FOOTBALL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11334, 30 July 1897, Page 7

FOOTBALL NOTES.

['Ey QuiunuNc in' -“ Canterbury Times.’’]

Lively weather and the largest attendance of the season greeted the meeting of the Linwood and Merivale teams on Saturday. Opinion was about equally divided as to the result of the game, the followers of each club being confident of success, though' the feeling was general'that a clossi and exciting contest would ensue. This was, however, not the case, as last year’s champions quietly showed their superiority, and kept their opponents busily defending nearly the whole of the game. The Merivale men certainly, did not play up to their usual .form, and the fact that they were«'only beaten by a margin oU three poinfcs'was due not so much to them own good play as' to the sins of omission—to take advantage of openings —on the part of .the Winners. .On the day’s play the - Greens- were -at -least twelve points the better “team... .Their forwards were superior to ‘their opponents both in the pack and the loose workj while the combination in their back play'showed. 7 to advantage ’in comparison wltn ’The presence of J. O’ Briefi;;’considerably strengthened the Lmwpud team behind the scrum, while his inclusion in the ranks of the three-quar-ters provided a capable full-back in his brother.- Frank. The only alteration in the Merivale team from its constitution of the previous week was. the substitution of Y. Fraser for Yangioni at half-back, and though'the former did not show any particular brilliancy, be was certainly an improvement bn his predecessor. The game itself was, rather disappointing from a spectator’s point of view, the fast following up of the forwards generally smothering any attempts at openbackplay. Pas'singruns were comparatively rare in' consequence, but some good and useful kicking was shown oa both sides, notably by the brothers O’Brien, Hobbs and Phillips for Linwood, and Dansey, Austin and Morland for Merivale. For nearly the whole of the first spell Linwood were attacking, temporary relief being afforded at times through the agency of; some strong, loose rushes oh the part of the'Merivale forwards;- which, ■ however, seldom carried the play past the centre flag. There .w*s no gcofe : in ; the : T first ipell, but within five minutes : of ’ the resumption. of play Evans ■eeuredfor Linwood;'the second score being obtaihedhyJ. O'Brien about half-way, through "±he : spell. With a margin .of sisrpoints- t'oHhe of winning-’ the coveted championship seemed' rather - a remote .one. Fitzgerald,' however, after one or two attempts' kicked a goal by a really good effort from a penalty, and this was the last score of the ( match; ■ Dealing with the individual players, and referring first to the winners, F. O’Brien deserves credit • for his good work at full-back. He had no collaring to do, but his kicking was well-timed and effective, and he made no mistake in taking the ball; J. O’Brien, though evidently but of form, did a lot of work, his kicking into .touch being up to his best standard. Hobbs, as usual, kicked and collared well, while Ormandy fully justified his inclusion. Young Phillips again showed of what sterling stuff he is made, and he is at present one of the best players here in his position. Price was in goM form, and proved altogether too clever for the opposing half, which was only to be expected, seeing that tile latter was making his debut in senior matches. It is hard to particularise amongst the forwards, where all .did so well, but I think that if any deserve special mention it is Evans, Preece and Fanning. Of all the Merivale backs Morland oh Saturday stood out pre-eminently. Time .'after time he came to the rescue wheil the rushes, of the Greens had vanquished the.men in front of him, and his kicking was also very creditable, while his sure collaring was the ; means of preventing several-tries. Austin had next to nothing to do, the play seldom going in his direction, while Menzies, . with the exception of one or two dashes, did comparatively little. Dansey's play was affected, by the weakness of his wings, but he put in some good ■work, and his kicking was of great service to his side. Hebden struck me as'playing too muohifor himself, and he certainly held onto thd hall too.long. His defence was good, and he narrowly escaped scoring with one of his strong runs. Fraser I have already mentioned, and, considering the odds against him, I think he did as well.as could be expected under the circumstances. The Merivale forwards as a whole did not play up as well as' they have been doing lately, but Fitzgerald, Chambers and W. Duggan put in some fine loose work, and Phillips was noticeable for his play on the line-out. , The .“gate” at the second match between New Zealand and New South Wales was.£74o. - *

Voyoe, the Sydenham full-hack who is •till,rusticating on the Peninsula, tells me he will be available for the trial games if required. Stringer’s accident is more serious than was at first anticipated, and he tells me it is doubtful if he will be able to play again this year. On Saturday, Ward and Kerr gave Merivale more free kicks, by their offside play, than the whole of the remainder of the Linwood team.

