FOOTBALL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 233, 11 December 1888, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

MAORIS DEFEATED BY LANCASHIRE. London, Dec. 8. In the match against Lancashire County to-day the Maoris were defeated by one try to nil.

In a detailed report of the footb dl mitch be ■ tween the Native Team and a fifteen repre seating the Moseley Club in which the former were defeated, the Birmingham Daily Post states:—“ln the scrimmages the supe ior weight of the Maoris uatural-y asserted itself and from end to cud of the game the ball scarcely-ever came out on their side. Their tackling, too, was d slinc ly superior to that of their opponents, aud they were at least »s speedy aud as clever. The play of the team, too, scarcely bore out the report that they were drficent in the finesse of the passing game. Their passing was, ib is true, occasionally very wild, one of their half-backs especially passing to his opponents with consistent generosity, but especially during the second half of the game the passing of the three quarter backs was supeib, Gage and M Causiand once or twice fairly surprising the numerous spectators. The team, however, displayed two grave faults, to which they owe their defeat. They were almost to a man, clumsy and inexpert in picking up the bail. Spores of good chances were missed by failure either in picking up tlje ball at a l or to take it at the first attempt. Their second fault was their inability to imitate the combined rushes of their opponents. Time after time the Moseley men regained in a moment the ground of which the long and laborious efforts ot the Maoris had deprived them. On the other hand, the favourite rushes of the Home team were more than usually brilliant and well-timed.’ The Post continues ;—One matter must still be touched upon. In the reports which have already appeare 1 the Moseley men have been charged with undue roughness towards their opponents. The charge has been warmly resented, and a letter from an old Moseley player gives to the charge an emphatic contradiction. We very much regret that we cannot see our way to confirm the contradiction of our correspondent. Our opinion was that the M >seley men, with some honorable exceptions, played a rough, and even a savage, game. The match was never a goodtempered one, but all the ill-temper appeared to emanate from the local men, We certainly saw Mr Breeden, the Moseley umpire, stop one of his men who was rushing at a Maori player with upraised fist. An accident to one of the Maori players during the second half of the game was distinctly caused by one of the Moseley backs leaping upon him while he was waiting for the ball. The charges cannot be met by il’-ternpered aspersions upon the capacity or the iionor of the press and our correspondent protests a little too much. We notice that in the report in yesterday’s Referee it is stated the locals showed unmistakeable signs < f roughness That the Maoris themselves deny unfair violence against them is but an additional evidence that they play the game with a chivalry which their opponents forbore to imitate. We do not attach m«£h importance to the matter—the roughness of the Moseley men was no doubt due to a natural over eagerness to win—and we should not have referred to it if Mr Mitchell had not so | bruesquely challenged the (accuracy of the press opinions* |