FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 35

FOOTBALL.

JTOTES BY FORWARD. * • . • Tb« report of the üßmlso of the Green Island Club, the winners of iosb season's Junior Flag, is confirmed. * . ' A special general meeting of the Dunedin Football Clnb was held in the City Hotel one evening last week to consider the balance sheet, which, not having been audited, wi>b not confirmed at the annual meeting. The press were excluded from the meeting, but I learn that Mr W. Mills occupied the chair, and his tact had frequently to be employed in smoothing over difficulties which occurred in the course of the proceedings. The member appointed at the annual meeting to audit the balance 'sheet returned that document unaooempauied by any certificate, but accompanied by a report in which he stated that in the absence of vouchers for one or two iteaiB — p*;d to' be for refreshments to players and for p*rt expenses of a (zip to Oam&rn last season — and in the apparent absence of authority for the expenditure, he was unable to sign the rheet. During the proceedings at the meeting certain other allegations, to which it would be imprudent to give publicity, ate said to have been m&de, and in consequence the atmosphere was occasionally somewhat" electrioal. Eventually f&e meeting declined to pats the balance oheef, and there the matter now stands. • . *At a special meeting of the Olago Football Association it was decided to take no action in the matter of registering the association under the Unclassified Societies Act. Mr Kemoitz was elected as president, and Mr R. D. Sprnggon (delegate from the Kaitangata Club) was elected to the vacancy on the committee oauuodby Mr Xemni'z's election. ' . ' The first meeting ef this year's committee of the Otago Rugby Football Union was attended by Messrs Gallaway (president), Chitholm, Campbell, Duncan, E<quilant, Hutchison, Isaaos, Montgomery, Strong, and - Torranee. Mr J. Bee was reappuinted -delegate to the New Zealand Union. A letter from- the Canterbury Union inquiring if the Otago Union intended to send a delegate to a conference of referees to discuss tbe laws of the game, with a view to arriving at a uniformity «f rulings, was reftrred to tho Referees' Association for the nomination of a delegate. A letter was read from tie Wellington Rugby Union inquiring wfefctheran Otago te&m would visit Wellington during the season, aud It was decided that the union would make every endeavour to send a team to Wellington, bat that its .arrangements were to some extunt dependent upon those made for the tour of the Queensland team. A sub-committee was appointed to report as to the beet means of strengthening the Referees' Association. It was agreed to vote £3 3s to the Hoben testimonial. It was decided to inform the Caver•hatn C>ub tbat it would be necessary for it to change its colours, so that they would not; be liable to be confounded with those of any other club. . •>

\ ' A Wairarapa writer, wh o says the forthcoming conference of referees with the object of securing a uniform reading of the rules is the outcome of a sufgeution made at the end of last season by the New Zealand Rugby Union, is mistaken,""" inasmuch as the suggestion emanated fromthe'Olago Referees' Association, which will probably .be represented at tho conference "by Mr J. R.-Moutjgomery. -. ' I have-to thank Mr W. >G. Garrard, the hon. secretaryof .the Caafcarbury Rugby Union, for sending nle" a copy of that body's Annual for 1896, and I have pleosuieio c" ngratuUtirig the editor*, whose ideutity is mod<-B»ly, concealed, upon' a very creditable And completely up-ta-' date production, and in assuring them that their hope that this year's ifsue of the Annual " will be found quite equal to the high standard maintained by editors in the past " is more than realised Last year's Annual seems to have resulted in a lots to the Canterbury Uuion of about £13, and if th^re is no greater loss on this year's then the money «o lost is well spent. The specially- contributed article* are a capital feature of the Annual, and I hope to see some such feature revived in future issues -of the O.R F.U Annual, from which, with a view to reducing the cott of the production, these articles have in recent yean disappeared.

* . • Before, the business of arranging the season's fixtures was carDmenced at the meeting of secretaries on Saturday night, tV, subject of the attitude of tiieeeniorclubttowtiK'klh ■ junior olubs was introduced by Mr F. W. PlsJits, representing the Port Chalmers Club Mr Platts professed to believe that the senior clubs had come to a compact to ignore the junior olubs in the ariar>gament of their programme for the seasou, and he asked tha ehairmau (Mr Hutchison) whether there liad been «ny prior agreement of that sort arrived at. The .chairman roplied that so far as the Rugby Union Committee were aware, and so far an he, as secretary of the union, 'was personally iiwara, there was no such agreement. Mr Platts then requested that .the secretaries of the senior clubs should be asked to state whether it had beeu prearranged that they should make no -fixtures for their second fifteeoß with jauior clubs. Some of the secretaries said that there was no prearrangemeut and that it had been left to their owa discretion to make what fixtures they pleased for their second fifteens, but it was added by one or two that it was not their intention, to make fixtures with junior clubs. Thereupon Mr Platts stated that that cor firmed whqjb he had heard as to there having been a pre-arraDgemebt, and said that if the junior olab3 were to ba ignored they were determined to form a union of their own.

* . * It was pointed out to Mr Platts that secretaries must be permitted to arrange matches with whom they pleased, and Mr D. Torranoe, who happened to be present, protested against any threc-t being held <mb with the object of inducing daba to make fixtures with junior clnba. It was also ptiuted out that even if the junior clubs were denied fixture! with the second fifteens of senior (dubs they were sufficiently numerous to make good programmes of matches amongst them»t-ke*, bo that it was idle to talk of the possibility of their being wiped out. The arrangement -of fixtures was then proceeded with, the secretaries of the jjunior clubs withdrawing to a corner of a room, but occasionally emerging to pick up, like another Laearua, crumbs from the rich man's table in the shape of a fixture offered by one or other of the tyrannical senior club's secretaries. Mr Platts, I *! uld add, disclaimed any intention «f "making a threat, but the threat was nsv«rthele£S there, and an empty threat it was, too. Had the juniors been foolish enough to form a union of their own it would h&ve received scanty support and come to an early end. The thre&t was subsequently withdrawn upoa certain fixtures with second fifteens being obtained by junior clubs. The reasonable view of the matter, it seems to me, is that if the secretaries of senior clubs regard the junior clubs as too strong for their second fifteens, they are nob to ba blamed if they look for fixtures that are likely to produce even contests. * . * The various competitions in Christchuroh were continued on Saturday in very favourable weather. In the senior matches Menvale boat Kfciapoi siter a hard struggle by 8 points to

nothing, Linwood easily defeated Canterbury College by 20 points to nofchiug, Christchui-ch vanquished Sydenham "by 10 points to nothing, ami after a clone and hard battle N'ta Aburiri juit won against Albiou by 5 point* to nothing.