General Gossip.

NZ Truth, Issue 104, 15 June 1907, Page 3

General Gossip.

J. 'J. Calvert, the President ol the New South Wales Rugby ' Union, kept goal for Oxford nearly 35 years ago. iHe is a lively old spark, and has a weakness for New Zealand and its toeballers.- \ "Full-Back" is pessimistic as to the chances of the Otago rep. team this season. He sees m; the result. of the Inter- Union the hanging up of the danger signal when the Northern confoinations come Dunedinwards m a few months time. If! I mistake not . Hie Southern critics wrote m the same vein last season when the Otago team went on tour, tuft its' success against Canterbury and Wellington demonstrated that the infusion of new blood was much for its betterment. . . . / ''••'. Rumor has been busy with the name of Adams, the Otago back, m connection with the professional team for England, but I have the best authority for stating that there is not a vestige of truth m the statsnient that ho will be one of that !comb : in?,tion. A'dams's present intention is to leave if or the Old Country m January m order to prosecute his studies m medicine. , A season or ' two ago, there was a great hubbub raised, m this city over the alleged increase of rough and -dirty play by our. senior players and the daily press helped . the movement along by giving gfeait prominence to the statements of persons who, after all, were about as competent to express an opinion on the subject as O'eorge Oixon is to draw a comparison between the standing of Rug-by under the English Rugby Union and "the professional governing bodies m Fogland. Wellington -has had a- rest lately from these charges of rough play, but Canterbury has stepped into the breach and led by Frank Evans is piping an unmusical tune on the spirit of annoyance, retaliation, roughness, and what not which is said to have seized hold of many players m the Cathedral City. Frank believes now that touch-judges would give valuable help m assisting the referee to detect foul play, and Edgar Wylie unburdened himself to the same extent to a "Times" reporter, who seems to have 'been very green m swallowing all the absurd suggestions put forward by Wylie. His colleague, Wall&airton, spoke sensibly when he said that the suggestion as to linesmen assisting referees would lead to abuses, as would also the proposal to admit evidence of outsiders. The latter suggestion is -a monstrous one, and no Rugby tribunal of fair-minded men would countenance it for a single moment. This writer is also dead against investing linesmen with a power whioh would unquestionably he put to tyrannous use were it brought into veguej And for tJie same, r^Qu

he is strongly^ opposed to Fred Law's that officials should be appoinfted by the Rugby Union to watch for foul play., It ds not necessary for me to v go over the same beaten track m arguing against the adoption of the suggestions put forward by Wylie and- Laws. Take the case of Wylie for instance. That individual was acting as touch-judge m the Mcl rose-Athletic match on Saturday, and the writer knows from past experience that he has prejudged oertain players of. one of the contending teams even"; Before they went on the field. A : 'nice impartial judge 1 ' he would be , if . -<Mi trusted,, with powers of •the nature ; qi;6'#d ; : above. There are scores of ■.R^byVbfiicjals, and • referees of Ms kidney'^: knocking about the Capital .City^t'^o . ■ If the referee ■ is keen-sighted ; ahd^}alert -'there will, be no necessity ;to Tinypke assistance m detecting^Hirty;play. 'When- caught, the offender should be "put-up" for a substantial term, and I am inclined to agr.ee. 'with Wallbunton that the remedy is m (the hands* of tlie provincial Unions, by. fixing severe penalties for this class of offence. Once you start to interfere with the legitimate functions of ,the referee, there will be no finality to trouble of a serious nature, and players will soon realise that more pleasure is to be obtained on the bank than pitting their strength and.v skill under the nose of some "coot" whose sole object is probably to work off an old score at itheir expense. The game wouldn't be worth the" candle for the player. . , \ V Th>e English Rugby Onion County Championship remains undetermined for the first • time m the history of the competition. Durham and Devon having emerged victorious m the north and south respectively, have met twice on successive Saturdays and failed to conquer - each other, a try each being the result of the first match, whilst/in the second, not a single point was scpred- This is an exceptional ■ occurrence, and both sides feel they have had- enough of it, what with railway' journeys of 700 miles and two gruelling .-.games at the fag end of;>the;;V;seaSQp, when the players' powef &\ s are .- pni.; the •;■ wane , so the rivals ima>nampusly • agreed , to shake hands ' and -slmre.' the honor of • the championship,- expressing a hope that fate v;oul!d . b*in^ 4hem together again next 'season "t o.: renew the friendly battle. ■ ..',..-. .-,-;-. . • .-■ ' Alhambra sustain^aV 'the second most diecisi-TO defeait m its history at the hands of University last Saturday. A feature of the -game Was the fine place^kickins of Harrison who converted the; whole of the tries (5) notched by. 'trbe Varsityites. We could do with Harris6h" up this , way just now- , From present appearances, >he Buller Union,, which has, challenged Auckland for the. Ranfurly Shiekl. and Marl borough for the Seddon Shield , should foe. atole to;*put m a combination strong enough to give the best provincial team m the colony a hard run for horiors. /It should have a powerful lot of forwards and/" a speedy back combinationPalmsrstoh North. Old Boys' Club is about to lose, the. services of Nodi Walsh, who is «b'eini"v tfa-nsferred to Well'n^'ton. During his residence m Palmerston, Walsh has > proved himself a capable piayerv hnd his leaving will be a serious, loss to Old Boys. ' When DaVe Qallagher . was • se-en on the subject: ;MMio^ New" .Zealand team he <said; lie thpugiht it v was a very representative otic, . and 'under the circumstan'Qes i ; as strong a' ' team as there; was ,m, the colony. The non-inclusion;, tit Nichplspn and Smith could nbfc-vbe helped, and they could not blame the .selectors. ."It was a matter -of ■"/ nbt.'.bsin^," down m: Chrl&tchurch playiniS 5 -'' in' '/the inter-island match!'' ;said Vhe Auclfkiid sole selector. :^'-MoSjt of the men. ' were down there, and all played well. There was 3io ;• -particular-, reason for drpppinp; out either Smith or Nicholson ; ' they only had th-efnselves to blame for not havin'o; played m. the interislanrl match." Mr Gallagher believ^ ed that, under ttie circumst-ances, Auckland had done very well i ; n securing five places m th,§ teaon. : And i?o say; : a3l of us,<to the latter expression! n ; Mr Parton, hon. sec of the Masterbon Football .Club, writes to mfc as follows :— ' 'M'y -attention has been drawn to an itemj m your football columns which, to say the leastraqiiircs quaMfying., It is m roforence to the flourishing! condition of the Waii'arapa Rugby Union, under the new management. You have apparently got your information en Kood authority, but I beg" to add a simple fact or two. When; the management was transferred, to iftlasterton the Union was nothing less than £20 m arrears, and m, three years this debit was not. .onljf wiped : off but .the - Union was , £70 ■ odd ■ L to the . good, wlncli was^li^Med oyer to the -present ma^ifd'ge'nient < ;Eisht senior matches |iave ;■ been I' played to d^te, and ybui'stat^i-.tha^t I/he cash m hand is £115 . : Five "bf these matches have taken 'plae^ m Master ton, and I have hani'd'led the gate proceeds Gn all occasions, bar one—the , only. time, -the managem&nt honored Masterton with its presence— when £8 or £9 were taken. '.Inclusive of this amount Mastertofl lias' found nearly £85 of the sum. m tia-nd*, .that' is to say, a teffcal of £110 approximately has been handed to the management without the slightest exertion on its part whatever. So far practically all arrangements m connection with local matches have been Carried, out by myself, who am hot a member of the Union but merely a hunvWe secretary, without even a P arS $° matches. How much of the i : -lis is'the new management responsible , for ? The death of Q. J. Harvey, J.etler known to his friends by the name of his people's home, "Waipu," cast c<uite a gloom : over the members of the Athletjc Club last week. Poor "Wai" had been a member of the Club for the past five years, and his genial face will be much missed. He was a cyuiet and) inoffensive young fellow, a favorite with all. Owing to his death the junior fifteen, by the courtesy of the Wellington Club, postponed their fixture till the cml of the season to enable them to attend the funeral "of their .departed club-mate. Wynyard, the Auckland player, hasbeen, very /unfortunate this season, having' been hurt In each of the three matches lie ba'S played m. On Saturday week he received a nasty Cut on the heai'd a few minutes after starting, airtd h? was compelled to quit the field. Says the Rev, Harper,' -when pressfid kti vvn opMoa on Wie guij^Qt qj

