MOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2116, 13 September 1894, Page 32

MOTES BY FORWARD.

The Taranaki Union eDgaged to pay all the expenses of the New South Wales team, which, it was estimated, would reach £75.

The Marlborough Union's jaunt into the north resulted in a loss of £30.

The Otago team chosen, for the Southland match at Invercargill was to a large extent an experiment, nine of the team gaining representative honours for the first time.

By Saturday's win over Canterbury, following upon the victories over Auckland, Wellington, Wangauui, and Slanawatu, not t to mention the unfortunate New South Welshmen, the Taranaki representatives have fairly established their claim to be regarded as the best team of the year in the New Zealand Union's dominion. .A mjitch between Wellington College and Nelson College on the sth inst resulted in the latter being defeated by 14 points to nothing A player who is familiar with football both in Otago and Hawke's B»y is my authority for the statement that the Kaikorai team would run ringi round the 1 Hawke's Bay representative fifteen. And the Hawke's Bay tram defeated the New South Wales tourists !

In accordance with a suggestion which emanated from the Otago Rugby Unioc, and has been accepted by the Southland Union, home and home matches between Otago and Southland are to be instituted this 'season. Besides, therefore, this week's match between the two unions at Invercargill, a second match fcetween them will be played in Dunediu later

on in the month — probably en Saturday, the 22nd inst. From an account which has been forwarded to me of the northern trip of the Hawke's Bay representatives — the account having appeared iv the Napier Daily Telegraphy — I gather that a recent member of the Pirates Club in the person of Reg. Mathesou, who went with the team as emergency, distinguished himself as an entertainer. Members both of the Pirates and Christchurch Clubs will appreciate the references to him. In the evening of tbe. second day that tbe team were out on the Taravrera on their way to Auckland " the saloon was," we are told, " crowded to hear a concert by the life of the party, our own ' Weggie ' Matheson, which, needle s to cay, proved mot enjoyable." At the Thames, says the contributor, " our favourite • Weggie's' 'fly'songs and recitations were ima-en«e." Though ♦'Weggie" did not have a game in any of the time matches played by the team, he seems to have emphatically been a success on the trip.

Rarely have I read anything more meanly ■ungenerous than a statement made by a Canterbury writer last week with reference to the offer received by the Otago Union from a Christchurch gentleman to bring a Canteibury team to Dunedin to play Ot--go. " Candidly," he

says, '• I don't believe any person of influeD.ce in local football circles ever made such an offer. Jn the first place those who have any influence know that they conld not command the services of our best men, who would fear disqualification, and in the second they would know that the local Rugby Union would not permit any interference by an individual ; therefore if any tffer at all was received by the Otago Union, it did pot come from anyone possessing cither stan-i-fag or influence inloeal football circles " M ark fine clause "if any offer at all was received fey the Otago Union ! "

The writer directly insinuates lh%t xhe Otago Union has been guilty of inventing an #ffer, and that the local papers and the Jpunedin agent of the Press Association i^£e_connived.j.t _» jßjece^ojMyinjj bj the.

Tttle*.. Tne thing is so atrociously contemptible that perhaps it ought to be passed ov>-r without notice bus I tbink it is only due to myslf to say th-a I have unquestionable authority for stating that the offer— which, of course, was made— coanated from a gentleman of he most undoubted standing in Canterbury footbal or k-s 'he bogey of disqua ification j again raised l\y the \vr tor, but no per- on who chose to exer.ei.-u his wits would dream of suggesting that if tifteen Canterbury players chose to come to Dunedin, wi'hout being accredited by the Canterbury Un>on, to play Otaao, they would suffer any penalty for so doing. Even if the New Zealand Union took the step, which it has no power to t»ke, *bf disqualifying them, the disqualification would be instantly removed on appeal to the English Union

Says the Hawke's Bay Herald : " Most of the visiting Sydney footballers wear those hideous bell bottomed trousers made so familur b> pictures in the Bulletin. Fortunately they won't play in them. If they did one would be temptt-d to drop the time-honoured scrummage arid to substitute for it ' push.'" The Hawk-'s Bay Union thereupon passed a resolution regret' ing very much that their visit >rs had received such a gratuitous insult as had appeared in the Herald, and the secretary was instructed to wire the resolution to the Press Ass ciation in Wellington. Why to the Press Association in Wellington ? Upon reading the Her -Id's reply to this resolution, the union mv t have felt very great regret at having taken official notice of 'he alleged insult.

