General Gossip.

NZ Truth, Issue 173, 10 October 1908, Page 3

General Gossip.

When Harding's men were round these parts the Wellington daily rags, which somehow have a penchant for kow-towing to any English bounder that happens along, laid special stress on the appearance here of a person calling himself HopeJphrison, who, it was given out, intended to avail himself of the' company of the tiieam during his peregrinations through the Dominion. Now, it would be very interesting ;to know at whose expense Johnston indulged m his sight-seeing expedition, because report ,is uncharitable enough to suggest that the N.Z-.R.U. footed the 'bill, and a superior being of Johnston's type, you may; depend upon it, would want the best ,- and most • expensive of what was going. 'II Johnston did work the dead-horse racket, the question arises, who was the party responsible for such Scandalous misappropriation of the Rugby Union's coffers ? I don't say Johnson was treated as a guest of the N.Z.R.U.— such a proceeding seems incredible—but an explanation should be forthcoming as to how matters exactly stand betweeo the two Petticoat influence may possibly have had a say m .securing for Johnson concessions which dozens of footballers m this Dominion are justly entitled to, but which never would come their way were they to oulive Me thusaleh. '

It may be said that ' the Ranfurly Shield is responsible for 'so many visits to Auckland ■; if it is so dsays an VA'uckland 'papl «r), then the sooner the Shield is ■relegated to. the, back cupboard of the N.Z. bunion the better., The idea seems to haye' firmly £oi)ted thaft teams must travel. 'That the players do not, -want it is evidenced tjy the extreme difficulty the ' selector m; Auckland has experienced 1 m obi waiting sufficient men to make only short trip's' to such places as- the Thames, Goldfields,, Wairoa and Waikato. If te N&rthern Union crowd, is not careful it will bring its particular game to grief ■m a short .space of time. People are wearied of the quantity of fare served up to them this season, but the Northern Union promoters won't take the hint for/ a respite, and -the Taranaki Northern Union team is ill-advisedly. making arrangements to play a match with a SoUth \ Taranaki team .at Eltham on the 15th \ inst. After this match it is. proposed -| that the team leave for Auckland, where > a match with the Aucklatftl League will. 1 ; -.be- played on>the - 17th. ; The Taranaki team to meet the Auckland'efs will be the same' as defeated tljem m New Plymouth recently. On©can hnve too much of a good thing, and the, overloading which the Northerns Union officials are treating the public to at this late period of the seas-*, on betrays a want of discretion and good management on their part; - . Speaking to a newspaper reporter on things m general associated with Rugby, [Harry Frost, the old Canterbury rep., Who is now located m Auckland, said m reference to the payment to players for .broken time, that he believed the only solution 'of this difficulty would be tlie pay-" merit of such an amount to players as they would otherwise earn m following 'their everyday or usual occupation. The majority of players were working men, •and some were married m aacuGion, and these men could not m. reason be expected to lose their ordinary pay, or at anyrate it "was reasonable to allow these men for their lost time. He could not see what the difference m principle is • be- 1 ; tween paying a man, say, 3s a day, as..' authorised by .the N.Z.R.U. . and confirmed ■, by the English Unipn, to the All Blaclt tearf^ and, say, 8s per day. It must als*,; ; be conceded that a man on tbur is nat* urally inclined to spend more. money than he would do if at home.

"Curly" Ohlsori made much of the fact, at a recent \ meeting of the Auckland Rugby Unjon, that the junior reps, had returned all their jerseys, and m corisiderr ation of sucb sterling honesty lie ■magnanimously suggested that, 'as- they, were all new representatives the jerseys might be, handed back to them. The secretary here reported that the jerseys had been lent? to the Auckland , B team' and had not* since been returned. To a body placed i such desperate financial strains as" AiickV iSnd Rugby Union is— having only a few thousands to come and go on — the loss oi the jerseys was of tremendous moment, and Vie. Langsford was instructed' to take steps to get the /missing ones back again. Could meanness possibly go further when a senjor representative player is called upon to return the jersey given to ■ him by the Union, which alone reaps the benefit of his services. '.

A Melbourne paper wrote :— "Delegates/ from New South Wales, Queensland and-; .New Zealand were unanimous m common* ding the Australasian game, as against^ Rugby. They predicted that m the near, future RUgby would have to give way to the finer and manlier Australian game." But hasn't Tommy Bent's pups been predicting the seif-samgi thing . for 35 years past ? The'chances are they will be still cackling the same tale 35 years hence.

