FOOTBALL SUPREMACY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17754, 13 April 1921, Page 8

FOOTBALL SUPREMACY.

POSITION IN DOMINION.

COMING Of.THE RIVAL CODES. No. I. • BT C. S. UNMIX. The Australians taught us a lesson in cricket during their recent tour, and now, with flannels tucked away in the bottom drawer and football jerseys appearing on the peg, we are faced with the tamo old trouble in tho winter game—Rugby codo versus League. Not sd many years ago in tho dayß when the "All Blacks " made history in England—and incidentally gave Now Zeahnd ono of tho (inest advertisements fihe has ever liad—tbo suggestion that wo had anything to learn in football lore would haVe been greeted with a smile". Now, however, with our tost' players fast dividing into separate camps wo are likely to bo driven into obscurity, for a division of talent must inevitably lower tho standard of play and our skill must suffer. It is. I think, an admitted fact that whether in /cricket or football a good player must deteriorate if his companions cannot lay claim to something approaching tho same standard of play. Vou can take the finest five-eighths in tho world, give him a poor halfback, and a mediocro centre-tlirecquartcr, and ho will soon lose most of his skill through want of practise. The "All Blacks" well illustrate my point. They were all Rugby experts and skilled players. Thero were "no weak links in their armour, and they made football history in consequence. Take, again, Mr. .Hansford's remarks legarding that very fine young criokcter Blunt, of Canterbury. According to the Australian captain Blunt would soon pjay himself into trfo front rank in the cricket world "if ho was in Australia," the reason being that "if thero ho would meet experts and would develop his game. And so wo come again to tho fact that Rugby in New Zealand is threatened on account of the unfortunato introduction of rival codes in a country which., at present at any rate, is too 6mall to support both with any great success. History of the Game. The Rugby Union gamo is a very old one, indeed. It will surprise many to know that it first became popular in Ireland, and has been played there in various forms for upwards of 2000 years. An indication of its old popularity in that now unhappy country is to be found in the fact that the Statutes of Galway in 1527 forbade every other sport save arckery excepting ""onely the great foot lalle." As an old undcreraduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, I, with others, take pride in the following extract_ from the register book of that institution dated 1679:- . . . , '"That no schollers give or receive at anv time any treat or collation upon account of ve "football play, on or about Michaelmas Day, further than college beere or ale in re open halle to quench their thirst*. And particularly that'most vile custom of drinking and spending moneySophisters and Freshmen together—upon ye account of making or not making a speech at that football time be utterly left off and extinguished." Foundation ol the Union. It was not until 1871, however, thai the English Rugby Union was founded It then comprised an association of clubs and schools which decided to amalgamate and draw up rules to govern tho gome From this beginning tho union grew until it became the governing body of the game in Great Britain and her colonies. It was ever a conservative body, however, and many of us, though old Rugby players, feel that it has not always moved with the times. ' , . A rift in the lute came in 1895, when a numbor of leading clubs in Yorkshire end Lancashire broke off from the English Union and ■ formed tho Northern Union —now the leading body in the North of England. The payment of playors was the bono of contention. It was felt by thoso who founded the Northern Union that workingmen should be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses they might Incur through playing the game. The gate 3 in the North of England at this time were always large, the clubs woalthv, and so tho breach came and the rival b'odies were bom—one purely amatour and tho other practically recognising professionalism. I Appearance in New Zealand. It was some considerable time, however, before the Northern Union game made its appearance in New' Zealand, and I bolievc, mirabile dictu, it was the famous "All Blacks" who'were indirectly responsible for its introduction. The'"Northerri Union was not in a flourishing Btate, owing to., the lack of international matches and the competition of professional Association teamsr The " All Blacks' " triumphal tour of 190j5-6 made money for the English Rugby Union" and aroused the attention of the Northern _ Union. They at once entered into negotiations wiWi New Zealand players to send a team to England and play tho clubs there, it being agreed that the visiting players should themselves take a share in the gate money. As a result, a team of New Zealanders toured tho North of England in 1907, and the sequel nvas tho definite establishment of thegame in this country. ,