NOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2161, 25 July 1895, Page 39

NOTES BY FORWARD.

The following table shows the reEult of the Senior Flig competition to date :—: —

Those football enthusiasts who visited the North ground on Saturday were rewarded by witnessing one of the mest ex<-itug games of the season, and it was nob till writ on in the second »pell that the Kaikcm showed their superiority. The scoro at half-time — Ui.ion, 4 points ; Kaikorai, 3 points— wai the re*ult of the vigorous play of the Uaion forwards (Btadle, Douglas, and--Stewart being the mo3t prominent), whose dribbling, fast following upj and excellent tackling were irresistible. Armstrong at half back played a capital game for the losers. He passed with judgment, and hi* punting was also smart and clean. Imrie and Gibson were the beat of tbe three-quarters, b.th getting in some gcod kicks, and the latter stopping rushes in greit style. Lunib at full back made few mistakes, punting and tackling well Of the Knikorai backs Ki> g bad plenty to do, especially in the fiist spell, and acquitted himself admirably. Suiivan was the most useful thtee-quait^r, his play being very safe. Armit showed good form at times, but should get his kick in smarter. He was inclined to hang to the ball .too long Cumiii-gham'o play was erratic, but he showed improvement towards the finish. D.uncan played in a manner worthy of his fane, imkiog some fine runs. His passing and kickiug were also t xcellent. Davis was too well watched to do a great deal. Davie, who played, out in the second spoil, w»s not a eupce/s, fo'mbliog frrqmntly. The Wilkinson brothers formed a formidable trio forward, W. Wilkii son, if auything, putting in tho moct solid work, and D. and J. Torrance and Ballantyne lent valuable assistance. J. Torracco was responsible for a number of free kick<i, negk-cting to give his opponents five yards when off-side. / TJtie match between tho Dunedin and Piratea teams, which was plsy«d on the Carisbrook ground on Saturday alt-moon, attracted comparatively little attention, not more than 150 spectators being present. Although resulting in a victory for the Blues, the match, on the whole, was a pretty even one. Tho play, taking it -all through, was not veiy exciting — the first spell, indeed, beiog paiticularly tame. A feature of the-game was the tackling of the Pirates, Macofirey, who rendered excdlent service in this way, being specially prominent. Carter, Allan, and Youug also played well for their side. The Dunedin team, although working batter together than they did on the previous Saturday in thoir matoh with the Alhainbra men, still did not do nearly so well in tbis respect as migh^ hivo been expected ; and, in truth, better combination on both sides is what might have reasonably bean looked for. CoDspicuous among the Blues were Staphenson, Mason, M'Kenzie, and Richardson, all of whom b*tt!ed well on behalf of their team. The match between the Zingari and Caversham teams on Saturday wss an interesting cue except in the early part of the game, which wa3 principally notewoithy for the frequent infringements of the rules. The Cavercham representatives made a good stand — and in fact had perhaps the best ot the contest — until the Colours scored a try with ridiculous ease. Spiers, securing a mark, kicked down the field, . and was down on the opposing full back — who was oat of his place— before he could -return, and crossed the line. This mishap seemed to take tbe heart out of the Caversham players, who, although they played up bravely, did not peem to attack their opponents with the sam& figour as previously. The game throughout

