OUR NATIONAL FIELD GAME

NZ Truth, Issue 910, 5 May 1923, Page 9

OUR NATIONAL FIELD GAME

' Among tbe Players

In Town and Country. (By "Tackier.") Apropos 'of the sectarian rumpus in Canterbury football a correspondent, "Dinkum Rugby," writes: Are there not in the State schools hundreds of children who are neighbors, .relatives or friends of. the excluded ones? Start this -business and you'll have parents clamoring for disruption, too: "Why should my eon put his head in the same scrum as the wharf laborer's son from Lyttelton? Bai Jove, I won't •have it. ... Hold on, there may be another war and then the young footballers' of the private schools will be expected to pack in the same, scrum and hold the trenches. . .. It was football of other days that made our Anzacs and not the Sunday School Associations of the sectarian bigots. , 1 trust that the football bodies will be kept intact by the public to whom the schools really* belong. Irivercargill has lost the Saturday half holiday. This will seriottsly affect club football as there will now be football on both days. Club football will lose a lot of interest with the teams divided in this way, but the rep. team will not 1 suffer. It is high time there was a universal Saturday half holiday for New Zealand. We wouldn't then have to listen to the inane talk about the way in which business was suffering owing to the half day falling on Saturday. A keen Rugbyite in Mr. J. G. Duncan, who is just back trom a holiday trip to Sydney told "Tackier" that Rugby football was already, in, full swin,g over there; and New Zealanders will have to leave no stone unturned if they are to regain from New South Wales the supremacy wrested from them by the latter last season, both in Sydney and In Christchurch. Invercargill Boys' High School opened its account by defeating Bluff by the colossal score of 104 points to 3in the third grade. Coaching the High School team is Mr. J, B. Mawson, ex-Otago 'Varsity Blue, who was teaching at Wellington College for a while. "Old Timer" (Nelson) writes as follows: That par of yours re old Sid Nicholls was well deserved. I remember when a Wellington team came here to play Nelson just forty years ago. It was captained by Nicholls and the game was very close. Just before half-time ho had his leg broken, but he would not leave the ground and insisted that the limb shoufd be set there and he remained till the finish to cheer on his men. He was very game always and used to urge on his men as long as the game lasted. ' ■Sheen, the Christ's College fiveeighth of last year,. is now residing in Auckland and will this year play Junior football there. His father has decided that he' ls too young to play as a senior. Talbot, the skipper of the Christ's team, has also left the school so will be lost to the team this year. Another absentee will be the lock, Armstrong, who has gone farming in the backblocks of the Wairarapa. He, too, will be.missed, but a cousin of his will probably be in the team as half-back. It is not to be wondered at that this youngster can play as his father, Major Armstrong, Is an old Otago rep. and he also played for Blackheath in England. The captains of the various Southland teams are as follow: Star, H. Brown; Invercargill, P. Rice; Pirates, W. Johnson; Waikiwi, A. R. Cross; Winton, G. Clelarid; Marists/J. Cosgrove; Bluff, E. Budd. With two exceptions all these men have represent.ed the province. Messrs. W. G. Compton and^J. A. Doig have been appointed as delegates from the S.R.'fc'.U. ,to the annual meet- ! ing of the New Zealand Union. Mr. Compton has rendered yeoman service to Southland ■ football as secretary of the Union, whilst Mr. Doig has been a member of the executive for many years. The latter is perhaps better known as a cricketer, having represented Southland in nearly 100 matches. ;The South Canterbury Rugby, Union has made a start with a full 'list at fixtures. The Union had a meeting

