LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19254, 19 August 1924, Page 8

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

A CANDID CRITIC. impressions of xbw Zealand TOE It. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August IS. Mr E, Osborne., secretary and manage* of the English League football team, when interviewed on the eve of his return to England, explained that what he had to say about n section of the crowds hud evidently been taken up in the wrong manner. “Wo quite recognise,” he said, “that the game of Rugby League is not so popular in New Zealand as it is at Home. We realise that the criticism which has been lodged against us has been more in the nature of criticism of the game than of us ns individuals, and as Britishers we have endeavoured us far us we have been able to carry on while adverse criticism has been inado, sometimes, we think, hurriedly, but not unfairly. We are going away from New Zealand with a very high opinion of a majority, a very large majority, of the people, who have attended our games.” Mr Osborne hud something interesting to say regarding the style of play in Australia and in New Zealand. “We in England,” he said, “insist so far as is possible that our forwards should be able to pass the ball as freely as the backs pass it, and whenever we get an opportunity of opening up the game we do so. Your game in New Zealand, as it appears to me, is too much confined to the forwards, and kicking takes far too prominent a part in the game. We endeavour to hold the ball as long as we possibly can, believing, of course, that by doing so we can score more frequently and incidentally prevent the other side from getting it. What is the use of a scrum for possession of the ball when one side gets it and then immediately kicks It to the other side? Why not give it to the other side immediately? A kick from a scrum is just as good as a pass to the other side. Australia exploited the passing game more than New 7 Zealand did.” “The kick and rush game, as we term it at Home,” he said, “will win matches, but it will not attract the crowd. After all the spectators must be considered in this game. If you ask people to pay to sec a game you have to give youy best and make it worth their while to attend the matches. An example of the advantages of the passing game was to be seen in Sullivan’s game, the object of which was to provide an extra three-quarter. That player refrains from kicking, and we believe that a man should never kick when he can pass.” On the question of the proposed visit of a New Zealand League team to England, Mr Osborne said that it was a matter for the controlling body at Homo. If Mr Osborne was inclined to pour oil on the troubled New Zealand waters, Mr J. H. Dannatt, who is also concerned in the management of the team, was not so disposed. Ho was quite frank. “I will make this statement,” he said, "that the treatment we have received in some towns in New Zealand is not likely to bring about any more visits from England. The Chinese footballers have been received with open arms, but the treatment shown by Britishers to Britishers has been disgusting. I do not think there will be any more tours. We had a nice civic reception here at the station in the rain. We are leaving to-morrow, and we will not be sorry.”