NOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 35

NOTES BY FORWARD.

• . ' The suggestion is made in the Sydney Referee that the New South Wales Rugby Union should spend some of its hoarded wealth in arranging a match for the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the New Zealand and New South Wales representative teams. The author of this original idea holds that there is a good opportunity at the present time to plant the Rugby game in Melbourne, as, if report is to be credited, abuses are creeping into the Australian game which are surely undermining its popularity. ■ . ■ There is, I should think, every reason to hope that good will result from the conference at Alexandra on the Queen's Birthday of representatives from the clubs on the goldflplds, aud from the reference to the O.R F.U. of the resolutions passed at that meeting. The really important resolution of the two at which the delegates arrived is on the lines of a suggestion thrown out by me some two months Ago — namely, that the Rugby Union should assist in the promotion ot matohe3 between the i counties of Vincent, Tuapeka, and Maniototo. The revival of the matches between the Vincent and Maniototo Clubs and the institution of contests in which a chosen team from tho | Tuapeka County should take a hand, or foot as the case may be, should have a marked effect in stimulating up-country football, bub no ; heavy are the expenses of travelling where j there is no railway system that these matches*! can hardly be expected to be kept up unless the > clubs are afforded financial assistance. lam in ! hopes that after Mr W. S. Laidlaw, the country ■ vice-president of the 0.R.F.U., shall have laiil the position before the committee of that body j the request for a measure of financial assistance I will ba entertained. I * . • I have to thank the editor (Mr W. O. ■ Master) for a copy of the Wellington Rugby I Union Annual. Ib is claimed that this ia the i largest football annual ever offered to the pubI lie in New Zealand, and tb.B claim Z5 a justi- ■■ j fiable one, the present volume running to over ; 270 pages, and being published at the modest i ; price of a shilling. Besides the ordinary i \ ingredients, so to speak, that are employed in I the compilation of a football annual, some ! special articles of interest are included, the j most valuable of them being a review of the i ''■ past season — a critical comparison of the play j i of the Wellington representatives with that ! of other representative teams —to which \ reference was made by me last week. I con- \ gratulate the editor most cordially upon the i volume which he has produced. I have ob- ! served with some degree of surprise that there ! is nobbing in the Wellington Union's balance ! sheet to show that any money was either received or expended by it on account; of last year's annual. Is it to be understood that tha ! publication of the annual ia a private enterprise ? ' . ' Wells, of Taranaki, has been chosen to fill fche place of Kerr (Canterbury) iv the New Zealand team. •. ' The Southland Union decided that none of its men would play in the South v. North Island match, and Mr Galbraitb, who wag to have assisted in picking the Southern team, declined to acb. • . • A H&wera writer says :—": — " Undoubtedly Allen, Humphries, and O'Dowda deserve their place in the New Zealand team, whether ib ba on past or present form. The Selection Committee have shown a lack of knowledge of the Taranaki players when they passed over Hawken and Campbell in preference to Mills and Watson." • . • It certainly looks (gays the writer of football notes in the Wanganui Herald) as though Taranaki had got more than her share of representation in the New Zealand team, and it would have been better had a couple of the Southland class of forwards (fast and dashing) been included in place of one or two who have been chosen on reputation only, and who are not in form this season. '.• "Disgusted," writing in the Southland Times with reference to the composition of the New Zealand team, aays : — "Seeing that we are to be cut off from representation, as ib were, I think the sooner the unions of the South loland pat their heads together and form a South Island Union the batter it will be for all concerned, and not be ruled by Wellingtonians, as they have too much of the reins in hand." • . • The Management Committee of the Taran&ki Ragby Union has resolved to write to the New Zealand Union strongly disapproving of its action in appointing Mr Coutts to the Selection Committee of the New Zealand team in preference to the Taranaki nomination, and to write to the other unions explaining the Taranaki Union's position in the matter. The chairman admitted that Taranaki was over-represented in the team to tour Australia. • . • A meeting of the committee of the Otago Football Association was held last Thursday evening. There were present — Dr Macpherson (chairman), Messrß Moncrieff, Kemnitz, Cleland, Aehton, Spraggon, Nieolson, and the secretary. It was rseolved that delegates ba asked to meet the committee of the O.F.A. to consider the advisability of holding a five-a-sicle tournament

