FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 25

FOOTBALL.

"Though defeated not disgraced" must be the unbiassed verdict passed on the Tasmanians after their match on Saturday. The Victorian team did not look a thoroughly representative one on paper, neither Geelong, South Melbourne, nor Melbourne having a finger in the pie, but nevertheless careful analysis and reasoning would lead to a deduction being arrived at that a team which included six Carlton and five Hotham men would be more likely to give a first-class exposition of concerted foptbaU than a team in which the component parts were mainly striving to achieve individual distinction. Therefore the 7 goals 15 behinds to 4 goals 6 behinds victory of the Victorians must be appraised at its true value, and the form displayed by the Tasmanians not discounted one iota. Up to half-time they had much the best of the encounter, the tally at that time standiag—Tasmania, 4 goals 3 behinds ; Victoria, 2 goals 4 behinds. Towards the close of the afternoon, however, the visitors fell away, which was not to be wandered at, considering they' had only come off • the steamer the previous day, prior to which the Hobart contingent had undergone a wearisome trip by train across the island. The Tasmanians are of splendid physique, and their little marking is Bpoken of in the highest terms. The way in which Gundy (their captain) , and Bagley took their hook bouncing the ball, fairly astonished the spectators, who witnessed them, clearing way time after time from such an approved flyer as Jack Baker ; but when it oozed out that Cundy was only a shade under evens at the game, the initiated simply winked the left eye in an oracular manner.

I had fully intended to put in an appearance at the intercolonial match, but on arriving at Boyle and Scott's, the secretary of the Victorian Football Association made it a personal favour for me to go down and report progress as to Geelong form this year, and accordingly down I went. Their opponents, Port Melbourne, are a fine set of young fellows, and as they have had three or four good tussles with other clubs already this season, it was thought to be quite on the cards for them to put last year's premiers through. But although they snavelled a goal five minutes after the start, and at various times during the afternoon tied their adversaries up into a knot, the Geelong boys quickly unravelled themselves, and then their marvellous precision of kicking settled the business. It mattered not — place, drop, or punt kick, the goals came. Not till the bell finally rang, however, did the play flag for an instant, and the result — Geelong 8 goals 10 behinds to Port Melbourne's 4 goals 8 behinds—; can hardly be taken as a fair criterion of the game, which more nearly approximated 3 to 2 on its merits. The Pivot was, of course, en fete, and my early and manifold experiences of Dreamy Hollow were so completely knocked all of a heap by observing two 'buses "actually racing down Moorabool street and none of the inhabitants taking a bit of notice of it — juat as if it were an everyday occurrence— that I declined all invitations to wait;for a later train, on the plea that they were getting altogether too gay for me, and ponderingly sought --.the quiet seclusion of Bourke street on a Saturday night. On Queen's Birthday an enormous attendance —some 25,000— assembled on the East Melbourne groand to witness Hotham and Geelong try conclusions. The game eventuated in a draw — Hotham, 4 goals, 13 behinds ; Geelong, 4 goals 8 behinds; but the west countrymen were sadly hindered by the crowd trespassing on the ground in front of the Geelong citadel, which stood a rare show of being stormed on one or two occasions but for their interference with them ball.

The Tasmanians tackled Essendon on the South Melbourne ground at 11 o'clock the same morning, in the presence of a large number of spectators. The play was exceedingly spirited, andjthe result was an extremely even tie— each side having secured 2 goals and 7 behinds. Fitzroy journeyed to the gold fields country and received a most pronounced drubbing at the hands— or rather the feet — of the South Ballarat, who scored 8 goals 9 behinds to the visitors' 1 goal 7 behinds. The football world was thrown into a state of consternation when it became known that a young man named Albert Pascoe had sustained Buch injuries whilst playing in a ma^tch at"New<-

port on the 30th ult.,'"thkt' he' 'succumbed to them on Saturday. ! "However, sad as the disaster isj it is fortunately shown by a, post mortem examination that his death' was in the main due to an extraordinary malformation of the kidneys, the left one' being double the ordinary size and weighing, 8oa; the other not weighing more than an ounce. During his illness Pascoe frequently declared that his hurt was purely due to accident and not to malice on the part of any of the players. However, there seems to have been some malice shown in a match' between Essendon and Richmond on Saturday last, when a player named Caldwell, of the Essendon team,' renowned for his goal-kicking abilities, sustained a 'fracture of a rib through being; hurled up against atfence out of bounds. I believe the matter will be brought before the Victorian Football Association, and if there is a loop or hinge to hang a doubt on ad to the fairness of the play the aggressor will receive adequate punishment..