the good wishes of Mr Taiaroa.

Mr Lewthwaite immediately decided that when in 1950 the hext British team travels to the Antipodes he will be with it to renew this old acquaintance. These old-timers are in their eighty’s but still retain" an active interest in football. It was at this time that two birthdays came together in the Kiwi party, the oldest and the youngest, Pat Smith at 31 and Doug Anderson attaining his majority. This was an occasion for a celebration so on arrival back at the Stoney Lea Hotel the party produced food parcels and with “extras” provided by the hotel management a fine “spread” was put on. Sharing Food Parcels The Kiwis have at all times appreciated the shortages of food in the motherland and it was decided to invite to the “do,” a number of friends of the players from the town. ‘With the New Zealanders these people were able to have a small ration of extra food which was appreciated. The food parcels are proving a boon to the players but they are generous with them and on several occasions it has been suspected that . different ones have given part of their parcels to people whose circumstances they consider are more deserving than their own.