during the Diamond Jubilee holidays. The committee then proceeded to deal with the case of M'Laughlin (captain of the Northern Club), who had been reported to the association by Mr Salmond, of the Referees' Club, for contravention of rule 22, which relates to the conduct of players on the field, &c. It was decided to ask M'Laughlin (who was present at the request of the committee) to apologise to Mr Salmond ; but he declined to do so. It was then resolved — " That M'Laughlin be suspended in accordance with rule 22 until such time as he sees fib to comply -with the decision arrived at by this association." * . * The Kaikorai-Dunedin match, as a whole, was very evenly contested, but the display given by the l«st year's champions was disappointing. Any open play that was seen was in most I instances attributable to their opponents, the Colours, in short, being apparently afraid to open out. In the first spell the play of the Dunedin team was superior to that shown by the oppoiing side. The seoond spell was diversified by tome capital loose work, the ball being driven up and down the field at a hot pace. M 'Donald's pot was a very emtrt piece of play, and his success in piloting th« leather through the posts could not by any means be attributed to luck. At that stage of the game, moreover, Dunedin occupied a position wherein they might have scored at any time. The pottad goal seemed to put the Kaikoroi on their mettle, and they played afterwards with much more da9b, but the defenoe set up by Dunedin proved very hard to break through. Through Duncan's judicious work, I however, the Kaitorai were enabled to secure a fry. That the final score was an index of the merit of the respective side's play is questionable ; in fact it is doubtful, on the day's exhibition, if the Kaikorai's form was one point better than their opponents. A mark which the Dunediu got just on the call of time might have alcered the result of the g%me if they had taken a place kick instead of punting up the field. It nvght be added that some gentlemen vrho took time aver that the wh'stle was blown fully five minutes too early. • . • The Kaikorai backs were not seen to advantage. Maxwell, at full back, was anything but "brilliant, and Armit was off-colour. Wood played the best back game on the Knikorai side, while, on the other hand, Wilkinson gave about as poor an exhibition ot three-quarter play as could possibly be done. Whenever pressed he fumbled the ball misarably. Duncan did nob play up to form either, and, with the exception of the kick across the field from which the try was gained, did nothing worthy of note during the day. Of the forwards Torr«.nce. Cross, W. Wilkinson, and M'Laren were the pick, Drumro, the Danedin full back, made uo mistakes, and made bins very best of his opportunities, his play in f&ct being at times of a brilliant description. Stephenson was without any doubt the best batik on the ground. The way he got in his kicks was a treat to witness, and if he had a centre who know how to pass he muft have b-^en dangerouß on raoro than oae occasion. Mackenzie wan safe, though never dangerous. Mason ha« nofc improved since his | refcura from the north. Stohr put iv some good defensive work, and of the forwards Rogerson and Toaaca were far ahead of Iho ethers, the next beat being Williams and M 'Donald. * . " Neither the Union nor the Pirates Club was fully represented in blis match between their First Fifteens on Saturday, Alexander and Logan being absent froca the ranks of the former, and Shand, Orbell, aud Maclonald being unable to play for the latter. In the expectation of seeing a close contest between the teams a good crowd of spectators assembled on j the North ground, and in this expectation tuny ■ were not disappointed. The match was, ia the j Leaond spell, too, genuinely exciting, bat the j play waa at times of merely ■% scrambling !