Rugby Football.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 93, 12 April 1902, Page 5

Rugby Football.

THE most important departuic tiom usual proceduie a,t the annual meeting of the Rugby Union on Friday last was the appointment of a .sole seleotioi of representative teams, in place of the tnunrnrate of selectors hitherto appointed. me one selector idea lias, long been a pet scheme of mine, and, m many ways, is preferable to the committee ot three. With the lattei the old axiom • What is anyone's duty is no ones duty is ever present, but the former, with tie knowledge that it is to. him alone the selecting will be left, commences right from the opening games to pick out likely placers, and in succeeding matches he adds to the list, so that by the time it devolves upon him to choose a team he has collected sufficient data to enable him to do justice to himself, and to the players generally. But the success of the sole-selector system depends upon a Strong man being chosen for the position. In Mr. T. R. Ellison the delegates of the Rugby Union have fixed on a gentleman who will do them credit, and. in whom both the playeis and the footballing public have the utmost confidence. Mr Ellison is well-known from one end of th colony" to the- other as one who thoroughly understairds the game of Rugby football, "and as a player* he earned the respect of "all who met him on the football fields of his day. He is a keen judge of a, player, and there are many playing to-day who have to thank the genial "Tom" for hints by the way which have enabled them to climb to representative honours — aye, to intercolonial representative distinction. A full resume of Mr. Ellison's career as a player has not been published, but it will appear iv the booklet he has now in the press, and that portion of it alone will be interesting reading to those who. purchase the little volume By the way, I have had more than a glance at the manuscript of the work, and. the first thing that strikes me in readme; it is that Mr. Ellison knows what, he is writing about, and has the theory of Rueby football, as well as its practical side, fully worked, out in his headpiece Mr Ellison has on twenty-three occasions played for the Wellington Union m its representative matches, two years (1891-1892) he was captain of its teams, and, in the 1898 season, he acted as manager of the team that travelled to Auckland. He was a member of the Native team that visited the Old Country in the 1888-1889 season, and in 1893 he captained the New Zealand team that towed Australia. All said and done, then, Mr. Ellison has the experience as well a* the ability to make a striking success of the new departure in the manner of selecting representative teams bv the delegates of the Wellington Rushy Union. In Auckland the. system has been in force for many years, and has worked exceedingly well * • * Desmte lumours to the contrary both the secretary and treasuier of the Union were allowed to be re-elected without, opposition at the annual meeting. Another agieeable feature is that, with one sohtaiy exception, all the officers of the I'nion who sought ie-elec-tion achieved their desire. Messrs. Hill Laughton, Hood, Bud, King, and Kellow were all membeis of last year's Management Committee It will be remembered that Mr Brodic — the other member of the committee — was elected at the annual meeting last year to a similar office, but an unfoituiiate accident while practising football forced him to resign his seat. » * * It is a matter for regret that the delegates did not re-elect Mr W. Beck He has done good work on the committee, and, as secretary of the Referees' Association, is in close touch with the game Of course, there were only seven positions to fill, but Mr. Beck would have done credit to the delegates m one of them » * * The motion carried at the annual meeting of the Rugby Union, to suggest to the New Zealand Union the sending of a New Zealand team to England, can have no effect in the present state of the laws of the game The laws declare that professionalism is illegal, and it is an act of professionalism for a club or other organisation to pay. or promise to pay for loss of time while playing or travelling in connection with football.