was principally a forward one. Both eides did come good passing, while the loose dribbling rushes which were frequently started lent a good deal of Interest to the play. Among the Zingari forwards M'Farlane, Campbell, and Spiers were most conspicuous. Fordyce and Williamson did some good work, while Pollock and Clark likewise deserve to be moutioued. The best of the Cavtrshatn players were Lnng, Urquhart, Burgess, Stalker, M*Kenzie, and Olsen. Only six playeri of the Dunedin Second put in an appearance it Monteciilo to meet the Warehonsemen, but obtaining the requisite number of substitute thoy very pluekily resolved to play, which reflects credit on them, considering that some teams refine to play when only 10 of their number roll up. The 6core of the winners would have been much larger had their backB — the three-quarters especially — been in form, the want of training telliug very badly on one of their number. The pausing, with one or tyro exception?, was very erratic, the halves particulatly cring ia this respect. To gain ground the latter should remember that tbe bill mu»t be passed oat quickly and low, not high in the air, "*s was the case on Saturday. The e : ght forwards — one for some unexplained reason failing to put in an appearance — all played well, and it would b9 hard to pick the bssb. For the losers Logan, Driver, Smith, and Morgan played a' hard gamo. I The Mornington team again proved that they vtb veiy fast, and this no doubt, together with very fair combination, "was the c«ii*e of the laTgß score they put up against the Nirlhern. The Mornington forwards time after time upoilt the return of the Northern backs by thi ir fast I following up. Of the Moririuglon forwards Kingston, Holgate, and Garaide ac usual played a sterling game. Nagle and Joins' oac, two players from the Becond Eleven, al^o played well ; but Johnstone omit got over tho Labi sof coming in too f»r from the wing, thtieby leaving his side unprotected. Bparro.v and Anderson at half placed with good jadginent The halves b»elrtd up well and fed their forwards splendidly. Thomas and Sparrow at b&t-k {lajed a splendid defensive girr.e. Of the Northern forwards Sharp, Blurriti.ii, AI N.\ir, and a player playiug inntr right wing wtre the j<kk. The halves (cxci ping Sharp, who played with good judgment) kicktd too hard, thereby time after tin:e nullifying the efforts of the forwards. Ciark and Young at back both played saft-ly and kicked well. White in goal plijed a great ga«>e in the second spell, >and proved he was the right man in the right place. The Qihcu'd Park and Z< aUnrlia tps-tna each plnyed a good game, excillent combination bung dit-p'ayed. For the Queen's P«.rk H&jnes aud Sintaton x iU t in go( d work, their dribbling, ppsMDg, and folio viug up being esper-iaUy serviceable. Campbell at centre p'oytd veiy unselfishly, and pat in fome very good sbots at goal. Of the backs Robertson, Newall, and Arthur were always abou* 1 , while ihe lslcWipg of M 'Donald at centre was well judged. Of the Zenlandia Malcolm and Jacksoa showtd most improvement, bub the forwards r.ll _ played well, and are (steadily improving. " Beunfctt (in goal) played his usual good gaoie, whilst Cameron and Murchison rendered valuable service by their kicking and tackling. The full banks also played up to their best form. Mr Watson, 88 tef< rt.e, controlled the game impait ally and effic'cntly. A 'Jh»mes telegram states that the reprrsentntive fcolb*Jl match betwi en Poverty Bay and Thames wbs evenly and amicably contested, and resulted in a win for the Thames by two goals from the field (both kicked by Paul) to one (kicked by R. Murphy) There was beautiful weather, though the ground ws heavy, which did not suit the visiting team. No trir s were scored. The Wellington Rugby Union hao arranged tbe followirg programme": — Wellington and Ma.na.watu, at Wellington, in August ; Wellington and Canterbury, at Ch'istchurcb, on August 17 ; Wellington and Tarauaki, at; Wellington, on August 24 ; Willing! on and Auckland, at Wellington ; Wellington and H*nke's B*y, at Welling' on, on September 14. The Wairarapa Rugby Football Uuion has been effered a guararitta of £20 if it wiil eend a team to play Canterbury at Chrifrtchurch on tbe 24-th August. It is improbable, however, th.-.t the date will suit Wairarapa players. Tbe following piogramme oi ft-rdgn ma'cbea has been drafted by the Canterbury Union :—: — August 3, South C*n'etbary; Augu-t 17, Wellington ; August 24, Wairarapa ; August 29 (Thursday), AuokUnd ; September 7, Otago, at Dunedin ; September 11,. luvercnrgill, afc Invercargill. Tbe Wellington Rngby Union ba<» arranged the following programme : — Wellington v. Mauawatu, at Wellington, ia August ; Wellington v. Canterbury, at Christchur. h, on August 17; Wellington v Tarau&ki, at Wellington, on August 24 ; Wellington v. Am-k'auri, a 1 ; Wellington, on August 31 ; Wt*ll>n,-ton v. Hawko'a B»y, at Wellington, on S>-'pt<-mb.-r 14. Tho preliminary round of tteO.R.F.U. Junior Flag competition will close on August 10, and the S'.mi-fiaals will probably be played on Augu it 31. The annual general meeting of the English Football Association was held on May 31. The balance sheet showed an income of £7272 3* 9d, including balance from 1893-94, £1788 153 2J ; subscriptions and entrance fees, £292 12>t 6s ; protest fee?, &c, £204 3s 3d ; divideuds and rents, £127 10j 5d *, interactional matches rec ipts, £1612 3s 6d ; AssouaUon Cup mat -hes, £2095 14s ; and Am*' cur Cup m^t< h<»B, £ 1 51 45, lid. The expenditure amounted to £3747 9i lid, including rent, salaries, expenses of meetings, Btamp°, priuting, &c, £1927 2s 6d ; international ! matches expei ses. £639 0* 8d ; Association Cap nn.tches, £401- 4s 7d ; Amateur Cup matches, £H6 9s Id ; and payments for 1893 94, £630 3s Id. This left a balauce carried down of £3524 I 13b 10d. The liabilities amounted to £1254 ?s lOd, balance due to clubs playing in the Btmifioal and Ouhl tie* of the C ip competitions. Th-5 cs<ets we r e put at £8138 17s 4d, including investments in 2| pt-r cent, 'annuities, £4564 05 6d ; effi-e furniture, £50 ; and balance at bank, £3524 13s lOd. The balance in favour of the association was, therefore, £6884 14s Bd. Tho weekly meeting of the oommiltse of tho Ota go Rugby Football Union, held on Monday afterncon, was attended by Me«cra Dsuniston (in the chair), Duncan, Isaacs, M'Laren, Strong, Torrance, and Hutchison. An intimation was received from the Southland Rugby Union agreeing to the 17th August being decided upon as tbe date of the match between Soutbl =nd and Otago in Dunedin. A letter was read from the Canterbury Rugby Union stating that it was proposed to play Otigo on the 7th September. The secretary was instructed to rep'y accepting the date sng-jc-sted. Correspondence was read from the Matakauui and St. B-xthans Clubs with reference to the point submitted to the union by the referee in an unfinished match between the terms on the 29th Jane, and, there being a direct conflict as to the facts, the committee decided to recommend the clubs to mset again. It was agreed to award the Taieti Club the Junior Flag match Taieri v. Pacific, which should have been played on Saturday, The hon. secretary of the Otago Rugby Union hae received a letter from the Southland Uijion ia which it is asked' that the return

