FOOTBALL.

Mataura Ensign, 4 July 1914, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

Notes by "Hooker."

The first-grade competition lias reached a very interesting .stage. At the present time Pioneer, last yoa-r'n champions, have a load of one point, from Alataiira, Albion ibeing one point fu;-- | thor back. The two lastnained nave, ! however, played one <?aine less than the i leadens and so tho final destination of the banner is still very difficult 10 forecast. Next Wednesday should witness tho Same of the season, when Pioneer and Alataiira line out in opposition- for tho second time this season, and both teams should know'then; has 'horn .-"something doing" when hostilities finally cease. .The first t-pell of.the Matmira-Edcn-dalc< match on Wednesday last was remarkable for two things—the line defence of. the Edendale players (who played one man short.) and a very poor display given' by the Blues'. Robinson •playcdl a. capital game at five-eighths, while his fellow-hacks were all more or less prominent. At full Moore (Edendale) gave a. sterling display in . this spell,.but on-changing over lie appeared! alter making one serious mistake which led to a try being registered against his side ,to ,be troubled with nerves, and. his display suffered in consequence. In the second spell the Mataura players gave the -brightest exhibition, of o-peif play witnessed in the Eastern District for many a day. Forwards and backs threw* tho ball about r.s if the whole team- was composed of backs', and though mistakes were frequent, many of the passing movements were very effective. and pretty to watch. 'Still though 26 points were registered in the second half, it must not be forgotten that the opposition consisted of only 1-1 men, and 14 men whose defence crumbled! to dust, when a sustained attack was made oil the Edendale lines. The 1 game, however, served to show the possibilities of the Mataura ted mi and were more exhibitions of this description attempted, a ready response would -be found in a largely increased patronage at the. contests, and the union's exchequer would not be strained' to breaking point on, account of the prolonged fast it has had to undergo. The veteran, Bo'b. Patterson was the pivot on which most of Blues' passing rushes revolved'. Patterson dearly loves an onen game and he lost no opportunities in throwing the Hall out to the backs. AV. Havles. who wr.s Hack in his | old nlace in the live-eighths line,, ,was I the brains of the back play. "Slip" on his displav proved that his nickname is quite justified, his running and smart cutting in being very effective in paving thl way for several easy scores. Adam and Maley both played well, but the latter'i passes were almost invariably badly directed.. Several spectators around 'ran were roundly condemning Sullivan (wing threequarter) for his inability to accept passes, but with almost impossib'e transfers being thrown 'him, the Mataura wing .was. receiving •prae f xaL'y no chances. ' Some passes went right- over his head, some struck his shoulder, s° me his feet, while others fell yards short. f)n a few occasions when Sullivan did receive tho ball a shout v-oulA go up from the.&pectat )?s to ctiure,f with, the result? that th& player was .several times bustled into ci'iiti eing, when in anything but a position to do so advantageously. Sullivan's 'try near the conclusion of t-hn; game, when he elected for once to 'disregard the advice of the onlookers, was the result of a particularly determined dash. Moore (the Mataura fullback) played well, but his defence w»i» seldom ptit to a severe test, '£[{ the forwards McLeod played a brilliant game'. - AY ere McLeod playing at Inverearaili under the eye of the selectors, ho could hardly fail .to gain Southland renresciitfitive honors. A\hi!e ■ .taking his honest sh&FP of all the heavvt work going, the Matai?ra fqt'fl'a-rd plays ' with great dnsh in the loose, his-fast following up and deadly collaring being features pf his. play. Brett and O'K,ounce also played capital games. Edendale being a forward short could not be expected to'stand up to the opposing vanguard, biifi the Colors Idi 1 - wards nlaved nluokily throughout, and with a" full team would have uiflde a •much closer of it. The backs got little or no opportunity to show their attacking ability, but their collaring in the second) spell was of'the weakest. A noticeable feature ift the gaino between Pioneer and Wyndham played at Wyndham qn AVednesday afternoon : (writes a correspondent) was the almost entire absence of passing rushes. With monotonous regularity the backs of both sides kicked to the line, whereas a passing rush could at times J;.;ive been advantageously instituted. The worst offender in this respect was Thomson, of tho Pioneer Cluib, arid it must have been heart-breaking to his side to- see this player punt to the line time and wgam instead of whipping the ball out to the three-quarter line. AWriting, of the three-quarter division, both 0 Sullivan and, Baldwin played rattling good, games, and when the oval dm wipe their w-ay, t-jiey made the most of their opportunities, both players putting great dash into their work. Byron, as fullback was safe, but I would have liked to (have seen, him ill- McArthnr s , place, as on several occasions he proved himself to be a fi ne player on attack and also a sound tackier. McArthu-r was in poor Urm. The Pioneer forwards, although not quite as heavy as the Wyndham set, hoofe^d 1 tljA of tho scrum on nearly every They followed ltn well but their collaring'wasi lamentably weak as on nearly every occasion tlic s y missed their man by | e<nn% for him too hiyli. "Bob" liobsoh/wJm donned the jersey ior ihp first time f«r several years, is certainly a. tige-r for work, and though he is a clean player there are no "beg pardons" about him. - ti<»U, T), MciDougall i an< j J). Tinnoek performed &win- frWpF footwoifc in the open and headed several good forward rushes. The AVyndham ' forwards were, if anything slightly =tl heavier than, the Heds, i»)t played with little -or no combination whatemy •}«? ii? a forward rush was started it wast left to two or three, the remainder playing the pafj> ftf spectators to perfection. Bogue as wiftgfoj'wat'd was more often offside than o« sj<]c, and although lie got off with a lot in the first spell' he was frequently penalised in, the secoß/J for his disregard of this rule. The ftilUinck repeatedly lay on the ball and slhh-iIA tiiosfc certainly have been penalised for this, as if-- frrflflentiy gave his team a chance to get (>n Jhe game was a- struggle between the forwards and in this respect the better teanl JTOn. The followirig ijjbles show the' portions of the various two petitions:

EASTERN .DISTRICT Srii-UNION. "The wcckiy mcelhig of the Eastern District iSub-T'nioii, held last evening, was attended by Messrs F. AYallis (president), Stead, Wingfield, MaeUiibibon, Scott, Carroll Maeara and Forbes (secretary). Messrs J. Baldwin and G. Richardson applied for support to the Carnival Queen, competition and suggested tlia (5 half proceeds of the gate of some match be given to the funds, the charge to be one shilling and the carnival committee to push the sale of tickets. It was decided that half the nroceeds of the gate in the match Albion v. Edondalo at Core on July 15 be given to. the carnival committee, the- latter to pay expenses of printing, and advertising. The Pioneer Club wrote withdrawing the .appeal against, the Sub-Union's decision, in awarding the recent match between'l'ioneer and JJataura- to the latter on' the ground that the former had played a member of an outside subunion. Since then information had been otbtained which proved that the club had been -misled. J. Baldwin and J. O'-Sullivan, captain and secretary respectively of the Pioneer Cliilb, appeared aml explained that since they had lodged their appeal they had found tint F. O'Kane had obtained! a clear-1 ance from, the Pioneer Club last season, a fact of which they ltad Veil unaware when the appeal was lodged. The mistake had been made in error and with no object of harassing the, Sub-Union. They now wished to withdraw the appeal and also "to withdraw the objection! alleging that Albion had played a man who had played for the Northern SubUnion, as it- would .be inconsistent to object under the circumstances. MessrsHaJdwin and O'Sullivan were thanked | for their sportsmanlike action in coming forward and admitting that they had in-1 advertently made a mistake.

