Outside Chat.

NZ Truth, Issue 151, 9 May 1908, Page 3

Outside Chat.

The committeemen, of the.N.Z.R.U. as a rule get more kicks than ha'pence, hut since the Nelson R.U. has informed them that Nelson has the "utmost confidence" m Wylie and his pals, they are finding that their hats arc sizes too small. How did Sleepyhollowites find out there was such a body as the Zoo lot? Someone must have accidentally strayed over to Sleepytown and let the cat out of the bag. Was it Jack Laughton and his bowling pals ? The shock to the great/- controllers must have been terrible : it only requires the Taihape and* Bluff Unions to repeat the dose administered by Nelson, when the exuberance of delight that the push would show should be sufficient to demoralise our tram service. Any other powerful unions are warned that they must break any similar news gently, for there is no telling what serious damage they may be called upon to stand Sam Gilmer for. Wellington Referees' Association is running away with the idea that it is out. of swaddling* clothes. It doesn't want only to be referees, but it wants to appoint referees to the different matches instead of the Rugby Union Committee picking the referees required to control the several games. Surely it is looking for trouble. It gets enough hard things said about it, as it is, without haying the power of appointing the referees fbr matches left m their hands. It might as well wipe out the R.U. Committee at once and let the Laws-Sievers-Lusk combination rule the whole roost. What sort of a card is referee Card, any-^ way ? Nice sort of performance he put up m the St. Jimmj'-Wellington match on Saturday week last m ordering Crewes and ' Wilson off the eartfy Fighting,- he jsaid they were. Looks as though he has seen mighty small lot of football or fights either. This Card's - idea of football is apparently that each player should carry a kedge anchor and few fathoms of rope, and when two opposing players are about to collide, they must, drop anchor to prevent collision. His reading of piles is good. F'rinstance two opposing players touching each other m the course of a game constitutes a free fight, and the infringers of the rule are ordered off without the option. Great ginger, a chap can get out on a Wild jambouree, be picked up by a bluebottle, chucked into a padded cell and told next morning by Beak McArthur or Riddel! that he can get out and behave himself m future, but this Card chappie, because he doesn't know what fast football is, heaves a couple of players odt of the game because they came into usual •collision, natural to the game, and which he constitutes a fight, that no one but himself saw. Laws and Co., -read this pastepoard person a lecture on the game and don't let us have any repetition of this kind of nonsense. The Carroll brothers have been puzzling footballers (says a Palmerston scribe) as to the club they intend playing fox. At the annual meeting of the Old Boys, I am told, the four parted up their five shillings each and swore allegiance to the Red and Blacks. Some time after the Sandon Club, which boomed, till the Union refused its nomination, for the 1-Iq.nk-ins Shield Competition, was to have had the services of the Carroll family, Mick, the last year rep., being elected captain, Last Saturday the Feilding Club secured the quartet for season 1908. Of course this kind of thing is annoying to clubs, but the Carrolls gave all to understand they intended to play m the Hankins Shield fixtures, while their favoring Feildins is accounted Nor by the distance they live from Palmerston. A native from Porto Belle— one Karitai—a relation, it is said, of the late Tom Ellison, has joined Dunedin Pirates, and .has succeeded m getting into tbe Club's senior fifteen. When the Rugby League movement was ■first mooted, the term "professional!" almost stifled Sydney's atmosphere, but a different view is taken of the matter altogether now. Several well-known officials and players m Sydney were, onlookers at some recent League contests, and they were compelled to admit, after close observations, that there were plenty of points to admire m the new game. 'Tis already ramored that tenders are to be invited by Gaily and Co. for an ex-. tra large whitewash brush, guaranteed to make brand new amateurs when theN.U. game gets going here. It is to he hoped that delegates who are infected with some degree of independence and spirit will put plenty of ginger into their "yap" at the annual N.Z.R.U. meeting by'bunging it into the blundering and short-sighted push that has been primarily/ responsible for the professional All Black invasion of England. It is only to save their own necks that the beautiful, taintless, amateur. Rugby Executive members of the Dominion are giving a grand demonstration on 'the order paper for the annual meeting of 1008, of how they, faced the situation of giving greater justice to the smaller unions; Any dullard could easily tumble to the Executive's holy fear of the storm that threatened to sweep over it. The molly-: fying process, it is e x pected, will help to quench the long-smouldering fires of discontent. Some of the New Zealand Rugby Union j crowd try to convey the impression that they understand the laws of the game better than a seven-year-old school kid. If the public were to have the chance of hearing the hum and buzz of these Rugby Solons, what fun they would have, to be sure. ' A Dunedin follower of the sport, whose I acquaintance I value highly and whose opinion on players and the game is entitled to the greatest weight, m the course of a chatty and interesting letter received by me