A tour as suggested m the motion would occupy at least six months, and how many playeis aic there in New Zealand at the present time who could, for that length oi time, go without their weeklv- or monthly pay? I venture to assert that the full number could be enumerated easily on the fingers of one haiiid p Various suggestions are made to o\ ercame w hat appears am insurmountable difficulty. One is that the- English Rugby Union be approached to relax theur rules for the occasion, giving the players in the suggested New Zealand team power to receive pa> foi the time they would lose fiom their ordinary employment while on the tour, calling them amateurs still. The English Rugbj Union, I suppose, are too conservative to think of any such thing, and probably the secretary of that Union would be surprised to hear of such a proposal emanting from the New Zealand Union Of course, in these days of Contingents, our colony has become more than a mere speck in the Southern Pacific Ocean, yet I venture to believe thait the Rugby Union will not loom large in the minds of Mr. Row land Hill and his committee. One has only to think of the scant courtesy shown to previous proposals and suggested alterations in the rules from this colony to be inclined to the assumption that the later proposal will receive similar treatment. My convictaon, therefore is that it will be> a waste of time to move in the matter at all, but if it will tend to bring about the isecession of the New Zealand Union from the head body I, for one, would be pleased to see the proposal go forward, and meet the fate £hat might hasten such a consummation * • • The back division of the Wellington team wants reorganising. In, the first place, Fell is no- use to those behind him — at least he wasn't lasti week Then, Jacobs should he played on the left wing three-quarter instead of the centre — he hangs on too long for a centre At times last -week he stuck to the ball till even his wardrobe left him. Scott Wilson's place is the centre three-quart er, and he is only wasted in the> pack. With McTntyre on the right, that line would be. complete. But w hat about Brodie, did I hear someone say? I haven't foi gotten him Five-enghths is where I would put Tom," and the place would be well capably filled. • ♦ • Dock! was a veritable thorn in the side of the Wellington team, and this promising player appeal's to have struck form early. Quee returned fiom the "other side" during last week, and expiessed himself as having had a good time on his holiday trip. , The Management Committee of the Rtigby Union have decided to hold its weekly meetings on Wednesday nights 'this season. -Wilson, playing full-back tor Old Boys, gave a splendid exhibition, getting out of some very aw kward positions in a truly w orkmanJike manner Gallagher talks of retiring from the playing arena altogether, but methmks the commencement of Cup matches will find him with the jersey on again. Buddie, plavmg centre three-quarter tor the Old Boys, caught one's eye very favourably on Satuiday His collaring was very sound, and his kicking haid a lot of power in it. A new foi ward was out for Wellington — Tumbuli by name, another of the re/turned Conting-enters, but he did not seem to be in form, or, if he was he could be easily replaced. There were no less than eight gi ounds engaged at Miramar on Saturday but the majority of the clubs were onh indulging m pipe-openers, and theie were not many brilliant pieces to rccoid The annual meeting of the Referees' Association w a,s to have been held on Wednesday night, but any comments thereon are too late for this page. There are rumoured retirements of several prominent refeiees this season, but the annual meeting may contradict them. The Petone Workshops team that travelled to Chnstchuich at "faster tame contained no le^s than ten Poneke players, one of w horn had to acknowledge' that, he did not know a certain foreman at the Petone s.hops who had occupied that position there for tlio last twenty years. , (Continued on puqc 6.)