0. Hunt (Pioneer), who was ordered I off the ground for hitting a. player in the match against Wyndham 111. appeared to answer the charge. When asked what he had to say he answered, I "He hit me and I hit liim." Hunt was ' ordered to stand down for a fortnight. A question! in regard l to the player's age was held over. .' The Pioneer Club asked for permission to play F. O'Kane, as he was now permanently settled at Gore. A. long discussion took place on the matter, it being pointed out that O'Kane had not put in a 14 days' residence at Gore. As there was some doubt on the rules bearing on the v matter it was resolved to refer the matter to the Southland Union as lo whether or not O'Kane was entitled to play for Pioneer or Wednesday .next, the president and secretary, to explain the circumstances. The match Alibion. 111. v. Pioneer 111 on Wednesday next wns fixed to start at 8 p.m. J. Crombie .secretary of the Matawra Clulb, enclosed opinion of secretary of Otago Union'regarding a player taking part in matches in different sub-unions stating that he throught it was against .the rules of his Union. The letter was received. • It was decided that all clubs lie asked supply a list of-financial and defaulting players within a fortnight. The matter of two players who resided, at Waikaka taking part in secondgrade matches at Gore was discussed, and it was decide dthat (lie players were entitled to play for Pioneer. •••* } i •—: HOCKEY NOTES. ' By "Touchllne." Coming through the first round 1 of the Invcrcargill fixtures without a defeat and holding a three-point lead from their nearest opopnents, Wyndham's hopes of capturing the championship should be realised. Playing on their own area, which is conducive to fast open play. Wyndham were in their element, and placed some Iflrge scores to their credit, their score-sheet reading: ,83 goals for, 10 against. The majority of tlie Invercavgill grounds hayo been 1 in a very bad condition and it was considered that Wyndham's showing would not be so . good ■in the secow} round. If! their glg-sh with Wairongoa the Reds met with little difficulty, in spite; of prior predictions to the contrary. Their opponents, man for man. are considerably younger and less experienced although in better form, having- most assiduous in their training, At the comrrimicement of hosiffities the Reds carried play into the Blues' territory, but a break away saw Wairongoa register a: nice goal. Roused by tliis reverse the Reds immediately returned and quickly found an opening and before the spell closed had raised their total .to three. The Wairongoa players were making strenuous efforts to reduce the Wad but their efforts were often misdirected. Tho forwards, unlike their opponents, kept bunphing and interfering with one another. Play was for the most part in the Blues' 25, although they made fast breakaways oh occasions. From two of these they were successful in annexing goals, but they failed to hold the Reds, who rincrttased thoir score to seven, making tHe final result: Wyndham 7, Wairongoa 3. A great deal of interest centred on Wednesday last in th© contest, Wyndham v, The letter W stif; fened up their rafiks considerably and the side contained' no lefisi than eight past and present representative players. With such formidable opposition it was generally expected that the county pipypiV toi'4 wet- I'M? "Waterloo,'-' -' '.)!■« opepi«g 'fixchfjnges saw the home players penning Wyndham up in the latter's quarters, but a sudden change and short passing in the circle saw the country players open their P'u v «w!H!g lIP and down the field at a great paee, but Rakiura's efforts were unrewarded while the visitors added another goal. On resumption of play after the interval Rafeiiila foj.'r«] iDjit'tpi'ff,. Jrat- the opposing backs were a stiff proposition and successfully held them at bay. The few opportunities presented to the visiters were generally made the most of, ami « iiiiirii Pftllauglit ga\jr tJieir score increased to three. At this stage M. Richards, tho visitors' centre half, was rendered practically hors do com.bat, and Wyndham, adopting defensive taiifcibS, cyqdod danger. Eventually the defence was lieattnt' back and' Rakiui'a gained their one and only score. . Despite the weakened forward line consequent on the strengthened line of defence Wyndham again found an opening. aufi' tlip •jdpsjite say mqttei's unchanged,' flip seoi-e reacting; Wyndham 4, It ilk hint I.' The score is by no means a fair indication of the relative strength of the teams, for the play swung from end to end in turn, but the country forwards foado few mistakes iji the circle, Tyhicl) aceoufttect fop the victory. "fh# coW test was under the control of the tworeferee system, which helps to make the game faster and cleaner, but one gentleman was over-severe, on sticks. This department he seems to watch most parpfully at]d on occasions made matters a- little 'monotonous. In tins infringement of the rules Wyndham were the chief offenders, one player costing bis side a free hit repeatedly, and at one stage Rakiura had five penalty v.ornprs ij} fmccesskin, hut. a score was on every occasion uverteit. The ground was very heavy, which made the conditions particularly unpleasant and the game more strenuous. }!y this win Wyndham are now assured of the {irorriiership of Southland and tho Lewis Shield for the third year in succession. • The following table shows the positions of the various tennis engaged in the Shield coniji.'titidli:— fioa't ("J'.tal* T"yVl Won Lost, for Pf# Wvndham ■ 7 7 0 0 40 11 U Wairongoa 6-3 j "J

FIRST GRADE. Pts.'Pts. Flag, Pl'd. W'n, L'st. Dr. for. ag't. Pts. Pioneer - 6 4 1 1 53 15— 9 Mat&ura 5 4 10 66 31— 8 Albion 5 3 1 1 28 18— 7 Edendale 5 1 4 (1 21 72— 2 Wynd'ra 5 ,0 5 0 17 i'j~ 0 SECOND GRADE. S. Downs 7 5 2 0 63 22—10 Pioneer P> 4 1 1 34 14— f) Hibev. 7 4 2 1 23 2 fi- 0 Albion 6 3 4 0 33 21— fi Edendale u 1 4 0 3 44— 2 Mataura withdrew from competition. THIRD GRADE. Mataura. 5 5 0 0 57 3—10 Albion 5 4 1 0 79 21— 8 H. School 4 2 2 0 22 20— 4 Pinner •"> 1 j. ("t !) 50— 2 Wvntl'm 4 1 3 0 3 11 - 2 HiW. 5 1 L 11 ! \ 71 -1