Football.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1108, 24 March 1930, Page 8

Football.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

MATAMATA CLUB. Annual Meeting* The annual meeting of the Matamata Rugby Club, held in the Town Hall on Thursday, was attended by about ,30 members. Mr. J. F. White presided, • : Report. The financial statement showed £6 17s 6d cash in hand. The president congratulated the senior team on winning the Barry and Concrete. Cups, and also the junior and third-grade teams on the positions occupied in their respective grades. The thanks of the club were also due to the managers, and selectors. Election of Officers. The election of officers resulted as follows: —President, Mr. J. F. White; vice-presidents, Messrs. C. fi. Barry, J. H. Hawes, D. Roigard, W. Clover, and W. Egan; secretary and treasurer, Mr. S. Sarah; management committee, Messrs. H. Ensor, D. Roigard, W. Clover, F. Hitchcock, S. Ellery; selectors, Messrs. L. Mehrtens (senior), H. Jones (juniors), P. Laurie, senr. (thirds); delegates to Matamata Rugby Union, Messrs. Roigard and Mehrtens. Training Shed. Mr. Beagrie pointed out that one night was not sufficient for training purposes, and little serious training was done last season, owing to the crowd of players. Last year he had to work in with Hinuera. Mr. Ensor agreed, and stated that the Old Boys, with one club, had a night to themselves. With 45 players he thought .three nights were needed to rim things properly. Mr. Cummings pointed out that the difficulty was that ho clubs asked for Fridays or Mondays, both days being too near Saturday. He urged the club to apply for a night and leave it to the union to fix the nights for each club when all appfi--1 cations came to hand. On the motion of Mr. Mehrtens i this was agreed to. Roigard Cup* Mr. White suggested that the Roigard Cup, the property of the club, might be allocated for competition. It seemed a pity to have a cup lying idle. Mr. Roigard stated he was agreeable to anything the club decided on. Mr. Cummings stated He would accept the cup on behalf of the union, and it might be allocated as a junior knock-out cup. " Mr. Mehrtens thought the cup should be held as formerly. In time there might be a club room in the town. The latter suggestion was agreed to. New Members. The following new members were elected: Messrs. Carlson, Short, Hodge, Dr. Palmer, S. Gardner and Davy. General. It was decided to enter teams for the three grades as previously, and that the colours remain as formerly, black and white. The election of the team captain was left with playing members on the first playing Saturday. The election of coaches was left till a later date. The meeting decided to support the nomination of Mr. J. E. Cummings for the presidency of the union. On the motion of Mr. Roigard it was agreed to offer the Tirau club the choice of April 5 and 12 for practice games, the seniors, to play at Tirau. The membership fees were fixed as follows: Seniors, ss, juniors 3s, thirds Is 6d. KICKING TO TOUCH. Present Rule Favoured. 1 By Matamata Club. That he was strongly against the proposal to revert to the old kick-into-touch rule was made very clear by Mr. W. Hollis, president of the Matamata Referees’ Association, at : the annual meeting of the Matamata 1 Rugby Club on Thursday. Mr. Hollis ’