■ description. The Union backs did not, I with two exceptions, give their forwards ) more than the caodepfc amount of as»i*tance j that the previous play warranted one in looking } for. The forwards, however, worked until jusc ! before the close iv capital sbyle, and, were ] superior to their opponents on the line-oaf; and j iii the tight play, but the Pirate:* generally \ gained in the iooee work, and sometimes swept almosfe from oae end of fche field to '.he other with the ball in front of them. • . • Always in the van among the Union forwards was Harris, whom all expect to acquibhimself with great credit in the New Zealand team, j and of most assistance to him were the brothers j Stewart;. Beadle discounted the value of his j work by giving a number of tcea kicks to hi? I opponents. Priest and Burfc were tho most j prominent among the Pirates' forwards for their tackling and for getting on to tho Union i backs, and Maclean (who was always on the 1 ball) and Farquharson were perhaps the pick of j the others — all of whom, with oue exception, i did well. Lumb, the Union full back, played j another nf those serviceable games that have j brought him into prominence this flo&eon. Itis no part of the duty of a full back to ruu, but Lumb frequently makes so much ground whan i he does run that, if his club can replace him at full back, it might be good polioy to shift him to three-quarter baok and give a rest to one of their make-believe players in the latter position. Armstrong is tho only other back j oa the Union side who deserves special mention. In the Pirates' back division, decidedly the best dioplay wae given by Macassey, who ran, kicked, and tackled wel', showed increased judgment in passing, and had, moreover, a sure pair of hands. He was put at a disadvantage by the fact that the wing three-quarcer backs persistently played too close to the scrum. Gregg, however, did good service on the whole. The Pirates mighh act wisely in giving a holiday to their full back, who was more than once hustled by the oppos- j ing side and got out of his -difficulties more by | luck than anything else. As mentioned else- I where, the Pirates lost the valuable services of j Stalker in the second spell, while Munro and Minn were both temporarily disabled on the Union side. • . * The match between the Alhambra and j Zingari-Richmond football teams was rather an interesting one. The game throughout was very fast, and some capital passing rushes by both teams were witnessed. The play was mostly confined to the forwards. In the scrums the teams were very even, but in the loose play and dribbling rushes the Zingari forwards had a distinct advantage. For the Alhambra Pimm at full back shaped very well, and Ross and Highley were the pick of the other backs ; while Watson, Coates, Hobson, and Kennedy were the best of the forwards. Reid, Fordyce, and H. Smith rendered greatest service among the backs on the Zingari side, and M'Farlane, Smith (2), and Gregory were the most conspicuous of the forwards. Mr A. Cooper had control of the game, bub his decisions, especially when the players held the ball when collared, did not seem to give general satisfaction. • . * Throughout the game between the Universiby and Caversham infringements were so frequent that no less than 23 free kicks were awarded, a great number of which were due to the persistent practice of the Caversham backs waiting off side to cut off passes. Of the Caversham backs Lawry, M 'Kersey, and Burgess, and in the forward division Lang, C&vanagb, and Spence did their work well. Neil, of the 'Varsity, has roturaed to his old tactics of hang-

ing on to the ball instead of kiokingjinto tottohb J. G. Macdonald, though given several chances, seemed to be unable to accurately judge th« passes. The rest of the backs played well individually, but appeared to forget to sapporb their fast man, Fell, who cannot ba expected to do the running for a whole team. The forwards one and all worked like Trojans, $' . ' " Touohline," in the Southland News, voices the disappointment and astonishment of Southland football circles at the exclusion of any Southland players from the New Zealand team. He says : — "Leaving individual men oub of the question, however, it is a very peculiar thing that a team selected purely on hearsay, without having to play trial matohes, should nob contain a single Soufchlander, as the team which represenbed the local union last year in the north was considered a very strong one ia the places ib visited, and its performance*, without doubt, bore out this opinion. Ia addition to being totally ignored, we have, in common with the rest of the South Island provinces, another cause for unbounded surprise, as, out of 20 selected players, how does the North Island come to have 14 ? To thosa acquainted with the football history ot New Zealand this fact cannot be explained, as, with the exception of Taranaki, where and when have Wellington, Auckland, and Wanganai shown their right to be bo highly rated to the exclusion of players in the South Island ? Players this side of Cook's Strait, will not admit this overwhelming superiority, 4 and they would be wrong to do io in the light of past events. In my opinion thera is but one explanation, and that is that the Now Zealand Union, being entirely a North Inland hatched oub instibution, and centred in Wellington, has to look after those who most keenly supported it from the first — the North Island unions — hence the preoent