last week, gives the following information which must be of special interest to the large' section of Otagoites now sojourning m this city :— <'The game threatens to boom here this season and the number of players has increased to. a great extent. The standard may not be so high asm previous years, but, as y6u know, Otago never descends to the village level. We. have lost many of the cracks who are well-known to yo\i, Gilray, Adams, Macpbersbn, Foote, Scanncll, Harrison, Thompson— all 'Varsity players and Otago reps. Booth also has gone— not much loss, you may say, but We . know him for superb defence. Casey is an unknown quantity this season. He has'not yet turned out, and report has it that he may not do so. The present is surrounded m mystery. An Otago forward of the useful type, m Denniston, has been transferred to Queenstown, and Edwards, a solid rep., has retired. We have indeed lost more than we have gained. The new-eomcrs of. any note include Taylor, a five-eighth from Christ College, and a forward from Southland named Clearwater. A player named Skinner, you may know him from Wellington, is playing wing-forward for Dunedin. ThatJs all the '•

■ players of note who have taken up their residence here. You can see we have suffered. The Otago team will set out on : their Northern tour m August." Without doubt, the most up-to-date Rugby publication m this Dominion is that issued by the Canterbury Rugby Union for the 1908-9 season, a copy of which has been forwarded to me per medium of W. G. Garrard, the hon. secretary of the Southern sporting body. Several new features have been introduced into this season's work which go to make the publication of even greater value than m past years. Its accuracy is unassailable, and the compilation throughout is such as to merit the highest commendation for the worthy editor, who is no less than W.G.G. himself,- This little publication is an example of what may be achieved m the same direction by affiliated Rugby Unions were the same care, ability and enthusiasm exercised by a supervisor of "The Gun's" calibre. For many yegrs now I have' been the recipient of a copy of editor Garrard's work, and I .can as- ' sure him that on very many" occasions it has been invaluable for reference purposes. In his capacity as editor and compiler, he has performed a mission which must not only be exceedingly useful to rugger people m the Canterbury Province, but also to those m other parts of the Dominion who are denied the privilege of securing a publication authorised by the Rugby Union m their own particular district. Editor Garrard's works m previous years have met with most flattering receptions from critics, but this season's publication outshines them all. I cordially congratulate try esteemed Chr stcin.irch fr.end on his latest effort. When one sees Sydney footballers fumbling the ball and struggling to \ keep their feet on a wet ground, and one recalls the feats of Owynn Nicholls, one wonders what will be the fate of the New South Wales teaib if they strike Wales on a wet day at Cardiff. Games played under the Northern Union code are as^slick and strenuous as the players, and -public desire, and Sydney teams are almost unable to stand from fatigue at the conclusion of their con? . tests. It is no earthly use training on beer and cigarettes for a game of this kind. If the game gets anything of ahold m this Dominion the E.R.U. code will be blown right out of existence. Payments made by theN.S.W. Rugby League for the services of referees areas follows :— For a representative match, £1' Is'; club matches (first, second or third grade), 10s. Uniforms are to be supplied gratis. , . In the selection of the combined Horowhenua and Manawatu teams, Mr J Manning, of Palmerston, will acji with Mr Mcßain, ofManakau. The Horowhenua Union asked the Manawatu Rugby Union for a trial match between the rep. teams of the two Unions to determine the relative merits of players. The Manawatu Union agreed to the suggestion, and the trial match will be played three weeks before the match with the visitors. Only weighty men arb any ' good m England is an impress, on of- the All Black professionals. The little men, they say, arc of not much use against the Northern Union teams composed of big burly fellows. Rob. Deans appears to be playing . well for the Old Boys (Christchurch) team. There is friction m ihc tf.S.W. Referees' Association, and it has, not been eradicated by the creation of the Metropolitan Referees' Association. Favoritism is alleged m tlie appointment of the referees for competition matches*? . Riimor says, That you will be sent right out by George Dixon and Company for assisting arty organisation, controlling Northern Union football, either by act, word or deed. That is to say, if you have a chat over a long beer with Syd. Downcs or Tommy Ashman or Alec Gow or Arthur La wes.* Finally, you're put of the Dixonian classical company for evermore. In answer to the request of. the Taranaki Rugby Union as to the earliest possible date m July for a match, against a touring Taranaki team, the Otago Rugby Union has decided to reply that July 25 would be the earliest .possible date. An Otago team will trip as far as Auckland this season. ' The chance of a trip to Great Britain has put fresh energy into most of the N.S.W. pla3'ers, and has brought back some of the "has-beens" into active service once more. Critics expect that the touring combination will be quite as strong and quite as able to hold its own as was the all <New Zealanders. Ltnwood's scrummaging brigade this season includes A. J. Broad, a Manawatu representative of a couple of years ago. Canterbury club matches are attracting large attendances at .Lancaster Park. It is a singular feature "of Christchurch football that the public rolls up m force to inter-club matches, and exhibits indifference to provincial representative fixtures. Also, leather-maulers are keen upon selection for their club, hut don't give a tinker's prayer fox their province. It's usually the other way round m most places, P.