The Leeston team, which holds an unbeaten record in the Ellesmere District competition, plays Linwood Junior Flag team next Saturday.

.The tie for the Senior Championship between the Linwood and Merivale teams is the first that has taken place. The Senior Championships were first recognised by the Union in 1890.

The takings at Lancaster Park last Saturday amounted to .£45 16s 3d. The Canterbury Sugby Union share was , .£29 12s lOd. The gross receipts constitute -a record for inter-club games. Merivale has played Linwood .three times this season, and on each occasion has had a different half-back, viz:—Mountfort, F. Horner and Y: Fraser, the last-named who has been playing for the Junior Flag team, proving by far the best. • Canterbury College are asking the Union to allow players of other teams to play for them in their game against the Otago University. If permission be granted, the trial game, which is sure to be played on the same date, will he minus several prominent players. Sydney writers agree with the Remarks I penned in a recent issue, before the New Zealand team played in Sydney, that the New Zealand hacks lack individuality, and are not Of the calibre of those found in previous teams ; that with the forwards getting the worst of the play the backs are not good enough to pull them through. According to the Sydney Referee A. Bayly, captain of the' New Zealand team in referring to the second test match said:—“lt was the best game I have ever seen New South Wales play, putting our staleness out of the question. They certainly played a far better game khan in the fiifef match,' their short passes being very much better. They are a fine lot of forwards.”

. The accident to D. Fraser, on Saturday, fortunately did not prove so serious as it looked, and he soon recoved, but acting on the advice of the doctor who attended him, he did not continue playing. Considering the importance of the occasion, the action of Linwood in allowing their opponents to take on a substitute is to be commended, showing as it does a true sporting spirit. The following shows the results of the matches played between New-Zealand and Queensland: —

1893—At. Brisbane, New Zealand won by 12 points to 3. , 1893—At Brisbane, New Zealand won by 35 points to 0. 1896 At Wellington, New Zealand won by 9 points to 0. 1897 At Brisbane, New Zealand won by 16 points to 5, 1897—At Brisbane, New Zealand won by 2-t points to 6.

■ There is no getting away from the fact that the Linwood team has been exceptionally lucky in winning the Senior Championship for 1897. In the first match with Merivale the latter had all the best of the game, and should certainly have won, while in the return match with Eaiapoi the northerners should have put down the Greens by at least six points, instead of which the latter scored a win by a very

lucky kick from the field., lam sure that the champions themselves will admit that the Kaiapoi win was about as flukey a -win as has been seen for some'timepast. With a few minutes more to play the northerners would have won. Still, despite this, there is no doubt the best team won the championship, and I, for one, congratulate it on its success, though I hope that next year the competition will, be closer than it was this season, and the football a'decided improvement on what was shown by the Senior teams of the Canterbury Engby Union.

A member of the New Zealand team, writing to a contemporary, says:—The football ground at Orange is absolutely the worst I have ever seen. You know what the reclaimed land in the vicinity of the Manawatu railway-station is like in the middle of summer. Well, it is somewhat •like that, only not so level. There is a cricket pitch in the middleof the ground. It is made of nice, hard clay ..and you can see your face shining when, you look at it. Every time they play somebody gets a leg, arm or collar-bone broken. Bob Whiteside had his collar-bone broken here six weeks ago. If he bad been well, he would have played against us to-day. He does not seem to have aged much. * * * It is reckoned in the team that neither Brooker nor Glennie is class enough. Orchard has been disappointing so far, and I sincerely hope he will improve. Blair is a good man, works hard from start to finish, and can take any amount of gruelling. All the Wellington fellows can do their share, and I only wish they were all like Calnan, Pauling and Wells. Since the formation of the Northern Engby Union (England) Yorkshire clubs affiliated thereto have succeeded in inducing a very large number of members of clubs that remained loyal to the English Engby Union to forsake their clubs and join the secessionists. As, after a trial, many of these players were not considered good enough : for the teams of clubs they had thrown in their lot with, they were in the unenviable position of being unable to play the game at all. The loyal clubs thereupon, with the.-view of getting these backsliders restored to grace,approached the English Union, and practically asked for the creation by that body of some easy white-washing process which' would allow players to be re-admitted to membership; The Engby Union made a non-committal ’.reply; and- the loyal Yorkshire' clubs - -being '■ in A 'right*' place, threatened on one hand by a ’continual flitting of members to the Northern Union, and cold-shouldered bn the other by the Engby'Union, held a meeting and decided to form a separate Union. The basis of the Union will be amateur, but the professional laws of the English Union will be considerably modified.