stated that a big effort was being made to work up an agitation in favour of reverting to the old kick-into-touch rule simply because the British team was coming out. Personally, he- was strongly against the idea, because he felt there were plenty of line-outs in the game now, and the old rule would make the game very monotonous. It was a step in the wrong direction, he felt convinced, and would spoil%the new game which had • been built up. He would like to ask Mr. Griffiths for his views. Mr. Griffiths stated he thought Mr. Hollis was very wise in bringing the matter up, as there was every likelihood of a big effort being made by men like Dr. McEvedy, ' who came out as a wing threequarter in Harding’s British team, and was now president of the Wellington Rugby Union, to revert to the old rules. Such men would destroy the essential features which had built ifp the All Black game. There was nothing wrong with the New Zealand game as a whole, but bad selection and injudicious newspaper criticism. Since the war there had been a craze for speed, and because forwards who shone in the open and loafed in the tight were boosted by critics other forwards followed suit and did not put in their weight. No country in the world had the record Nfew Zealand had in Rugby, and simply because the 1924 All Blacks only won a third of the scrums critics overlooked the fact that they won all their matches. Hooking was only a part of the game, and it was asking too much to expect the All Blacks to excel in speed, kicking to fouch, back play, forward play, and so on. The kick-in-touch, three-men down with abolition of the rover, were all sought by ; those who wanted us to play the Old Country game. The New Zealand game had proved the best in the world and they should stick to it. Mr. Mehrtens also advocated sticking to the present kick-into-touch rule. In his opinion the biggest trouble was with the wing forward. In one union he was a rover and in the next a wing forward, and there was little uniformity. He advocated reversion to the old type of wing forward, which would result in quicker inside hacks. Many present inside }>£cks did not know what a hard game was, as they had nothing to face with a rover. Wing forwards , tended to spruce up the play of the inside backs in a wonderful manner. Regarding the old kick-into-touch rule, he recalled one game at Wellington under the old rule when they played for 45 minutes against the wind. During that time they never got much beyond their 25 line, yet Wellington did not score. When they got the'baH they simply booted it as far as they could into the next paddock. (Laughter). They simply did not want the ball, but it was not football. Mr. Ensor suggested they perhaps should find out first what other unions were going to do. Mr. Hollis: Why should we? Get in early, never mind what others are going to do. That is why I brought it up. If everybody leaves it we may find the old rules imposed on us. Mr. Ensor: But we have got to play for the Peace Cup. Mr. Hollis: Well that is nothing. A player of any standing can soon learn to kick into touch. He should not need a season to learn. Tell them they have to kick into touch and they will soon do it. Mr. Cummings stated that he felt that unless the New Zealand Union instructed otherwise they would play the present rules. He thought it was only some of the metropolitan clubs favoured a change and that the country clubs would favour the present rule. t Mr. Hollis urged that a motion go forward from the club to the union so that the union could forward it on to the Waikato union. Mr. Griffiths supported this plea, and stated that for years some delegates to Waikato had strongly favoured reversion to three-men down and so on. Mr. Roigard also favoured a motion, and stated their delegates should be instructed how to vote. On the motion of 5 Messrs. Cummings and Buckley, it was then unanimously decided that the Matamata club delegates be instructed to bring the matter up at the annual meeting of the Matamata Rugby Union, and urge that a resolution be forwarded to the Waikato union; opposing any change in the kick-into-touch role. 1

MATAMATA RUGBY UNION. Annual Report. The annual report to be submitted by the president, Mr. J. E. Cummings, to the annual meeting of delegates to the Matamata Rugby Union, on Thursday next, is as follows: “ Taken all round it can be truthfully termed the most successful season the union has experienced. The standard of back play by the senior representatives was much higher than in previous seasons, and the forwards, though young, played up to the previous season’s standard. The match against Hamilton for the Peace Cup was the finest game played by the union’s team for some time. Twelve games were played, and the results were: Won 5, lost 7, points for 115, points against 100. “ Congratulations are extended to Messrs. J. Stewart, A. Story, J. Vosper, D. Ensor and D. Simpson,’ who gained places in the Waikato representative team. “ The junior representative team did very well, the standard of play being much higher than in previous seasons. The team not only, retained the Boyce Cup, but lifted and held the Clark Cup against all junior teams in the Waikato. Eleven games were played, and results were: Won 10, drew 1, points for 156, points against 52. “ The third grade were not quite so successful as previous years, nevertheless some bright and attractive football Was played. Results were: Won 4, drew 1, lost 2. “ Trophies were donated during the season as follows: Most improved back, Mr. Brown, won by Mr. C. Fausett; most improved forward, Mr. D. Hay, won by Mr. D. Simpson; best attendance at shed, Mr. P. Catchpole, won by. Mr. J. Stewart; most improved junior, Mr. J. Buchanan, won by Mr. J. F. Smith. “A training shed was erected during the year at a cost of £254 10s 9d, but clubs interested! donated £33 18s 6d. “The thanks of the union are due' to officials and all those who had shown their interest by giving donations or assistance. “ The balance-sheet showed" receipts totalling £sll 2s'6d, of which sum. gate money accounted for £286 5s 7d. On the expenditure side t|*e training shed cost £254 10s ?d. Ofcher items were": Entertaining visiting teams, £44 13s; travelling expenses, 1 £44 19s; jerseys, footballs, etc., £ls 17s 7d; rept and upkeep of ground, £27 14s 7d. “In the assets and liabilities account the training shed was set down at £3OO, less 10 per cent., £270; shed and showers (net), £54. The surplus was shown as being £340 13s 4d.”