The C'.uit 01 bun Reteiees' Association lwue decided that touch |udge& should not indicate with then flags w hen asked to assist the leteiee during kicks at goals." This piacticv was, inaugurated In the Wellington Association last y'eai, and was found to woik \eiy well indeed, although many or those on the bank who generally know moie about the game than the leferee or the plaveis grumbled a lot at the offieiatina touch-judges These same people are always lookino for something to jibe" at and should a icteiee on occasion see fit to cnei -rule his touch judge tliev leioice or otlieiwise accouhng to the wav then feelings lead them It was with the obiect of protecting the leferee and his touch-nidges from unseeniK ' barracking" that the practice of reauesting the toucli-iudses to make no indication as to whether a coal had been kicked or not was instituted and it ha*, pioved a signal success # * * Tlie delegates at the animal meeting of the Rugb\ Union expiessed the opinion in a decided manner that year by year the Wellington representatives are asked to pla\ too many matches, and the Maagement Committee have been asked to curtail them considerably. Tins season the matches to be played pai excellence are those with Auckland and Taianaki and the consensus or opinion seemed to be that no effort should bo spared to give the pla>ers all the opportuiut\ possible to be fit and well when they pUv these, games TOf course, Otago i<. a home game, and does not come wrthni tlie scope of tins commejit ] To carry this to its logical concilia jn the Haw Ice's Ba\ match must go It it is taken when on the wav noith, the uncertainty as to the tune of arrival m Auckland is against its being p^ed — especially when it is considered that there lisa two-days' s>ea trip between Napier and Auckland If it is arranged to be played on the' wav south a long railway iourne\ right aeioss the island from New- Plymouth to Napier would not be relished, and the manager of the team would have a hard job to get fifteen plaveis to go oast Pahnerston North If it was not decided bv motion, it was fully understood that the best chance of winning the match against AucUnnd lay m sending the team direct there w ithout playing any matches m between the team to leave Wellington bv the early train on Tuesday morning, arriving in Auckland about midday on the Wednesday. This would allow them to recover fully from the trip, and enable the captain of the team to indulge in useful practice games The Taranaki match would then be played on the wav back m the middle of the week, and probably an old promise with Wanganui could be ledeemed, and a match arranged for the succeeding Saturday theie Of course this would mean the same number of matches on the northern tour but would result in a tnp that would be greatly appreciated b\ the nlaveis * ♦ » The following is a motion passed at the annual meeting of the Canteibuiv Referees' Association — That the committee of the Union be informed that members of the Association do not approve of being; called upon to officiate m matches played on grounds in such a state from stress of weather as existed on the occasions of the Merivalc-Chnst-cliurch and Svdenham-LA ttelton matches during 1901 " If the grounds were in such a state as to call for a motion of this dereliction m mv opinion the referees weie not doing their duty m allowing the matches to be nla\ed Postponement Committee or no committee if the lefeiee considers the ground unfit to t>la\ on he has power enough under the iule« to postpone the match in which he ha<been appointed to officiate Of course there is no definite m!e to sa\ so but the whole trend of the rules i« to the effect rha.t the referee >s in the nnMtion of an autwrat he ran praeticalh do what he likes as lone as he does not break a liw * *■ * Two well-known Noitli Shoic footballers, in the neisons of W T Wynyard (five-eighth) and Nicholson (halfback) are soing to South Africa as, members of the Auckland section of the Tenth Contingent The former it will be remembered won promotion to wnior ranks last season — ' Lynx " in the Auckland ' Herald " There must be some mistake in this paragraph sureh The only W T W\nvard I have ever known or heaid of is the "Tab " of Native team Wellington, and Auckland interprovincm! fame and it would hardly be said of him that, he "won promotion to senioi ranks last season " I incline to the opinion that the player mentioned is a nephew of the "Tab" 'we know and as he has also the same nickname a<= his uncle, that may bo the reason of mv confrere makine a mistake, a« T belie\ ehe has Tt may be

though, that \ouis tilth is making the en or ni tlunkuig that the North Shoie pla\or who is journeying, South \tuc»wards ha<* the Chustian name of Gladwyu, a.ucl ib the oldest son ot the secrenyu, and it, the oldest son of Jack" of that ilk well known m connection with the Do\onpoit Forrv C'ompan\ * * * The Otago Rugb.-s Union will probabh send its representative team as far noith as Hawke's Bay this season. The Senior Championship matches of the. Wellington Rugby Union will commence on Satiuday, the 2(>th instant the. junioi, third, and fouith-class matches, a week later Jack" Gillett, the well-known Auckland ox-iepiesentatne foiwaid who has not played much for a <-oason 01 two owing to the difficulty of setting to town on Saturdays is said to be likeb to play iea;ularl\ aaain this \car Auckland enthusiasts would be delighted to see the o-onial .Tack" donning the iei-=-ey once more, and the suppoiteis of tli eother provinces would prefer that he lemained in letiiement, for he is one of the best when the ba.ll wants following Rumour is busy m Auckland this season with the names of prominent Thames plaveis ''Dick" McGreeor and C'unrningham are stated asi likely to loave Ouartzopohs' for Auckland and play for the City district team Buckland is another one who is being shifted bv Dame Rumour, and the Graf ton team is where he is stated as probably to be found when the season commences. ' Lynx " however, says it is on the cards that, the latter will settle down in fhe Waikato district a,s a tillei of the fruitful soil