FAREWELL TO FOOTBALL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 218, 14 September 1908, Page 4

FAREWELL TO FOOTBALL.

Once again the time has come to lay aside the jersey and the oval ball and take up rod or rifle, racquet, bat or oar. Football, -the- king of winter sports, is over for a time, and occasion may be taken to give a brief retrospect of the season, so far as Marlborough, is concerned. Excellence in athletic sports is no substitute for daily bread, though it may be the indirect means of providing it; but excellence in some branch of athletics is good for the individual and good for the community j so long as it is subordinated to the regular pursuits of life. Thus, through foofball, more people know of Marlborough at present than did so at the beginning of the winter, while dozens of young men have visited Blenheim who" before had never set foot in the place. In ail. seven senior representative games have been played—five in Blenheim, one in Nelson (against the British team) and one in Auckland; and of this number four of those played in Blenheim were won and one drawn, not a match 'being lost on the local ground. Last year but two inter-Union games were played in Blenheim and two outside, two being won, one drawn and. the othpr lost. The aggregate gate receipts this year exceeded £220, compared with about £150 last year. Most important, from a football standpoint, has been the retaining in the district of the Seddon Shield; but an eve_nt of almost equal moment was the victory achieved by the Marlborough team over the fifteen sent from Wellington, It has long been the desire of the Marlborough Rugby Union to obtain recognition by the larger Unions and also,by the controlling body for the Dominion, the New Zealand Union; and it would seem that the hope is nearer now of realisation than ever before, and next.year should see Marlborough's best .-. included in, for instance, the South,lsland team. If the. cricketers of the province and the riflemen can., achieve similar results during the season to the Rugby footballers, and the rowers repeat their victories won last season, Marlborough will have had an excellent advertisement. : f-:.-..,Vvv--L, ■.■■■'.■:'. ' '