match between tha unions this season be played at Invercargill on the 18th September. The N'tu Ahuriii Club, which is composed of Native players and has practically won the junior chs.mpioosb.ip in Canterbury, seeks fresh conquests, and is desirous of meeting the junior champions of Otago if a match can be arranged. The N'tu Ahuriri Club suggests the 24 th August as a convenient date, but Che junior championship of OUgo will not have been then decided. A correspondent kindly supplies me with the followiug : — "Oq Monday the St. Bathans team, having met the Naseby Prospectors on Saturday, negotiated the second portion of their tour, journeyiug from Naseby to Eweburn to meet the Bwcburn tea.m, who defeated them by 3 points to nothing. The Eweburn captain winning the toss elected to defend the northern goal, thus gaining for his side the advantage of playing with the fall of the ground and of having on their backs as much of the eva ns could find its way through the heavy fog. Excell kicked on* for Sb. B ttbans at about haf-past 1 o'clock. This is decidully better than the general plan of kicking <£E at about 4 o'clock aud playing the latter part of the game in the dark, as it enables both teams to reach home in daylight. The ground was covered with about 2iu of enow, which was frozen quite hard enough to make a good fall a serious mutter. Ti.e rdow also made the ball so Eiippery that a good passing g*me trat almost an irnpcsiibilifcy, aud all through the play was mostly eonfiucd to tbe forwards. The teams were splendidly m-ilchtd in play sfl well as in weight, although the Eweburn team more than held their own iv the scums. Both teams sho <vbd good work in the loose dribbling rushes, the bill beiug repeatedly carried up and down the field in really good style. The full backs ou both Hidis bad very little to do. TLe Eweburn full bmk wao only called on once or twice during the while game, and he performed creditably on each occasion. The St. Bathans foil back returned tbe ball wtll every time it cture his wa)', but MiouM h*ve been able to stop Dunesn's try. This was the only score in the game, and Duncan's run from the centre of the g'ouud round the whole of the opposing backs ■wa« really a splcdid performnijce. Too 1 tole advaritjge was taken of Duuc-m's speed, several opportunities of pas-viog out to him being mibstd by his own side. ISxuell, Haoraban, and M'Rifcchio were, perhaps, the pick of the St. Ba f .hai.s b?ck-», all doing sciviceablo work, but Cosbellod (Eweburn) was certainly thf; bf-8% b^ck on the ground. He saved Irs sids continually, taking the ball well and getting Ms kick or passing out from very awkward positiot s. He rattier overdid the ppecul»tiug buaiue^s, but as he invariably succeeded in gtt'ing tho ball well away he cuniot be bl«mcd. King and W. Thurlow fur St. Bathai.fi wo:k".d hard iv the scrums against Inder, i\lurgan, and R. Chap.nan of the Ewcburu, whiU iv th« 1 ose nluusl all the forwards of St Balhaus playnd icilly well. J. Long was tho pick of the EwebuiM forwards in the lcoje, but he and one or two others should give their team more help in the scrum. " The play on both sides waß sev?ral linn s inclined to be rough, and especially in tha first spell a great deal too much talking was indulged in, but in spite of this the two teams part«d on the be*t of teim", and both are already looking forward to the return match, a3 the very small score of one try to nil is not enough to j'isiify a claim to any great superiority on the part of the Ewebuin. The Sfc. B.ithaus team were forced down three times but the Eweburn nob once. The touch-line umpires were Messrs Excell and Dow and the referee Mr T. Biair." The following proposals for alterations in the laws of the Association game to be submitted to the-inte'iittionil bcrd have b:en confirmed by the English Football As'ociation. Law s.— That it ba provided that the player, when throwing the ball, must be standing on the touch line, ami must no*; be allowed a run Law ti — That it b-j madu clear that the kick-nff menti-jr crt in the la&t line but one is frsm the opponents' goal. Law 6.— Substitute "plays" for ".kicks " in line 1. Law 6.