THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1930. THE FOOTBALL INTERLUDE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21102, 12 August 1930, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1930. THE FOOTBALL INTERLUDE.

With the final test game at Wellington on Saturday the curtain has been virtually rung down upon the spectacular interlude for which the New Zealand football season of 1930 will be long remembered. The British team does not canty away the Rugby “ashes,” if the expression so familiar in relation to cricket may possibly be extended to doings betwixt the goal posts, but it carries away something quite as important, to wit, the respect and admiration of all true lovers of the football game, for its doughty performances. The visitors staged football of a fast and spectacular order, and their attractive style of play gave the controlling authorities of the game and the interested public in this country some cause to ponder. Their merits as a team could have received no more convincing testimony than the extraordinary interest manifested in their appearances in the field, an interest which grew as the tour progressed till it reached its culminating point in the meeting at Athletic Park,

Wellington, on Saturday last. Against manifestations of enthusiasm of such a nature and finding such an inspiration, another type of game—the political game—even though it involve the Government of the country and touches closely the welfare of its people—has, of course, no chance of competing for popular attention. To some the obsession represented in the patronage of sport and amusement in the Dominion may appear an unfortunate manifestation. But it is at least largely symptomatic of racial tradition. As everybody understands, it is a strenuous ordeal which a visiting team has to face in carrying through a touring programme such as that laid down for the British side, for it is inevitably difficult to' maintain the team at its best strength by reason of the injuries on account of which players are liable to be laid aside, while no team can be expected to maintain quite its pristine freshness of form after travelling up and down the country and engaging in a series of lit-«} ‘encounter 1 * over the best pari’ of three months. Such considerations are not, of course, likely to be lost sight of by the football supporting -nblic in New Zealand, and in the satisfaction derived from the vindication of the reputation of the “ All Blacks ” in the test games there will be cordial agreement that the British team made a very fine showing in its meetings with the elect of New Zealand’s players in what is regarded as the national game in . this country. During the course of the tour discussion has sometimes run somewhat high on points and incidents connected with the game, and differing opinions have been expressed concerning features of the play on one side or the other. If the displays of the British footballers have demonstrated that not everything is to be said for the typo of play that has found particular development in New Zealand there may be more gain than loss from the popular point of view. Football is a game, and the better game it is to look at the better game it is likely to be from all points of view that should really count. To. say that it should be played as a game, not as a battle in which the winning counts for everything, should be entirely superfluous. That there is a tendency on the part of the football-going public in New Zealand to become a trifle overwrought over the competitive aspect of the business may be allowed,, though there is no occasion to suggest that it is singular in that respect. Perhaps the “ test ” aspect is overdone in regard to both football and cricket tours within the Empire. A feature of the visit of the British team has, of course, been the “gates,” the remarkable interest shown by the public in the fixtures in which the visitors have figured, and its readiness to make pilgrimages and pay heavily for the privilege of witnessing these. Mr Forbes’s referent to the crowd at . Wellington—“ I have never seen such a happy gathering of taxpayers in my life ” —has been quite apt in conjunction with his allusion to “ the little thing called the amusement tax.” Whether the gathering had appeared as “ happy ” had the result of the game, been different it is not for us to. say. Football patriotism can be carried to foolish lengths, but the foolishness in that respect will, after all, rest with the few only. If the Rugby game in New Zealand needed any fillip or stimulus it must have derived such in full measure from the tour, which' now draws to its dose. It' will be*the general hope that the British' footballers will carry back to the Old Country many most pleasurable remembrances of their visit to this Dominion, including, of course, their impressions of the .people and of the fair land ip which they live. For its part this community may . now feel more at leisure to give attention to some of its other national problems, lesfe spectacular than football though they be. ‘