{ Cieary, ex-Wellingtonian, has made a good impression m the Merivale team. Canterbury College are stronger than usual this year. All the same, the defeat of Christchurch on Saturday by 14 to • 11 was quite unexpected. It is significant that College played one five-eighth to Christchurch's two, and of the latter the mighty Fryer was one. The receipts at the Ireland v. Scotland match at Dublin recently just fell short of four figures. The previous record for a Rugby match m Ireland was £967. Tukapa (Taranaki) seniors have a fine back division this year— almost good enough, n fact, for a provincial combination. Tukapa has lost a good forward m Morris, who has left for Feilding. Star is losing Davidson (three-quarter), who is going to Hawke's Bay. ' The announcement of the death of Mr 0. Wells, wh,ch occurred m the Welling/ton Hospital on Tuesday week, will be received with the deepest regret, by all athletes, but more so by footballers, es* pecially those of : the older brigade. Orlando, as he was familiarly called, was a conspicuous figure m the Auckland football arena away back m the eighties, and first gained his spurs m 1887, while he also secured honors m 1888, 1889, .and 1890. In addition to representing Auckland on the field, he was for some time a member of the Management Com* mittee of the Auckland Rugby Union, acting as chairman. Outside of football, he was also an ardent rowing enthusiast, and rowed m numbers of races locally* The deceased (leaves a widow and family, to whom lam sure all athletes and footballers generally will join with me m extending a heartfelt sympathy. ■ The vacancy on the New South -Wales Rugby Union Selection Committee, due to the resignation of Jimmy Henderson, is to be filled by I. Co. O'Donnell. They say that Bede Smith, the N.S.W. rep. back, may not play football this year, m consequence of the recent death of his father. The old saying about an ill-wind, etc., has been proved m the case of the split m the camp of the Western Suburbs (Sydney) amateur team, 'eight of the best players coming over to the League through some dissatisfaction m the workr ing of the club. Still they come— Whitfield, New South Wales rep. full-back In West Australia last year, and Johnny Rosewell, another rep., and one of the best forwards m Australia, have donned the League jerseys. According to a Greymouth correspondent, one Neilson, a member of the Wellingr ton Referees' Association, was m attendance at a recent meeting of the West Coast Rugby Union m reference to the formation of a Referees' Association. A meeting of referees and footballers willing to carry the whistle if called upon, was to have been held on a subsequent date. Many critios m England— there are, of course, exceptions— appear to think but little of the Anglo-Welsh band of Rugby*ites coming out to this Dominion this winter. This is what one- of them states : Wit is assuredly a weak combination. 1 Indeed, were £ British fifteen to be chosen

to meet some exceptional case, not one Of the party whose names have been announced could be selected. All this is the sort, of amalgamation that will be pitted against the most potent force m the world's Rugby football — against New Zealand playing m the Dominion. My own impression is that against all New Zealand the Motherland would not win m a pitched battle played m the colony ; so the utter absurdity of sending out such a team must be manifest. It may be necessary to do something m the colonies to help to fight any tendency that may exist towards professionalism, but what deduction can the enthusiasts of the -Dominion or of the State of New South Wales form from the results which are bound to follow the matches ? There was doubtless ;a time when any picnic party would have done ; but those days are long past:" . Why has not the New South Wales Rugby Union issued a challenge to Scotland and Ireland for International matches on condition that alter expenses are paid the New South Wales share should go to the charities of those countries ? In Ireland, the support accorded to Scotland m. its anti-Colonial tactics is by no means unanimous. In Ulster, for instance, feeling is . strongly m favor of the Welshmen. The Maori team arriving m Sydney next month play the following matches: —New South Wales, June 8, 10, 13\ Newcastle, June 17 and 20 ; Queensland, June 2.7, July 1 and 4 ; New South Wales, July 25, August 1 and 3. In . the annual balance-sheet - of the Queensland Rugby Union there' appears an item of. £1000 to the good. No information is vouchsafed as to where this little lump of gold is. Is it current account or is it f.d.r., or does one of the executive keep it under his pillow ? Why is it that no assets and liabilities statement was appended to the annual balancesheet ? They liave a funny way of doing things m Bananaland. The Queensland A, A. Association has refused to classify the Rugby League players as professional footballers until some specific case is pointed out by the Queensland Rugby Union. This will be a problem for the new rugger crowd as the new organisation is m no way offending against the Q.A.A.A.'s amateur definitions. The meeting was dead against call-v ing a massed meeting of