RUGBY FOOTBALL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 8 September 1926, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

NEAR AND FAR, The. Nelson-Buller match is still a favourite topic of conversation. There is no truth in the rumour that one of the visiting backs learnt his football at Yale o;- Harvard. Before Red Ofatige, American football player, da//,led the American .pubiu with ids genius, be carried ice to pay his way through college, lie cuts no ice now. But he dix-sn'i need it, re marks the Sun, having raked m about 1-50,000.

•At the inter-high school Rugby tournament at Invercargill last week the Otago High School team Inn! some exceptionally solid support. Four old boys rii' the school went down to see the side in action. I hese four totalled C 5 stone in weight, the giant of the party mining the scale at I9st. dibs. Siime support ! the newly-formed J'out-y-pridd Club has been admitted to membership of the Lancashire section of the. English Rugby League and is practically a member of the Rugby League, for several Yorkshire teams have promised the Welsh eluh fixtures. The rule stipulates the (pialifleation for the Rugby League as playing each club in tlm one county, and at least three matches with clubs in another county. The Forit-y-pridd matches will therefore count in the Rugby League programme. H. R. (“Itai'kie ’) Redcll-Sivright. who brought a, Rugby team to New Zealand in 1904 and revolutionised the. game here, was a. great, tackier, game lor anything. After one of the Scot land-England games at Edinburgh, he was (lining with some friends. Shortly alter dinner, when standing m the hallway, Sivright remarked, “I’m feeling that fit 1 think 1 could tackle that horse and cab,’ pointing to a hansom jogging towards them.' His friends, in convivial mood, egged on the lusty Scottish forward, and out he dashed', and. with a powerful diving tackle brought the horse, arid vehicle and driver crashing to (he ground. What’s a little thing like that to a successful international captain, who promptly paid for his fun by handing the driver inure than sufficient for the damage! (Those were the good old days). Harry Bosward, the New South Wales Rugby Union selector, has an intense dislike for a certain kind of soft drink that is manufactured in New Zealand. He would rather drink the nastiest medicine than take a sip of this particular brew. It came about through a crowd of sportsmen in Auckland one day during 'the 1923 New South Wales tour pressing the selector, who was manager of the team, .to join them in a drink, says ,vwriter in 'the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Though a stnet teetotaller, the selector is a good •sport, and he accepted the offer .with thanks, the party, about a dozen in number, adjourned to a near-by hotel. The New Zealanders were not satisfied with one drink, and the poor manager had to have a “round” with them, though he was drinking only an aerated water. He was a very sick man for the next few days, llis friends when lie nmt them again tried to point out to Hun how dangerous it was for a manager of a football team to be a, teetotaller, but he was not impressed with their arguments. It was discovered afterwards that some wag (?) in (ho party had mixed hair restorer witlT Bosward',s drinks! HAWKE’S BAY RESENTS criticism: (Onited Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The local Rugby Union received a tetter from the Hawke's Bay Union protesting against the criticism of the Bay players that had appeared in Wellington and stating that the. New Zealand Union would be asked to hold an enquiry; also that feeling in Hawke’s Lay is so strong that it had been suggested that the return match at Wellington set down for October 2 should not be played. One Wellington player was mentioned by name as ha ving made a statement, to .which exception was taken.

The Union appointed a committee to deal with the letter.