FOOTBALL NOTES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 35, Issue 9388, 9 October 1903, Page 4

FOOTBALL NOTES.

[BY To.ITCHi.IKK.] The County match brought to a glpse a somewhat uninteresting football season. Sijpportersof the game cannot Ippk back at the play provided by the expontnts of liugby football during the winter with any degree of satisfaction. As far as Naseby is concerned pnly three games have beeriiplayed on the ground, and on the whole the exhibition of football has not been of a very high order. Let us.hope we have reached. brd rock; and that thenext ten years will be in inverse ratio Vft ihe last ten. ...This is the thirteenth season of county football, or would have been had the counties met yearly. Just as the endib of initiating these interest jhg matches belongs to Vincent, so the successful issue of the late, match is due to tjheir keenness ) for a fortnight befop, Maniototo seemed to have no thought-of a county match. Naseby has had three visits from the . law and Gilkjnsori'brought down a fif teen and tried conclusions with Maiiio- ; toto in Lennane's paddock. Then in ; ? 92 P ••ighton's paddock was the scene of th struggle, and a good struggle it was too, &>r our team only got home by a potted.goal. Nx>wj after a lapse . pf ten years, the teams have again met in and victory rests" with

Our Ute visitors arrived at midday on Friday, and at once established "fheuiselves prime favourites "by.-their igßietanc] gfiitlrmaiiiy behaviour, which flu ring the w.holo oil their sqiunrn here

won golden opinions from the "localresidents. In the afternoon they had a" good kick-about with- a'bill provided by the Naseby juniors. By some strange forsre.t fulness the visitors had. forgotten to bring a ball with them, and stranger still; . when they asked the Prospectors for theirs, they found they had none fit to play with. While watching the practice, I was accostpd by"a very well known cricketer who was twelve years ago a noted footballer, rivalling." Jimmy. Who " in his claims as the best full - back in the Naseby Fire Brigade. After watching the Vincent boys awhile, he very seriously informed.me that he didn't think they were, up to much. For myself, I thought they shaped very well, especially in fielding the ball from high or long kicks and in quickly getting in a return kick. They also seemed in splendid fettle and that made me more uneasy than anything else I hnd : seen. Saturday broke beautifully fine and | , it was not the fault of either the weather ; or the ground that we did not get a good"scientific exhibition of football. Whcse fault was itthen? Well, I think it : was caused by the system adopted by the Maniototo players. The selection committee had decided on seven forwards, one half-back, and three live-eights ; but the game commenced with one. five-eight and two wing forwards, and before the close of the game the combination hiid developed into five scrummapers with five wing forwards. Such a system may prevent the. opposite side scoring, but it also prevents the side using it from scoring. Time after time when Francis got the ball from the scrum he had no one within passing distance to receive the ball, and so chance after chance was lost, all through having no steady reliable five-eights. ..Everybody was delighted with the way the Vincent backs found the touchline. It was by this means that they managed to get into Maniototo's twenty-five several times. Seldom have I witnessed such clever use of the touch and I think it has never been surpassed on the Naseby ground. Jolly, Varcoe and Cahill showed good judgment and rare skill in this department of the game, and the the two full-backs Davidson and Allison were equally certain. 0.-i both sides the line-out play was disappointing, for there was a great deal of knocking on and little or none of the old. fashioned breaking away with a dribbling rush. The Vincent forwards managed at odd times to pass the ball back to Cahill or Varcoe, *nd then ground was gained by sending the ball quickly into touch a dozen yards down.

Jolly's run was the sensation of the day. Jack Hore and M'Kcnzie Marshall had made a fine run from half-w-iy to within a dozen yards of the gjal line and then at the critical moment Jolly cleverly intercepted a piss and was off. Allison slightly b vulked him, but failed to collar him, aid then we had a coursing match. Jolly streaked along with long telling strides with the two Marshalls after him. M'Kenzie had just had a big run with Hore and could not gain, but Dave Marshall went all out and saved a few yards from Naseby's goal liae. It was a fine bit of play, greatly relished by the spectators and dese vedly applauded. We want more of thj same sort of sport.

It is somewhat remarkable that in all county matches played to date Vincent has only crossed Maniototo's line once, all their other scores being obtained from penalties or potted goals. ■ln 1891 their.only score was a penalty goal, the result of Sam Inder being

off-side. In '92 no score was registered ; in '93 they failed to score ; in '94 they kicked two penalty goals, scoring 6pts against Maniototo's 18. "Sneeston was the culprit that year and Ted Marslin was wrathful that one of his men should have been guilty of penalising his side right under' their goal. What would he have thought of the times innumerable.that Maniototo transgressed in their own twentyfive .in the late match. In '95 when the Matakauui team pluckily represented Vincent, though they made a good stand, they failed to score for their county. If I remember rightly no match was played in '96 and in the following year at St. Bathans the score stood 3 all, a try to Maniototo, a penalty goal kicked by Reid for Vincent. I fancy it was nob till '9B that our neighbours secured their first win, getting a potted goal against Jlaniototo's try. For three years in succession no matches were played, but last year the teams met in Dunedin when Vincent was victorious by Bpts to nil, thus winning their second match by. a goal from a try and a penalty g° al -. From the above, it will be seen that out of the 26 points scored, 1 7 resulted from penalty kicks and only once has Vincent secured a try. This speaks volumes for the good defence .of the Maniototo representatives, past and present. But this is' a long digression from the last match which , I have under review. . I have shown that Vincent made most of their ground by using the touch-line.- Maniototo retaliated by dribbling rushes, aided occasionally by good runs by Jack Hore, Moran, and M'Kenzie Marshall. }n the first spell when playing up the ground Webb got over with the ball amid the jubilant cheers of local supporters, but the referee ruled that the ball had been held and ordered a scrum five

yards out. The excitement was intense, but our men could not avail themselves of the opportunity. Then again. Pave Marshall was within an ace of scoring, getting within a yard of the goal-line, before he was collared.

In its short report of the match ! the Dunstan Times very kindly : mentions that neither county was represented by its strongest team ; but the Alexandra Herald fails to extend the same courtesy, simply stating that Vincent whs not fully represented. Whoever supplied the Herald's report failed to do the referee, Mr A. Kirby. justice. In endeavouring to be absolutely fair to the visitors, it is generally ■ conceded that he was particularly strict with members of the home team, penalising them for the slightest infringement of the rules. Had he followed the course recommended by the Herald and not used the whistle so much, the game would have ended differently, for Maniototo romped over Vincent when the game was open. The whistle was the salvation of Vincent, and therefore none of its members should complain of its frequency. Seeing that the relations among the combatants after the match were so amicable, it is some- ; what of a pity anyone should have supplied such a report. In looking back at the match of 1903, we shall remember Jolly's great run, the clever touch-line kicking of Vincent, the sweeping dribbling rushes of Maniototo. and the general good fellowship of all concerned. Results of county matches : ! Year Maniototo Vincent. j" 1891 7 2 ! 1892 Nil Nil 1893 4 Nil 1?94 18 6 ' 1895 15 Nit I 1897 3 3 i 1898. 3 4 1902 Nil 8 1903 3 3