AT THE FENCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4862, 7 May 1918, Page 6

AT THE FENCE.

(For The Gisborne Times.)

When the half-back is doing his utmost To coax out the ball from the scrum, And his comrades are getting impatient, And say: “Will the ball never come?”' When the poor little fellow’s as anx-

10US To handle the ball as the rest. And he stoops at the rear of the scrummage, With the chance of a kick in the chest (For sometimes the pack breaks up quickly And he gets in the midst of Jffie hoots); When the “bobby” is keeping the crowd back, And the ground rings with cheers and with hoots; o When the tension is great; when he trembles

Lest now, after all, he should fail, He’s bound to hear “points” freely given By some beggar who leans on a rail 1

’Tis the same when tlie fast wmgthreequarter Goes round the blind side of the pack To gather, with deft hands, the leather— The work of a real clever back— Or when he is dodging “opponents, With the speed of a greyhound let loose, He’ll hear what he should do and shouldn’t, v From some fellow he 11 wish to the deuce I ~ The five-eights from his tongue aren t exempted; , , You’d think that the chaps had 1 no sense, - To hear the remarks of the rotter Who plays the old game —at the fence. It’s “Pass out the leather, yon was£erg J * If you pass, you’ll be helping your But somehow that fact doesn t matq>o the “know-all”- who talks through his nosel

No doubt bis intentions ar bonert; He’s supporting onr team, but he. To realise football is football, 1 And you can’t judge a game from For instance," the full-back is bustled. And “Punt high!’ the spectator When by o punting the back might be flight into the enemy’s hands I I’ve seen a game spoiled—lQst—t>y their friend on the He’d J shaken their nerves by his (Thank Heaven, lie never shook He’s , the 116 curse of old Rugby-the Self-appointed, who’d make it a If allowS e to: the loud-mouthed supwCtcores a . smart try-off the grass 1 i If the foy wards run slow. bemg cun-. H?ff S shout in their ears: “Hurry Thoughts’’ such‘hey might soon he Tim S™“S g be losing, fto onp. > A,Ja to P. OTO his idea is toe .nght one Q r W T]\c^distance , old man, is too Oh let" hope that the Devil toll Who is “screwing the scium au the fence! . EYRE, deLautour Road, Haiti.