FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15110, 28 September 1912, Page 10

FOOTBALL.

THE RUGBY GAME. INSURANCE V. LAW. At Alexandra Park .. this ,-afternoon matches will bo played between teams representing the insurance and the law. The junior match will commence at two o'clock, and tho senior at 3.15. Following -will bo tho insurance teams: —Seniors Dawson, Basley, Stewart, Reynolds, Henderson, Campbell, Reed, Hellaby, Grace, Needham, Sexton, Hunt, McDavitt, Northcroft, Nicholson. Juniors: Ohlson, R. Matthews, Bull, Mur- | ray, Ross, F. Matthews, Adams, A. Dut.hie, i Proude, Swanson, Still Well, Wilson, Newcombe, Rillington, McLiver, K. Dulihie, Clayton. '•/ , TERRITORIAL MATCH. A match will also'ho played between teams representing the 34th company senior .cadets and No. 36 company. Following are tho teams—34th Company: N- Keystone, W. Bowden, B. Burton, G. Forrester, White, D. Healey, L. Robertson, L. Nairn, Porter, Campbell, Fordyce, Kays, Rankin, McNeil. Emergencies Hill, Harvey. No. 36 Company McGregor,_ Murray, Grant, Jones, Craig, Lovett, Finlay : (2), Selkirk (2), ■ Goldsboro,' Ellison, Cantell, Forbes, Bishop. EmergenciesSkerrett, McLean, Davidson, Newdick, Douglas, Peters. NOTES AND COMMENTS.' . "I am not far from the mark," (writes the Wellington correspondent of the Canterbury Times), "when I state that when the accounts aro balanced for this season the Rugby Union will find itself something like £700 "to th© bad. Football is an expensive game to control in Wellington, for. tho Athletic Park—the principal playing ground. —is such an old man of tho sea. In tho first place £750 has been found each and ©very year towards the'sum borrowed from Now Zealand Rugby Union, and rent, rates, and taxes, custodian's wages and other,necessary items total up a sum of something like ,£IBOO that has, to bo found by way of gatemoney 'before the Rugby Union is putting anything by. - As this means (something like an avorago of £100 every Saturday it does not'need a professional accountant to discover that sparse attendances because of wet Saturdays is going to leave the exchequer very short. And, besides all this, when .the present lease of the Athletic Park runs out — about three years' time—the Rugby Union has to look forward to a muoh increased rental if it takes_the ground for another 20 years. It is a Maori lease, one of the conditions of: which is that the rent annually shall bo 5 per cent.* of the.- capital value, and as the said value is' somewhere in the region of £.16,000 th© rent is easily calculated. . My statement that there is a parlous time ahead of the Wellington Rugby Union financially will hardly bo doubted.. ' Dealing with the tour of the Otago team this year, " Fullback," of the Otago Daily Times, says:—-"Wellington showed the best, football Been on tho tour, and, taking a lino through the Otago match, the standard of play is higher than elsewhere. v In this game Wellington, I am told, by those who watched their form in previous matches closely, played above themselves, and with Otago playing dogrees below, they .were abio, to show to advantage. This notwithstanding', Wellington struck, mo as being th© "best' team in New Zealand at the present time. Thoir forwards are good without being 1 superlative, while their backs are in a 1 class by themselves. E. Roberts is a splendid halfback, and Ramsden and McKonzio are the . best working pair of five-eighths ■ I have seen this season- I was particularly impressed with Ramsden. Th© threequarter line is bettor for the good work of th© fiveeighths. . But the Wellington team on tho form against Otago proved the best of the sides met on the tour. Auckland evidently 5 did not see Wellington at its best,_ as on its form.in th© shield game it was inferior to both the Taranaki and Otago teams. _ - Before leaving for America, one of tho New South Wales : footballers . accepted a presentation of £63 from his ■ club /mates. Surely 'ho cannot still claim to ps an amateur.