This is what the Herald had to say on the 7th mat. : "The ßugby Union would have acted more to the purpose if it had expres.-ed regret that for nearly an hour on Tuesday night no woman could pass along Hastings street without being insulted and that later on the same evt-n-ing a gang of five, with a sixth who was halfhearted iv the proceedings, gave vent to such torrents of blasphemy and profanity at the doors of thf Salvation Arm> hallthatthe like was never before he*rd in Napier. Further the Rugby Union is to very tender about the New South Wales footballers, it might express regret at the vile language some of them used during the game on Wednesday, and at the fact that Mr Logan, president of the Rugby Union, had to order one of the team off the ground for bad langudge, but withdrew the order on the captain apologising and asking -hat the offender might be allowed to pl-iy on le t the team's reputation shou dbe injured." Verily, a p>etty lot they seem to be — assuming the Hawke's Bay Herald's utatement to be well founded — who are being so much lioftised at present by the New Zealand Ilugby Union.

Morton Driver was included in the Canterbun team pl-iyed Taranaki W. LaDg played for Canterbury both against South Canterbury and Tarauaki.

According to the Wanganui Herald the New Wales team lack that necessary dash which should characterise a good representative team. Referring to last Saturday's match between Taranaki and Canterbury, the Lyttelton Times say.* : "As Taranaki entered the field, the opinion wa<* universal that no finer body of men in point of physique ever stripped for a football match, and as they rapidly showed that they possessed an intimate knowledge of the game, and in the forward department especially were ahead of the local men in dash and rapidity of action, small surprise was exbibi'ed at the finish that the Taranaki footballer 1 - have reached 'hr- high position that has bee> accorded to them "

The South Canterbury representatives, having been bea>en by Canterbury and even by the New outh Wales team (which, after six successive defeats, has at last scored a win), can point, as their record for the saason, to nine defeats vnd not a solitary win They have scored 9 points a d have hao 157 points scored against them For Canterbury, Balcb, White, and O'Brien each scored wo tries and Scott obtained one, Lang otted a goal, and Lang and Balch each placed a goal.

The football contributor to the New Zealand Herald was, I cannot help thinking, very ill— advii-ed when in view of the recent match between Auckland an 1 Wellington he venture d to give a sketch of the p evious matches between the two provinc s— • ill-advised because the inevit .ble result must be to op?n up the old sore caused by the extr«ordmary conduct of the Auckland team in the mat eh in 1883 at Wellington. "Lynx" reproduces the version of the occurrence given in the New Zealand Herald at the time : "The game ended in a draw, bo h hides securing a goal from the field. . . . In > he last 45 minutes some throwingon toook place which caused * dispute and at one time the game looked as if it had suddenly concluded there being contrary opinions as to the ruling of the umpires. While the parleying was going on a local (Wellington) man ran in and claimed a try, which the reft-ree allowed when appealed to, and would not give any decision as to the throwingon which had been instrumental in allowing the ball to be carried over the goal-line. Eventually the Wellington captain waived his right to the try and the game proceeded after considerable waste of time "

The facts of the most disgraceful exhibition ever witnessed in an interprovincial match in New Zealand are curiously perverted in the above excerpt. What really oci urred is this : Auck'and wus leading by a goal when one of the Wellington representatives made a run towards the Auckland line and passed to Webb, who ran in and scored a, try. The Auckland umpire— one Mr Cotter, whose decisions all thiough that tour of the Auckland team were, to put it mildJy, singular — claimed that the ball had been "thrown on," but the referee decided against him and allowed the try. The Auckland team, however, in the most unsportsmanlike manner, declined to resume pl*y if the try was taken, setting at defiance the ruling of the referee, and in this unprecedented emergency the Wellington captain, rather tnan appear to show discourtesy to the visitors, agreed to scrimmage the ball off, while at the same time he declined to relinquish his claim to the touch down.

Two separate accounts of the inter-county match, Maniototo v. Vincent, for which I have lo thank my. correspondents, have reached me. A Vincent County correspondent informs me that the Vincent team were licking in combination, and were also in ned of * raining. M'Cabe, at full-back, was too light ; his place should have been at half-back. The threequarters played very well, T. Lawrence being the most prominent. Hurnside, at half, was undoubtedly the besb back on the ground ; time after time, by his judicious kick>ug and running, he bayed his side. His passing was also much admired. The forwards played fairly well in the first spell, but in the second they seemed to have been al> at sea. Eu-sell, Halliday, G. Laurence, and "aiming were about the besh Donaldson. Moore, Marshall, and M'Ritchiewerc the pick of the Maniototo backs, an - played well into each other's hands. Their passing was perfect, accurate, and in the nick of time. Of tbe forwards, all played well, but mention must be made of Marslin, Haig, and Montgomery for their good play on the lineout. South. JJaßt§rbj^J^jc]earJy th,ejgampejej.

