FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9048, 8 May 1888, Page 6

FOOTBALL.

THE ENGLISHMEN'S VISIT. The full report of the match on Saturday last between the English fifteen v. Canterbury, published in yesterday's Herald, has been accepted by local footballers generally as a proof that the visitors did not have so hollow a victory as the scanty news received by wire seemed to indicate. The fact that Canterbury got behind three times in the second spell shows that their defeat must be attributed greatly to want of condition, as in the last twenty minutes the Englishmen had the match all their own way, though the reds had made a good fight during the early part of the game. The Auckland fifteen have been finally chosen, and the selection committee have ultimately decided to dispense with wing men, and by this action J. Arneil and J. Wooller are therefore excluded from the team through no demerit of their own. The team is considered a strong one, particularly in the back division. From the steady training that is being done under the careful supervision of Mr. E. O'Hare it is confidently expected that by the day of the match the fifteen will be fit as regards physical condition, but serious doubts fire expressed whether the forwards will be able to acquire that combination of play so necessary against so well-drilled a contingent as their opponents have proved themselves to be. This matter is now entirely in the hands of the Selection Committee, and upon them devolves the responsibility of seeing that the men come into the field thoroughly versed in each other's play in all the details of packing scrums, heeling out, lining up, and backing up, in a combined and systematic manner. [by TELEGRAPH. —OWN correspondent.] Thames, Monday At a meeting of. footballers held to-night, it was agreed to offer the English football team £50 and their passage money from Auckland, to induce them to play a match with the local fifteen. It was announced that £28 had already been subscribed. Mr. Flett, the owner of the paddock at Parawai, where the proposed match will be played, has offered to assume all liability over £30.