FOOTBALL FLASHES.

NZ Truth, Issue 380, 5 October 1912, Page 3

FOO TBALL FLASHES.

BY "FAIE'MAKK."

Otflgo: squeals again-^a lot this SSbne-^nd one? of said. province's complaints is that the Wellington Union and players showed their last travelling team of a few weeks ago very little: attention m Wellington city, •jvid iwhat they ; complain" about this tune is quite true, for all the attention paid to the visitors was -quite harniless-* More than probable that fne'OJtagoV team, didn't see half , a doicnV'People connected with, the X^ej f >)efcire they/ went on the field. V^ichp-ib^ say .the least of it, was- a bit discourteous. / Talking about making excuses for Ke&fag , licked; one staunch Otago Ae^spaper man tables off: about three pari? .score as flukes or errors tt>y the referee. They never f'c&n."< take it quietly down m. the southern country. 'As a matter of lfcct,' ; Otago were never m the hunt, ii^' it hurt. ' ' ; general opinion among Bugby TJnion men m this Dominion; is that the visit of the New South Wales League team hasn't done a bit of jiarnv to the old game. More than t&at;- one, or two little things that occurred on th 6 t.our didn't tend to niake^the team ami its ganie any too. poptiiaf. ' : Which is a pity, tyit all the ; same it's guineas to a "goosebenry- ' that- they'll -be knocking , at the ' ; door again next season, and, meantime, the various- Rugby Unions will go tp sleep for the summer. It's to -We' sincerely hoped, that they'll wake 'up' quickly ami not with any Sudden fright surrounded by a light feluo jersey. .-•'.' , • Down Otago way it is now cpnsid-, fered -necessary' to advertise the fact when- any team of footballers behaves decently like human beings m the pubs s they stay at. Latest to come at it was an Qtago, Wednesday Soccer team, and . the par makes it look- as if the writer thereof was pleasantly surprised. Otago ap: pears' to hold a monopoly m this line of sport. . -.-. / '-It's' a bit rough on our famous "All • Black"; team to- be told that they ,were' J not good to meet off the field, and, according to^the London "Referee," that is partly the, reason. the S f Africans chipped m this year wit,h their trip to . Engl-and, Writer did wit have the pleasure of; travelling! with -the ;f All- 1' Blacks, !v. bufc, : was fe.bout-a : gboddeal with.the last two Efrglisti teams that visited this country. The "All Blacks" have the reputation of having been exceptionally well; behaved, but any reasonable human being who^ was anxious to meet; for the second time some of those blithering idiots who came here to teach us how to play Rugby •j(as they do it at 'Ome). was surely i &- glutton and • wanted-- his 'bumps ■felt and it's the biggest moral- m the world that the "All Blacks" paver descended to such behavior, as fiotae of those ooots from F ; ogland. •Sydney's new discovery, IT. Hor-;itor>!-who came to the front so sud.idanly :this season, is described , as being -a deal like the great Messenger, very, like our Billy Wallace, with a strong -dash of Spragg thrown m. He ought to be. a pretty warm proposition at » that. . Sydney "Sportsman" says that, L."Wogan will very likely rise to be ono tof the best three-quarters, that has represented the State of New South i\tfalcs. Wogan showed lots of pro.mise with Poneke m Wellington, but has evidently come on a lot- to get •em talking that way. N.S. Wales Thas.-had,: a few high-grade threequarters m her time, and the order is a rpretty big one to. 'fill* Good luck to Wogan, anyhow.. ■ The -i gate at the final League cup match ih Sydney this season fetched m some £dQ9 hard, Of this, 4iisO gp^s to ; " each of five beneficiaries. /Charities and the League insurance •Jund.,,divid6 the balance after exes, ere paid.. 14,370 turned up, of which Sl3Bl -were, "deadheads" and season ticket holders. -. So the New Zealand Rugby Union li6pes to send a team to America (California, so far) next year. The idea will meet with the approval of everybody. Interested In the game. Like■wiuc, the Now South Wales trip can cattily stand off for another season. This American business is a good trip ,\n the interests of the game, coming at ttie. right time, and whatever New South ' Wales cah show Yankecland m ,tho way of football, It's quite possjble * 'nw Ze&lahd can go ono better towards getting them all shook on ■j&ugbjr. ■■.-■•■ -. Wellington Rugby Union has had a pretty bad run this past season m the

matter of weather and postponements, and stands to lose a good few hundred quid on , the season's working.' Which everybody regrets for the sake of the game, and also for the sake of the members of the .said Uuion', who are nothing if not deadly triers. But the last scheme, for raising money was a ghastly failure, that, picture, show business. ;It's-;mqre fh'an likely 1 that" rib more than a couple of hundred people knew that the affair was . on. A little more time and a .little more notice would have, met 'the : case. " • New South Wales Touring Team of Leaguer's reckon, that Bob Oliphant is the best Northern 'iJnibn referee they met m New Zealand. Bob will be remembered as one of the cleverest wing forwards *of the "DCs, one of those wing forwards that used' his .feet '-to play. with and his headlto think with. Of the old class of wing forwards, before the busy hustler, became the hero, Bab Oliphant was amongst the best. The most; popular < team ' m Melbourne City, Essendon, beat South Melbourne, m the semi-final m front or 34,000 people and' the box dffice said £1261. And a few gates like that will go a long way, towards keeping an ordinary si^ed wolf from the door: — even a pro. footballer's . ; door. .If ' wasn' t a big win, 54— 42, .and under the Australian rules , that difference doesn't amount to much, except that it wins.