union of the New Zealand Union. It obtained two representatives in the New Zealand Union's team that last year visited New South Wales — players who would not have a ghost of a chance of being chosen iv a team really representative of the colony — and it ha,s nowbeen given a representative in tbe alleg' d New Zealand team which is to play the New South Wales victors at Christchurch on Saturday next. It is a queer team that is to do duty for the New Zealand Union. Poor Auckland does not get a single representative — and Auckland will have to bear a greater share of the cost of bringing the New South Wales team over than will have to be paid by any other union in the colony — and the fear of being tod that they have unduly favoured Wellington has, it would appear, induced the Selection C> mmittee to give only two representatives to that centre. Butland, on the strength of a somewhat spurious reputation, gained on the other side last year, »nd for the reason further that the West Coast has to be propitiated, gets selected as half-back, though if there is any houour at all attaching to selection in such a team — and it is ex remely doubtful whether there is — there are several ha f-backs with superior claims. The choice of D'Arcy as full-back is also a selection which is fairly open to question, more especially os I bel'eve it to be a fact that not one of the New Zealand Tnion's Selectiou Committee has seen him play this season Humphret s, good honest forward that he is, is presumably singled out from the Canterbury forward ranks m the hope that his selection may cause him to modify his views of opposi ion to the New Zealand Union. The omi.-sions are more cut ions than the selection, not because such unions' as Nelson, Wanganui, Manawatu, and so on have not. got a representative in;o the taam, but becausa I have no doubt that from the New Zealand Union's affiliated unions a team could be selected that would prove superior to that which has been selected. The ChiistchurchStaris a paper whicb.with the Lyttelton Times and Canterbury Times, issued by the satnfl proprietary, has a strong sympathy with the Now Zeahnd Union. Th- following outspoken leaderette from last Monday's issue is very significant: "For some time past the Star has condemned the New Zea'and Rugby Union for its attitude in the matter of the annual football fixture between Canterbury and Otago, and at, a very early st<ge in the proceedings its remarks were met by the statement : ' Yes ; but you see that the New South Wales team is to be brought over, and the match New Zealand vei'sus New South Walesistobeplajed at Christchurcb.' Then, again, the advocates of the New Zealand Unon arrangement declared that first-class football would be promoted by the visit of the team from the other colony, and every effort has been made to impress this idea upon New Zealand players ; but bas been the resulc ? We now know that the visiting team is of a second-rate class, and that it cannot hold its own agaiost the representative teams of this colony. To ask an all New Zealand team to play the men who have been sent to represent New South Wales is little short of an insult. ' Scragging ' h*s be^n made to do duty for play, by the e»j drier men, and so far the New Zealand Union has not said a word against the brutality that disfigured the matches at Auckland and Taranaki. In boh cases the New Zealanr'ers proved a trifle • tough,' and the ' f cragging ' did not tell very well. Withont in any way desiring to underrate or cast a slur on the men who have been sent here as a representative team from New South Walts, it m*y be said th it the union of that colony has played it very low down on New Zealand. However, out of evil good may come, and the afnlia'e'l football clubs will now perhaps realise how little their interests are likely to be considered by an overgrown and quite unworkable union for the whule colony. . . . The clubs, which have sacrificed a great deal to keep faith with the New Zealand Union, should demand to know why an ii<ferior team has been foisted upon them' and why the men who were expected to represent New South Wales are not present; in the visiting team. It is perfectly well known that the best men in the neighbouring colony are the university players — where are they ?" lam gl.'d a Chnstchurch paper has come t.» realise that there canbesucha thing as " an overgrown and quits unworkable union for the whole colony."

The South Canterbury football team suffered defeat at the hands of Canterbury by 29 points to nothing. One of the South Canterbury forwards was ordered off the field for striking an opponent. The football match Wellington College v, Nelpon College was played in the presence of a large number of spectators. The local players were defeated by 14 points to nothing.

Mataura defeated Riversdale last Saturday by 12 points to nothing. The following is the New Zealand Union' 6 team to play against New South Wales at Christchurch on Saturday : — Full back — D'Arcy ( Wairarapa) ; three-quarters — Bayly and Good(Taranaki), Balch (Canterbury') ; halves— Cook (Canterbury), Butland (West Coast) ; forwards — Mackenzie (Wellineton^ and Bayly (Taranaki) wings, Swindley (Wellington), Lambie (Taranaki), Hughes (Taranaki), Watson (Wairarapa), Cockrofb (Hawke's Bay), Humphreys (Canterbury), Stewart (South Canterbury). Emergency: Forward — Maber (Wellington). The delay in chosing the team was occasioned by the inability of several who would have been chosen to get away. Mackenzie (Auckland) was one of these.

