LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 18 April 1936, Page 5

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

SEASON OPENS TO-MORROW. The uew Rugby’ League season wib be opened .o-morrow, when cumpeti lion in oil grades win be commenced. The match at Wingham Park between Maris, and Pirates g.ves prom so oi some gj‘>d football, noth leauis having already had friendly games w.tli ot.ner euibs. Pirates h'ave a number of new players of quail y, ami they aid naturally add interest to the ma.cli. Marist are reported to I" 1 very fit, '.and with one or two changes hey are 1 kely to stage a .spleiiuio nr .tch.

hi the country, two senior grade uK-.lches are to oe played. At ißmekbiill’ a strong local side w.il devid.tile issue with.the younger, bio vastly improved- Ngahere team, t-nd a goon game should ensue. Kunanga. will travel to Brunner and there meet the local team. Bath c übs have been con.sideiiably s> irengtheimd, and l>u-1 nanga in particular have put in some sol (1 tra.ining. Lower grille games will be played at Wingham Park, including Marisi juniors v. Runanga. iwliicli' are to meet at 1.30 p.m. M’r W. Henderson will referee. Anothel alteration has been made in he fixtures owing to the ground at Dunoll e be.ng unavail able Tire match between pirates ami Brunner thirds will now be playe I al Brunner :i4 1.3(1 and .Mr D. Ber-/ Hard will control the game. Other lower gre.de ma dies will be played at the vaiious grounds. Wi,th a continuance of the piesent spell of line 'weather it is likely th'it a large number of followers will attend all fix-tires, and :f the- s.andard shown in most of the friendly games is mainta.ine.d, or even improved upon, suppoi'tcns should iiol "be disappointed with any of the games.

Following arc to-morrow’s teams: —

Marist Seniors v. Pirates, Wingham Park: MeNeight, Williams, Scott, J. Beban, Seguin, Walshe. O’Connor, O’Brien, Roberts, A. Beban, P. Gilbert, Devonport, Pollock. Emergencies: Restieaux, W. Gilbert and R. Quinn .(Meet at 1.45). Marist Juniors v. Runanga: ■ —Tobin, Seguin, Morel, Crase, Knapp. Price, Grogan, P. Beban, Gougih, Hopkins, McGirr, O'Donnell. Power, Malone and O’Brien. (’Bus leaves at 1.30.)

Marist 3rd’s v. Runanga: Gough (2). Nohra, Keating, Zampesi (2). Beams (2), Knapp. Grogan, Kelly, Wilson, Phillips, Hopkins, Kennedy and Rae. ’Bus leaves Post Office at 12.30. Brunner Sen/iors v. Runanga, at Taylorville to-morrow. Team to be chosen from: Moth, floggarth. Duggan, Croft, Smith, Warren, Meagher, Webb, Kennedy. Tomasi, Mulligan, Wooster,, McCormack, Ford. Webber and ilerritt.

Brunner Thirds v. Pirates, at Brunner, to-morrow at 1.30, will be chosen from: Hoggarth (2), Morgan. Cowan. Buckman, Wick (2), Buchanan. Bell, Johansen, Sykes, Barber, Kerr, Carson, Hassan. Blance and Julian.

Runanga Seniors v. Brunner at Brunner: Hopkins. Speakman, Crowe, Pattinson. Manderson, Masters, Morris, MeTaggart, Dunn, Pope, Glynn (3). Runanga Juniors v. Marist: L. Kennedy. Hill. Hatch. Hart, Wright, Hunter, Quinn, O’Connell, Brown, Pattinson, Little, Mossop. Newton. NOTES AND COMMENTS. Lord Derby, president of the English Rugby League, will present the Challenge Cup at Wembley on Apr:li is J. Laird, the Auckland Mar,st international who met with a serious knee injury last season, is still an outpatient of the hospital. T. E. Hampson. Australian and New South Wales sprint champion, has joined up Io play for the. Western Suburbs club In. Sydney. , Am a mark of appreciat’on for her services to the game in the province, Mrs 11. J- Fulford of Napier, has l.cen appointed a life member of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby League, which re-elected as patron the Hon W, E. Barnard, Speaker of the House of Representatives, The Western Suburbs club of New Plymouth has gratefully acknowledge'! the- gift of a football, autographed by ‘ flu l St. George, team of* Sydney during their North Island (our of 1933, from Mr. R. W. Pollock, of Auckland, for-

mer member of the New Zealand Council. Ray Stehr, the- Eastern Suburbs am! Australian represenlat.ve forward, has jo.ned the Sydney Police force. Most of the clubs in that city have police pla.xeis, South Sydney emb having no nss than live m senior ranks. Prominent ex-Union players from far afield in New Zealand will be seen stepping out at Carlaw Park uitli xar.mis teams this t'eason. ilte Ponsonby club has signed up a l-kel.t three-quarter, Bell, formerly with the Hutt Club at Wellington. The English Cup finalists for the LSth have slackened up a bit sinct . they qualified, as leading players ar<j being rested in preparation. However, Huddersfield made no race of it bv defeat’ng Hatley 60-2 on Saturday,' when the othei leg in the •‘double”, Warrington, drew with Wigan 12-all. A record crowd is expected at Wembley. The Hawke’s Bay League, of which George Webb has been re-elected chairman of th,, control board, will open its season on April 18. It is reported that new senior teams will be nominated by Hastings and two new strong Maori clubs and a new club formed at Nap.er. The six established senior clubs will again be in the field. There 'are still some newspapers in New Zealand which refuse to recognise or admit the obviously improved prospects of the Rugby League game. A good instance of this and pile of the methods of disparagement is gleaned from a report upon the enthus.astic annual meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby League, where following a season of sound progress, the managemen' is now proceeding with the erection of a grandstand on its own ground, League Park. Speak'ng literally with the object of inspiring members of the body to further worthy effort in the interests of the code ”.n the coming year, a committeeman, Mr. D. H. Mcßae remarked “this is the year in which we either progress or fall” but he had every hope that the result would be tLe placing of Rugby League us one or the premier sports of Hawke’s Bay. The “Napier Telegraph’.’ headed a stimulating report “Progress or Fall,” with the somewhat contradictory .second heading. “B'g Season lor v League!” A weekly paper not conspicuous for its veracity or fair-play in its restricted comment on Rugby League affairs in its convenient way. apparently-de-duced from the “Telegraph’ heading that there hopefully was something wrong, and, just to make himself look a bit more ridiculous (or mislead" ng) the writer added that the standard of play in Hawke’s Bay was not high last season. Hawke’s Bay defeated a strong Wellington team at Wellington by 29 to 16 and sent a Maori team to Auckland that performed very creditably at Carlaw Park, in the quest for the Waitangi Shield. The critic inferred to niudei use of an alleged rumour to deny that H. T. Lilburne desired reinstatement to Rugby —merely an excuse to draw or introduce the unpalatable facts that the famous Wellington All Black “was try'ng” to organise a Rugby League club at Lower Hut. Lilburne, as a matter of fact, was invited to form that new club and his many Wellington and national admirers wil soon appreciate bow well he has succeeded. The annual general meeting of the West Coast Rugby League Referees’ Association, will be held at 7.30 this evening.