Queensland amateur sporting bodies . and decided to let the Rugby Unioi. do its own flunkeying and dirty work. R, Afciott, one of the most dashing forwards Otago has produced witnin the past few years, has dropped out of the game owing to ill-health. He is at present recuperating m Australia. Footballers throughout the Dominion will heave a big sigh of relief at the intimation that the Otago delegates to the N.Z.R.U. have propounded a "scheme m regard to the test matches which, if adopted, will, we are informed, give every satisfaction. It is so. nice to know that Hutchinson, Campbell and Co. have all the brains when it comes to dealing with intricate Rugby problems. Anyway, "their reported solution of the much-discussed test matches is no great compliment to George Dixon and his colleagues. Why not shift the headquarters of the '" union to . Dunedin ancl let Barney Campbell teach us how its affairs should be administered ? Except m a limited circle Dick Isaacs is an unknown Rugby quantity m Wellington. But Dick on his native heath (Dunedin) can bray with the best of 'em, and his 'meaningless utterances m that city haVe been trotted forth as representing public opinion m the more progressive town of the North. The back-handed compliment he paid to the Wellington Referees' Association m the matter of dealing with rough play will doubtless be appreciated by that 'august body. "Why on earth doesn't Dick give us an exhibition of referring as it should be carried on ? That inglorious display m the TaranakiWellington match a few weeks ago should not discourage a,man of such heavy metal as Dick. He is a thundering good fellow, I must admit, but there are times when his incoherent ravings are apt to give one the tummy ache. That Dunedin cast is still m .his eye and nothing 'on this mortal earth will ever shift it. jfi is said that the transparent contradictions surrounding the three-]) ob-a-day racket is giving the collective fat head of the N.Z.R.U. Executive officials a trying headache, They are reported to be attempting to construct an amateur definition' that will whitewash the All Blacks and friends ftpd confound their Northern Union rivals. The writer, let it be said, has no objection to cricketers or .footballers, _or other athletes who have acquired pre-emineuce m their' branch of sport deriving direct or indirect advantages of their skill. All he asks is that , they openly admit what at present they indignantly deny. No matter how the Wy-. lie factions may pose, or posture or deny and' declaim, whether the amount they receive be £100 or 100 pence, they are straight-out professionals, pure and simple. A Wanganui correspondent writes :— "There is a whisper of a well-known threequarter here going to Auckland to play m the pro. ranks this season.' The referees of Wanganui should take a holiday elsewhere and see how the game is controlled. They evidently have a dead set on certain players and pull them up for the most trivial offence, while others are allowed to do as they damn well like. \ Suiter is a cut above all the wingers here . and quite m Gillett's class. Guscot. is m great form and should have a chance ( of wearing the fern-leaf jersey this seas- ■ on. Abbott is also shaping splendidly, : and with a little luck should go near the j N.Z. rep. honors," pur correspondent's - notes bulge out too prominently for full . publication. They would be acceptable , but for this fact. , • It was taken for granted that * Dave . Gallaher, "Dutchy" Evans and "Eh." Kelly would be deputed to pick the New , Zealand team to meet the Anglo-Welsh- . men. I can offer no reasonable objection , to Gallaher or Evans, but the arguments , I put forward to show that a mistake j has been made by the Wellington Rugby ] Union m. placing Kelly on its Selection , Committee apply with a hundred per cent, greater force when it comes to choosing ; an .All New Zealand combination. As m j the past, the representatives of the „ smaller Unions are not likely to get much ] chance of securing a passage m the Do- ( minion's Rugby coach. For one thing the , selectors are m the dark as to their fit- , ness and can only be guided by hearsay evidence, which is not infrequently unreliable. Apropos of the discontent said to exist over the managership of New Zealand teams being always given to a member i of the N.ZR.U.'s Executive, it is subgested by several football writers that members of affiliated Unions be given a chance to carry out tpe duties. The N.S.W. Rugby League has agreed ' to payment of 10s per match to referees, and the supplying of uniforms free of cost. The League will also allow one guinea as fee to inter-State referees, together with honor cap. Junior referees are allowed 5s per match and uniforms. The captain of the last British Rugby team that toured New Zealand, BedellSivwright, is not likely to be seen again m representative football. He hurt the muscles of his leg recently, when playing ■ for Edinburgh 'Varsity against the Academicals, and had to leave the field. The old Cantab has had his day— he has been playing international football since 1900— and m view of his accident, and his general falling^ofi m form, it is unlikely that he will be seen m the Scottish fifteen m the match against England. "That any person caught m the aot oi , climbing through or over fences, or m • any other way trying to evade the gatekeeper at any match, be warned off all : grounds under the control of the season." The above motion was solemnly endorsed by an up-.country Union the other day. What a picnic is m store for the officials ii a few hundred kiddies come • down on the folds i