The final trial game for the selection of a team to represent Otago against Southland was played on the Caledonian ground last Saturday. The game was played under very adverse circumstances, the state of the ground before the game had been long in progress resembling nothing so much as a quagmire. Nevertheless the game was considerably above the average of trial games, and some good work was done by both sides. The game, which was very fast, resulted in a win for the Blues by 12 points to 9. The forwards were very evenly matched, and worked with their feet more than is usually the case nowadays, some of the dribbling rushes being well worth seeing. Good work was also done by the backs on many occasions.

The High School and Dunedin Second met on the University's ground at Tahuna Park on Saturday afternoon, the game resulting in a win for the Dunedin by 8 points (a goal and a try) to 3 points (a try). The School playing a more combined game than their opponents, succeeded in keeping play well within the Blues' half f'nring the first spell. Still individual play on the Dunedin side on two or three occasions carried the ball over the School's line, only force downs, however, resulting. The first spell ended without any score on either side. Throughout the game the School managed to get the ball in the scrums, and Fraser at half passed smartly out to the other backs, who, taking the ball well and being very fast, were enabled to keep up a constant attack. Macdonald, on the wing, was in this way shortly after tha opening of the second spell enabled to score, but a goal did not result. The Dunedin relied mostly on their dribbling rushes and fast following up, and Armstrong and Hall at last dribbled the ball over the School's line, where the laßt-named fell on it.

with more enthusiasm after this, and had the Colours hard pressed on several occasions. Armstrong, Connor, and Oliver getting on a passing rush the last-named ran in and scored the Dunedin's second try. No goal was kicked. There was no farther score. Mr Nicholson kindly acted as referee. -

The match Warehousemen v. Melrose was played at Montecillo before some 200 spectatorf, and victory rested with the Warehousemen by one penalty goal and three trie* (12 points) to one goal and one try (8 points). The Warehousemen, playing well together, rnßhed the ball to the Melrose twenty- five, where some exciting play took plaoe, and eventually Price (substitute) dashed across the line and scored first blood. Cook failed with the kick. This reverse livened the Melrose up, and encouraged by the shouts of their supporters they swept all before them, and in the scramble that ensued Given dropped across the line and scored, the kick at goal being a failure. Some rather rough play ensued, each team trying its utmost to score, but without avail. The Warehousemen's forwards, playing with great dash, had the Melrose in difficulties, but the defence was equal to the occasion, and half-time was called with the ball in the Melrose quarters. Roid started the second spell, and the Melrose were at once defending their lines ; but again the defence was too good, until off-side play on their part gave the Warehousemen a free kick, and Cook placed a splendid goal. On resuming play was very fast, and the Melrose, playing a loose game, carried the ball over the line and Hume scored, Lambeth placing an unmistakable goal. For the rest of the spall the Warehousemen gave the Melrone a warm time of it, and tries were secured by Barclay and Sanders, the kicks at goal being failures. Timo was called leaving the Warehousemen victors as above.

The Excelsior defeated North Dunedin by 18 points to nothing. This match was played in a sea of mud. One of the Excelsior's men had his eye badly cut, and ha had to be removed to the hospital, where he was attended to.

The return match under Association rules between the Mornington and Zealandia clubs was played at Mornington on Saturday afternoon, and ended in a draw, each side scoring 4 goals. The game, considering the state of the ground, was fast, exciting, and interesting. Mornington soored first blood by a very fast shot from Holgate. Zealandia then woke up, and Bradley scored after a first-class dribbling run. After this the Mornington goalkeeper had a very rough time of it, the Zealandia forwards, Bradley, Gardiner, and Jay, making several good shots, and being splendidly backed up by Wise and Hutton. Gardiner at last eluded the goalkeeper. Shortly after this J. Garside scored for Mornington, leaving the score at half time 2 goals each. Mornington started the second spell with a determined attack, and only by the splendid play of B. Batter field was a score prevented. Zealandia got away with a good passing run which ended in Jay scoring, and immediately afterwards Mornington, being put on their mettle by this reverse, a good dribbling rush, in which Borrow*, H. Thomas, and Holgate took part, ended in the latter player again equalising the scores. Zealandia shortly after this, by the assistance of Bradley (who was playing a rattling game), added another goal to their score. With five minutes to time Mornington made determined efforts to equalise the scores, and by a rattling passing run, which was started by Borrows and taken part in by Thomas, Holgate, and J. Garside, the latter player passed to his brother, who was equal to the occasionfand placed a grand goal, leaving the scores, at the call of time, 4 goals all.