FOOTBALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18545, 4 May 1922, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

By Full Back. Fixtures, ail at Dunedin: —Against Canterbury, August 9; Hawke’s Bay, August 12; Auckland, August 19; Taranaki, August 30; Wellington, September 9. The matches against Canterbury and Taranaki will be played on a Wednesday, and the other games on a Saturday. September 16 has been pencilled for the match against Southland at Dunedin. Otago may send a team to Invercargill on September 2. The weather conditions for the opening of the football season left nothing to be wished for. The day, though sunny, waa not too warm; there waa no wind, and the grounds were dry. A very large crowd of people watched the meeting of the University A and Zingari at Carisbrook- "iThey; witnessed a "fast game, with some bright spots in the back play, but taking, if right through the handling of the ball by the backs on both sides left a lot to be desired The Zingari fonVards started oft with a rattle, and well hold the opposing pack in the first Half, and till halfway through the second, when the weight of the 'Blue forwards began to tell, and they then assumed the upper hand. The Blue team were without, the services ,6f Fea,. five-eighth, and; when ho has recovered-from an injury to Ins foot and is available .they will prove. a very formidable combination. Sinclair, full back, played an excellent game, his line-kicking .and. fielding being firstclass. He was- not called'on for a straight, out' tackle, but T injagifte_ that he JivilU pot be found lacking in this important featureof tile game. Stewart, left vring threequarter, was the best, back on his side. Ho has improved. wonderfully since last year. His kicking, running, and general play were excellent, and if ne gets .plenty of work he will prove a solid scoring player. Ward did not have a great deal to do, but he has lost none of his dash. The inside backs, however, were faulty in their handling of the ball, /and their passing bouts -heady all- broke down. Maoky, behind tire serhm,' did not seem able to get the ball away'clearly, blit this appeared to be more the fault of the-formation of his forwards than any lack of desire on his part to give his backs plenty of work. Of the I liked the play of Harty, Gray, Bridgman, and Cabot. It must have been most disheartening for the Zingari forwards to find on many occasions that after they-had worked the l play to the Blues’ line their backs nullified 1 the effort by reckless passing. Several chances were lost by long passes from the Colours’ scrum being cut off by the Blue backs, and it was' very weak play that this method was persisted in when its effect waa so apparent. On one occasion the ball waa thrown outfrom a Colours’ scrum right on the Blue line, and the -next moment the Colours were being hard pressed on their own line. It is an axiom of football that a player should not send the ball along' to another player who is in a worse position than himself, and the Zingari backs should realise this. Watson, their centre, is ah old hand at the game, and it was noticeable how on one occasion he presented a free kick against his side sooner than let the ball go and give the opposing side an almost sure try. Connolly played a sound game at full back, but he would, I consider, be better placed in the three-quarter line. M’Naughton, scrum half, was good in patches, but Wills was off his game. Had the_ backs'taken all the chances which cam© their way their side would most likely have left the field winners instead of losing by eight points to three points. The Zingari have a number of young players in the forwards, and they show most promising form. Johnston, Eckhoff, who is a solid player for his size, Ravenswood, Wildgoose. and the evergreen “Sandy" Paterson were in the thick of the bard work right through. Why do sqoh a number of place-kickers lean the ball to them .when taking long kicks ? It should be leaning away from them, lace up. Aspirants to the art of placekicking should study the methods adopted by Restieaux, the old Alhambra five-eighth. In my opinion he still holds the position of the finest place kick ever produced in Otago. His record in one interprovincial match against Canterbury will take some beating. Three tries and-three goals—the complete score by Otago—was his tally. It is more than likely that a determined effort will be made next year to reduce the number of senior teams from, 11 to eight. Dunedin has the .smallest population of the four centres, and yet it has the largest number of senior teams. That .stronghold of fine footballers—Wellington— has only eight. Something will certainly have to be done to improve our standard of local football, which, after making full allowance tor the drawbacks incidental to opening of the season games, was very poor on Saturday. I except, however, the contest between the Zingari and University A. It was a very fair exposition of the game. , „ ; ■ - All that I, desire to say about the UnionSouthern match is that it was hot up ‘ to senior grade form, and that games of outstanding merit were played bv Prebble (Southern half back) and Marks (Union fiveeighth). Through being without the services.,, of Turnbull and Geary, Taieri Hovers pkiyed i their game against University R.undera heavy handicap. A lack of combination was evident in their movement, but there is little doubt that Mr H. M'Farlane, who is acting as coach, will effect an improvement in. that respect; The Green forwards in- the first spell plaved a dashing game, and excelled in short, sharp, dribbling .rushes, but the backs were a little uncertain at times. In the second' spell the condition of the Taieri players gave out, and the speedy Blue backs. led bV Porritt, the sprint champion, indulged in several sue ocssful passing bouts. Murray, an exAucklander. showed great promise, and it would occasion no surprise to find him among the A’s backs before the season is through. Townsend, the ex-High School boy, played a good game at five-eighth. The match was played in two spells of 35 minutes each.