— Substitute "playing" for "kicking" ia lines 3 and 9. Law 7.— That the word "within" before "six yards of the goal post," and before "one yard of the nearest flag post," be substituted by the words " from a poiut not exceeding." taw 10. — That the board be asked to define more clearly what is meant by the words " in the act of p'ayint; the ball." That tha bwd be a».ked to consider if it is desirable that Law 12 should be modified «o as to admit of the referee sending his repoit to the local association in cases where misconduct occurs in minor matches. That the board be asked to decide that it if not necc3- ary for a referee to wait for an appeal before awarding penalties under Ltws 2, 5, 6 8, 9, 10, or 1G ; and th»t th« laws be altered to make this clear. Law 12 - -If it is decided th*t it ia not necessary to wait for an appeal, deleta the words in. italics at the end of Law 12, " without any appeal." Law 14 — Al o delate in Law 14 the words "an appeal for any," aud add "a" a'ter the word "uf" in line 1. 1 hat the board be again asked to make fome provision for tue displaremont of *he [ goal bar. Tbat the board be a<ked to decide if I the term "place-kick" is necessary Some clubs i have proposuu that the renalty line thall not extand from touch-line to touch line, and that it shall be a radius from the goal iustead of parallel with tho goal line. The board i% asked to give consideration to this matter. That the board be asked to define what ia meant by ball I einff rolled over, as provid-.d by definition of free kick. At We'lington last Saturday the Petone beat the Poneke by ft gonl fiotn a try to nothing, and thus won the senior footbill championship. The game was played in bitterly cold wf ather. A team from the Danediu Football 'Club visited Oamaru laat Thuisdny to try conclusions with the Oamaiu Club. The game, which was a fairly open and fast one, and provtd thoroughly enjoyable for both spectators aud players, ended in a win for the visitors by 16 prints to 11. Tries for Duredin were got by Stepbenson and Harper (one of wh'ch Mason converted), and goals were dropped by Stephenson and Jarvis ; while for Oamaru tries were obtained by De Lautour, Weir, and Familton, one of which Weir converted. After the match the Dunedin team were entertained at a oumptaous dinner, to which everjoHe did full justice. The majority of the Dunedin team returned by Friday's express, after having spent an enjoyable two days' holiday. The Pirates Second journeyed to Waikonaiti on Saturday, and played a most eD joyable game with the loc*l club. The ground was not in the best of condition, but nevertheless a fair amount of passing was indulged in by the visitors, who outshone the local boys in this department of the game. Tries were obtained for the Pirates by M 'Queen, Gordon, and Roberts, one of which was converted by Gordon ; and Heckler scored for Waikouaiti. The latter team are desirous of getting other games with town clubs, and the Pirates can coafidently promise a pleasant trip and an enjoyable game to any teams vititing Waikouaiti. The Melrose Second journeyed to Ravensbourne on Saturd-vy to try co/tclasions with the local t°am, and were defeated by 3 points (one try) to nothing The Ravensbourne had all the best of a very fast game. For the Ravensbourne, Pattereon, Wtbber, Young, and Blackie did yeoman service, the latter's play being greatly ' admired, and for tbe loscra Lyng and Whitburn

played well. Mr T. Downes gave general satisfaction as referee. The Britannia defeated the Unitsd (Port Chalmers) by 4 points to 3. T. Shearer potted a goal for the former. D. Lea, A. Cameron, D. Pope, and J. Connolly plajed well for the Britinnia, and G. Way for the United. The Queen's Drive claim a match against the St. Paul's Choir by default, the latter failing to put in an appearance. The Bay Second played a drawn match with the Britannia.

Club. "2 & E_ 7 8 fi 8 7 8 6 8 0 a I 3 2 2 I 2 fi 1 A 157 62 53 39 17 22 15 9 i — 4 28 18 £8 53 74 62 109 I bt a s IT 14 10 8 6 5 2 I •Pi 92 87 8:{ 50 ■42 •31 16 CO raikorai hinedin iingiifi- Rich m'nd Jharabra fnicn !avertham Jniveraity "irates 1 3 3 5 4 8 2 2 2 -