It , might lie interesting to mention that G. Gillntt left New Zealand m 1900 for Western Australia, Where he commenced the game under Australian Association rules, playing this code until 1905, when he found his way to Christchurch. ' . Our Old friend Jack Pagni is at the head of the movement/for making a testimonial to George Gillett. Johnny has scooped m a few pounds .for the Wallace Testimonial. S > Reverting to "Gun" GarrardVs asinine argument at the Canterbury Rugby Uni,on's,. meeting; that if players were re-im-bursed for loss of time the smaller unions would . be 'unable to send teams on tour owing to "their inability to stand tne financial strain, , it might be pointed out m the light of. this season's experience that the curtailment of football travelling would be one of the very best things that ever happened for the game m the Dominion. The incapable push now running Rugby in -New Zealand hasn't the guniption to see that employers are getting "full up" of so many appeals to allow their, hands off for a week or\inore at a stretchY-as a matter of * fact they are not infrequently inconvenienced if the request is for only half a day. There are two many rep. fixtures nowadays, and the evil is growing greater year after, year. The N.Z.R.U. "inefficients" should be be given to understand that there is to be a halt m the matter of so much football travelling, and instructed to tackle the question of programming rep. fix-i tures right at the commencement of the season. wonder players are cryinK out to be re-imbursed for loss of time there is so much :absence on their p'krt from their daily labors/ Rugby, as played m these times has degenerated into a business, pure and. simple. ■'Taking a line through the Australian representative team's • two preliminary canters m Fogland, • its chances m th.c test gallops do* not appear to be parti<'nlarly rosy. On present paper tht Wallabies are not within coo-ec of the All Blacks •

'At last week's special meeting- of Vat Wellington Rugby "Union Davio Wpir was tiring out everybody with a recital of his performances as a whistle- tooter, when n hard-hearted delegate interjected, .."You'll frankly admit that you were a brilliant failure with the whistle." When the laughter had subsided, Davie gallantly admitted the soft impeachment. Len. McKenzje- got tangled up ■ hadly When explaining an intricate Rugby laAv matter at the meeting* of delegates Mast week. Len. saw he was getting -deeper into the mire; so he smartly extricated himself i£6m further trouble by calling on George Howe to lucidly explain what he liad m Ms mind's eye when he tackled the joh m the • first instance. The wing-forward has a stout champion m Mr G. P. C. Campbell, who gave cogent reasons for opposing the attempted abolition qf this mfcich-abused personage from our Rugby arena, when the Iguestion came up before the Wellington Kugby Union delegates on Wednesday week last. The President ol the N.Z.RiU. incidentally mentioned .that the winger made his first appearance m Rugby ranks m Wellington and the Dominion as far back as 1879, the position, having been created to

counteract the advantages gained by the ■opposing halt-back accruing from clean and smart heeling-out on the part of the latter's. forwards. G.F.C., who was a great vanguarder m his day, was, I learn from another source, the real originator of the wing-forward : game m New Zealand. I was a little previous m stating that the Poiieke Football Club's smoke-oh was to have taken place on Friday of last week. The affair was set down for last night. A complimentary ticket came to hand from Fred Crewes for the St. James Club's shivoo arranged for Thursday evening last. The" writer regretted his inability to avail himself of the. Jimmies' /hospitality, It is reported m Napier that Hastings will be the headquarters of the Northern! Union game m Hawke's Bay. . • Wellington, Rugby Union delegates, by their showing at the meeting called to discuss the matter of alterations to and improvements m Rugby, are .firm believers m the policy of retrogression. The meeting was of the most spiritless order, was poorly attended, and ttie net results finished up— nil. Delegates treated the proposals formulated by Davie Weir with the utmost levity, m fact, Danie was to them a. veritable Aunt . Sally for the shy-

ing of labored jokes. Weir had a good case to brief, but be made a howling mess of it, and the. ,majority Of those present were about as much enlightened when ke sat down as they were before he started the flow of gab. Weir executed a somersault ,by going back on his former convictions m the matter of , payment to players for broken time, and expressing uncompromising hostility to any such innovation. Weir made a baKy hass ot himself, but he was the sen-selected freak attraction, and delegates were out for fun, and the^ had it at his efipense. There is always a good demand fop "freaks" at Rugby meetings, and Weir's.- : .stock m this particular market enjoys jj^ measure of popularity. . Q'&ullivan'S conY tributior was the' weariest, dreariesHJ. wail imaginable, "Dismal Jim?' is the ; moSt lugubrious specimen of Jeremiali ever inflicted upon .tyie Rugby Union, and it is seemingly, impossible for him to .be-

hopeful. Jim," however, m the Rugoy side-show market coUnts for some^ thing. Perry, who has a 1 seat long ' Way, back m the local section of the Devil's Briga.de, mouthed some tripe. about amateurism which 'all. went to show that he ■will never set any athletic body of which he is. connectdd m a brilliant blaze of m-

teilectual glory. .It is the creed ot, oppositionists to reform to justify theic policy by retailing all sorts of figments of the 1 imagination, and- by the ciccula-

i tion cf idiotic statements' which, on'blose. | investigation, are found ' to be utterly ' baseless. Unfortunately for foe progresi siveness" of Rugby, we have men of . thC: wrong .stamp voicing the opinions and, sentiments of .the players. and the public, ,aud so long J as these meaningless and frothy individuals be invested with the least degree of responsibility, so long will" the game steadily decline m popu- ; lar estimation, as it has done m ther

Old Country.' The wretched, miserable cant preached about, the evils of professionalism by microscopic nonentities of the' Weir-o 'Sullivan-Perry type- is about, as nauseating to the, average footballer as solid graft is to the racecourse guesser. , '