last week and set its house in order. The much-discussed questions of the 3 — 2 — 3 scrum and the kicking-into-touch rules -were fully debated. Opinion is very much divided, but in regard to the wing--forward it was decided that the delegates to the N.Z. R.U. be instructed to oppose any alteration in the present method of playing the forwards in New Zealand, and that any club that wishes to do so be allowed to play a wing-forward. In regard to the kick-into-touch rule after a lengthy discussion a motion was passed 'instructing the delegate to the N.Z.R.U. to support reversion to the old rule. The R.S.A. asked the Union to debar military defaulters from taking part in games under its jurisdiediction, and it was agreed to favor the granting of the request. The game is undoubtedly booming in Hawkes Bay, as upwards of one hundred and ten teams are playing under the H.B. Union's jurisdiction. If the Shield remains in Hawkes Bay for any time the officials, are in for an ■extremely., .busy, season, lip regard to .the individual form of players, Barclay, Brbwnlie's(2), Yates, Wynn, Batchelor are already in great trim; Tates •was injured on the first Saturday, arid wjll be on the bank for a fortnight. Gemmen also played well, but his movements are uncertain. The honor of obtaining the Hanfurly Shield is, as the Hawkes Bay Union have discovered, not altogether an unmixed one. The other day they got a bit of a shock when a bill came in for £70 0s 8d above the £87 7s 6d they have already paid for the pleasure of having the King Country representatives playing in Napier last

season in a Ranfurly Shield match. The £78 represented the board of the touring King Country men in Napier and had been passed by the New Zealand Union as being a legitimate account which it was up to the Hawkes Bay Union to pay, especially as they had made a profit of £111 Is 7d out of the match. They paid £37 for the travelling expenses, and the chairman reckoned they had done enough. If they paid the whole issue as requestedthey would find that after having taken all responsibilities of the match they would be left with a trifle of only £3 155." Members reckoned this was over the odds, and wondered vaguely what sort of a bill they would get in if they were foolish enough under such circumstances to accept a challenge from a small far distant union, in the South Island, for instance. Such challenges, the chairman said, would of course have to be turned down if the New Zealand Union stuck to this ruling of the home team having to stand all travelling' expenses as well as board and lodging. A request was sent in that this matter be brought up for discussion at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Union, together ,with a notification that the Hawkes Bay Union reckoned the claim to be exorbitant Over 200 teams of all sorts and sizes are affiliated with the Auckland R.U. this winter, and the barrackers are rallying around in great style. At the meeting of the Watrarapa Rugby Union last week a letter was received from the Hawkes Bay Rugby Union agreeing to play the annual match on June 3 at Napier, and also to moke the fixture a Ranfurly Shield event. The return match Is to take place In the Wairarapa In July, As j this is the first occasion on which Wairarapa has had an opportunity of annexing the coveted trophy, Interest In the district Is naturally keen. • Strange an It may seem, the policy the Wairarapa selectors have followed In the past of selecting men In rep. teams In positions to which they are not accustomed, has worked well. Shining examples of this last year were the cases of Bob Booth (centre-three-quarter) who played full-back and Frank Booth (five-eighth), who did so very well In the half-back position. ' In the Wairarapa Jack Clarke has been elected captain of the Red Stars this season; A. Playlo of Greytown, A. Desmond of Carterton, :\nd D. Provan Of Masterton. All good selections and a case of the old dog for the hard road. Piki Jury, of Greytown, has decided not to entertain the offer of a place in the Maori team thnt is to tour Australia this season. This Is a, pity, as a tour of that description might work wonders with a young player of Plki's ability. Jury, who in only 19 years of age, received his grounding in football at icing's College Auckland. The appointment board of the Wairarapa .Referees' Association has decided to give some of the younger referees a try-out In the senior matches, and as a consequence last Saturday the senior games were in charge of junior and third-class referees, while the cracks *wero supervising the lower grade clashes. There ar« over seventy toams playing in the Tnranakl competitions. Up in tho Awaklno district the teams are getting rrauly -Cor the fray. Primary school football is flourishing in Tarannki thanks to the splendid organisation of tho Tnrnnnk*. I'rlmnry Schools' Rugby Union, though in some parts of Tnrnnakl .school teachcni arc vary n pathetic. This is very noticnnblo nlong the const south of New Plymouth where a lady teacher shows the way to the men and in recognition has been placed on the executive. For school competitions the province has been divided into five division*: North. Coastal. Central and two Southern. The* weight limit in both senior and junior competitions was tlxed at nine tinno-