I was sorry to, see that Brother Bowler has' decided to withdraw the Christian Brothers’ School from the competition proposed for the High School, Technical College. M'Glashan College, and Brothers’ small boys. > I think he has been ill-advised. This competition promised to b© most successful—with Bst and 7st limits—and there were sufficient probable teams to ensure a good all-round contest—quite as good a contest in fact as could have been obtained hy the Christian Brothers’ boys in the State primary school competition. The fortnightly meetings for discussion of rules will be resumed bv the Referees’ Association on Saturday night in Mr E. S. Wilson’s rooms. Players should take advantage of the privilege of attending these meetings, and so get a thorough grip of the rules. An important alteration in the rules of the game was made at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugbv Union, held last week. Under this alteration if a player kicks the ball out from any position outside his own twenty-five, the ball has to bo brought back and thrown in from a point opposite to where it was kicked. The new rule is to be observed right through the dominion. It was in force in Auckland last season.

The motion that the headquarters of the New Zealand Rugby Union should be transferred from the North Island to the South Island alternately was lost by 59 votes to 19 votes. A sum of £SOO was voted as a schools’ grant for 1922. The council decided: “That unions be instructed to distribute the N.Z.R.U. grants only to those primary school football associations whose competitions are open to the primary schools of all public and private schools eligible to compete.” The outstanding feature of the balance sheet of the N.Z.R.U., so far as it refers to the tour of the South Africans, is no doubt contained in the following:—Taranaki, gross 1 gate. £lOl6 12s 6d; expenses, £657 14s lOd. The South Africans were in Taranaki for aoout three days I

Christchurch put up a big fight against the Marist Brothers, but their efforts in the first spell evidently took the steam out of them, and there was no dash in their play in the second half (says the Christchurch Spectator). Now and again the red forwards broke away with the hall at their feet, and give promise of great things when their combination is more perfect. “The backs are a likely-looking lot. andhave been strengthened by the inclusion of Brown, who last year was a dashing three-quarter rep. for Otago.” Now, who is Brown ?

Linwood has its usual solid forward pack, and there could be no complaints about their work on Saturday, which.. good as it was, should improve as the games progress (says last week’s Spectator). The backs show o return to pood form mainly through the inclusion of H. Harley, a Kaikorai player, and last year Otago,'rep. At first five-eighths he made a greatdifference to Linwood’s usually ragged rearguard. In its early stages the Northern Union game was not strictly a professional game in the narrow sense of paid players making a living out of the game, as they do in professional Soccer. It was simply a question of w’orking men players having to travel long distances from the North and Slouth of England, and being unable to pay expenses. The lost time at work nnd the heavy railway fares made it impossible for them to carry on: they had either to give up work or receive some compensation. TTie English Union split on that, and has never been so strong since. Probably to-day the Northern Union

could produce of Rugby England. . My. enthusiastic*; Ravensbourne .«correspondent sends me the following:—“The Ravensbourne Football Club opened its season on Saturday, and - put up a very good fight against. Pirates. . As a matter of fact the harbour team' has lost its best players, ■ and is very weak in some points. Rodgers, who played third grade last year, and also M'Ewen, will make good players. Rodgers played the game of his life on Saturday, when he scored the only try for Ravensbourne. - Connor and French take their places, one in the forwards, and the other at full back. One thing about Pirates A was the passing rushes, which were the feature of the day, and I may state that is what helped them to win. They are a fast pack; and proved toor- strong for the Ravensbourne pack. As the season goes oh If believe.; the -vavensbourne team will do better."

STATE RRIMARY SCHOOLS’ RUGBY. Very little observation is required to acquaint on© of the fact: that the football season has again commenced. Every available space seems to be. occupied, by some school team busy at practice.' School e'ompetikiqn ,is .arranged this, year .in -three sections, the A Grade with a maximum! Weight of Bst 71b, the B ol 7at, and a Bantam Competition in the 'last section , is particularly keen, no fewer ■than 20 teams competing. B Grade entries number 16, and A Grade 10, making a total •of- -46 • increase of six on last year’s’, number. -The Bantam ' Competition' inaugurated this year aims at giving a game-to those boys too small to participate in the other grades, as well as to give the smaller boys an opportunity of showing their’ true , worth. > The- firit'- round of matches was-played! 'during, last .whek, and, although'the' stan-; dary of play was not particularly high, still some very keen games resulted. It is to be regretted that four of the higher grade 'schools thought fit to withdraw their A-Grade teams and enter onlyin B and Bantam Competitions. '•*, It is’ hoped, however, that' these schools will; next season consider the, advisability of! catering for the more weighty boys, who this year are being deprived of a game. Several schools have this year decided to' join the Rugby ranks—Mornington, MaoriHill, Ravensbourne, and Wakari Schools. Although some of the new teams are not yet well acquainted with the rules of the gome, still, with the enthusiasm displayed by both players and coaches, this difficulty will soon be overcome. ;