the professional Rugby team : — '<From a, referee's point of view X regard the amateur as by far the most, tractable player* and I believe the respect accorded to the referee m this country is largely due to the absence of professionalism amongst players. Money is spoiling all sport, and let us keep it out of football by all means m our power. The game already has sufficient m it to excite the passions of players and spectators without this extra force. It is a fine game, and if men cannot play it without being paid to do so, they are not fit to don the jersey." Templeton, who played a capital game m Poneke's forward ranks aKainst Petone\ a fortnight ago, has left town. Skelley has,' I understand, returned to Palmer ston North. The departure of the New Zealand team for Austral a should mean plain! sailing for Petone m the senior competitions. Melrose will be minus -the services of the Spencer Bros., Poneke will lose Mitdhinson and Wallace, and, Oriental will have to battle along without Roberts. How these Clubs will fare without the services of the . departing footballers is hard to ssaty t The loss will press most heavily upon Poneke and Melrose. The backbone of their defence— and m Poneke's case the attacking machinery as well — will be missing • Place-kicking m Wellington has gone right to the dogs of late. The most, skilful artilleiyists m our senior combinations septa.' to have completely lost their power of direction, iy>t-' withstanding the easy, range m many instances. Practice m this highly necessary department of the game is neglected by players, though, as m potting, it is often a natural gift. The mediocre quality of tackling m important Cl-ub contests this season ni.al<es one stall for the days of. Bob Sim, Teddy Baker, Davie Crage, "Cocky" Roberts and other great exponents of the grassing process. Some of the exhibitions of downing an opponent by present-day footballers of class are * enough to eive old-timers the nightmare for weeks at a stretch. Jock Brown', the touch-judge m the Melrose-Athlefcic match, measured his length gracefully along- the carpet when McKay bumped into him, at the j ■ Erantistand end. It was the cleanest fall Jock , had experienced since he '• to o k the game on. Mac swears by all that'si'holv that a try would have fceen his but for Jock /retting mi n the way a/t the crucial pinch. Atkinson (A-bhletic) and Carey (Wellington) wore "magging" somethitip; awful dmrin^ the Park matches. The blues' representative struck up right \ at the start and kept it goi-ng, tp ( the bitter end. This eternal chinmusic gets on the nerves of h^th spectators and club-mates, and the pair would, do a world of good to themselves by keeping their tongues within very restricted limits. Followers of the game know quite well that neither player is such & great eun as to warrant him m assuming that all the wisdom of the team is centred m, his brain-lox. The defeat of N.S.W.by Queensland came as a bit of a surprise to toeballers this way. , As no details are to hand one is at a loss to account for the Welshmen going under, but it is evident that either Rugby is . not ,so strong m the Ma State or the Bananalanders played above, thieir form. Anyhow,, the prospects of New Zealanders, taking a line through Saturday's result, appears to be easy when, the Cornstalks line up against theny'shortly. Rugby is aatn t uncertain snort, however, and the Welshmen's defeat may prove a blessing in* disguise for them .