THE WORLD OF SPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18772, 28 July 1924, Page 4

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

'. ~j: 11..1.1. 111.. ■■■ ; TOUR (;iF THE ALL BLACKS. | :l| - v -■ l : v ; ■' WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? 1 • nx a. s. tendaei;. ■' v 'Vjrednßsday last was one of those rare occasions on which an Auckland Rugby crowd had hoped to see a local team well beaten. Many had looked for a sparkling and irresistible display by the All Blacks, with Auckland defeated bnfc. not graced. ; Tho expected did not eventuate, however, and the actuality was somewhat startling. We are told by many that the All; Blacks are not a great side. We shall really know this when their English tour is properly under way. One thing which j hurts, howevjr, is to know that it is certainly not the best side New Zealand oould | produce, aud it hurts Auckland more thaii any other district, for reasons that I have already been well thrashed out. j Nevertheless the most severe critics of the Dominion's latest, representatives will be wore than pleased if their gloomy predictions prove to be unfounded.

The original All Blacks,- however, did not: carry all before them in their final matches in Now Zealand, before they Bailed on their record-breaking tour. 7ihey drew with Otago and Southland at Duliedin on July 2s, 1905, the scores being 10 iulL It was said at the time that thsy were lucky to escape defeat. As in the recent match in Auckland, the home team on that occasion beat the All Blacks for the bail very badly.

Three days after their game in Dunedin ! the old All Blacks played Canterbury., and } won by 21 points to 3. "The display of the : New Zealanders," a critic wrote at the time, "was not as high-class as_ placers of their reputation shonld: have given." The® come their defeat by Wellington by the' narrow margin of three points to nil. i Tli«' gama was played in mud, rain and I wind. Wellington went all out to 'inn, an<J just got there. The conditions were all against good football. Nevertheless the showing of the All Blacks was considered to be well below international standard. From the above it will bo 6een thai', a tour whioh was destined to create a football record, which has never since baen ; excelled j opened somewhat inausjpiciously. Will history repeat itself ? To a certain extent history has ; already done so. Firstly, neither the original nor present All Black teams won every match in Australia. Returning to New Zealand they each lost one match. Of both sides ib was said that, they were not strong enough on their showing in their matches in New Zealand to bo successful on their tour of Britain. Again, neither sido was the strongest available. Lastly, the All Blacks of 1905 were farowelled by the late Mr. Seddon, who attained the distinction of holding the office of Premier for a longer term than any other politician. The present All Blacks will doubtless be farewelled by Mr, Massey, who .bids fair to also gain tha same distinction. Thus if history continues as it has begun we should have little to complain about.

It is evident ' now, more so even than formerly that tho All Blacks need a coach. In 1905, referring' to the famous . team, Mr. J. R. Burt said it was a fcapital idea to send a coach ahead of it to study tho tactics and style of the play o ! i the teams the New Zealanders were to meet. ■ It is also interesting to note that at that time the Auckland Rugby Union supported a protest against the sending of a coach to England, but the New Zealand Rugby Union decidcd otherwise. . Tho New Zealand Union has evidently gone back rather than progressed since those days.

Unless our yoarig players aro seat to participate it is hard to see what good New Zealand can hope to gain by entering teams for the Davis Cnp contests. The New Zealand representatives . played Citecho-Slovakia at Prague last month, and were badly beaten. The two who played for the Dominion were Mr. F. M. B. Fisher and Mr. J. G. Peacock. Both aire veterans past their priine, and Fisher, at any rate, has not been seen in local tennis circles for many years. Since the team had not the slightest hope of reaching even the semi-finals, it all seems a needless ws.ste of energy. If New Zealand must enter the lists why not send some promising material away to gain experience which would be invaluable to the game here when the players returned ?

The English League footballers gave a very fine display at Carlaw Park on Saturday. ' Auckland, although beaten, fully extended the visitors, and it is a remarkable demonstration of .the woiiderful football talent of the Dominion that the pick o'f practically the whole of iihe north of England should find such strong opposition out here. The game was hard and keen—too keen from the writer's standpoint, but the crowd had a lot to do with this. Whenever an Englishman went down hard they yelled with - delight; whenever an Aucklander hit the turf with a thud there was always some hooting. Tins doubtless didn't bother tlie Englishmen, who are well used to it, but it is a pity. At least one woman in the stand absolutely shrieked with delight when Auckland nearly scored a try. The writer watched her with amazement right through the game, and from now on he has no doubt as to why "men leave home." The control of the large crowd was excellent and th<i local League officials are to be congratulated on tho way they staged the game. "More thrills," said the advertisement dealing with the Falcon Cup Association footoall match at the Domain on Saturday. The author of * the advertisement evidently has a gift for prophecy. Tho thrills were there all right, but not, perhaps,' quite of the sort most people had anticipated. Tho incident, however regrettable as it was in some respects, will not harm the Soccer code. Indeed, if some of us could be sure of the same tiring every Saturday the moro strenuous games—Rugby and League—would' be somewhat neglected. But the Association football authorities can be relied upon to see that any repetition of' the kind is nipped in the bud.