position. When the so-called N.Z.R.F.U. was first formed, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland refused to join ; then the trouble began, and, after a long fight, Canterbury was by some means qv other persuaded to come into the fold, and Otago and Southland were eventually forced in, with the aid of the English Union, and the portion of the latter two bodies over j since, hts been to pay levies for losses on visit- ! ing teams which never came theic way, and to be treated as we have been in the present; instance. A number of players (nine) will now be wanted for tho North v. South Island match to ropre^ent the latter, and I would not he surprised to find that Southland is to ba liberally represented ia this number for the purpose of * peace offering, but if a powerful union lika that of Southland is going to be pacified in a transparent way of that kind I ana sorry for its sense of right and dignity." •.• "Pat" Harris is now the only South Island forward in the New Zealand team. • . •An intimation has been received by the Southland Union from the Auckland UtiioQ ! that it will not sand » team south this season. I •. ' In their laet two matche* the Kaikorai ! First Fifteen have «eoro«l 11 points to B—noft8 — noft I' much of a- margin between victory and defeat. : • . " In-the Cup matches aI; Wellington on ■ Saturday the Wellington Club beat Poneke by 11 points to 8, and Melrose scored 20 points I against Petoue'a 5. j • . • " Ex-Forward," who has commenced to i write football notss for the Evening Post, very i unjustly says that " Ofcago and T«r*naki were I lab.iunnc; under the delusion that the colony's j veprcenfcatives would be chosen practio&lly I from rhair provinces." • . ' In the senior championship matches on Saturday played at Chrißtohuroh, Linwood defeated Christchurch by 25 points to 3 points, [ and Sydenham were beaten by Kaiapoi by 10 poifl 1 ? 6 points. In the first match of the i tsecond round IVS^vivale won against Albion by I 29 points to nothing. ' • . •'' Offside," in fcue H&wera Post, in oommenfcing on the selection of the New Zealand team, says :— " The most sanguine of Tarantki footballers did uot wrpecb that we would bo so strongly represented. Six Taranski players in ths N«w Zealand team is indeed » proud position for <Ue provinco of bufcterland. Though iva feel proud of the poaitzon in having two mora representatives than any obh»r province, 1 ii is frankly admitted that Tftranaki haa gob more than hsr share of representation in fcha N«iw Zealand team. True, we are 'upsides' with any province in New Zealand, but are we twire as good as Otago ? Should we receive double the representation of Otago on past performances ? " I • . •In tny notes last week I ventured to point ! out the manifest; injustice of iaoludiog 1* ; North Island players in the New Zealand beam ; as against sis from the South Island, and I I remarked upon the disgraceful blunder perpetrated by the selectors in entirely ignoring the claim* of Soubhl»nd players. During the pa*fc week fche injustice has been aggravated. Korr, the Canterbury forward, having intimated hia inability to go to Australia, the Selection Committee wore afforded a chanoe of repairing iagome measure tha wrong they had done to Southland by giving a place in the team to Purdue or Murphy, bub instead they incrftasei* the over strong representation that Taranal previously had. The extraordinary absurdity has now been reached that in the New Zealand team of 20 there are three tiniss a<» many Nor bh Island representatives as there aye from this South Island. • . • It is not for me to suggest at the present stage what this undue representation of the North Island implies. I have in the past dona what I conceive to be my duby in pointing oub the danger of bolstering up a New Zealand union with its headquarters iv the North Island. Those who sat calmly by and lifted not a hand to prevent bhe mischief that waa being done arc now reaping that which they sowed. lam not by any means s\tisfied, however, that the Southland Union has pursued the right coarse in withdrawing its player* from candidature for places in the South Island team. The wiser course, I should think, would have been for the Southland Union to have assisted in leouring the full strength of the South Islaud, and have demonstrated in the inter-island match w'aat * blunder has been committed in the selection of bhe New Zealand team. • . • How will bhs North Island team be constituted V It was announced some time ago that the whole of the players chosen for the New Zealand te*in would play iv the interisland match. That beiog so, the selectora have landed the New Zealand Union in • a dilemma so far as bhe North Island team ia concerned. There are, as above pointed oufc, 15 North Islanders — a complete team — in the New Zealand representative team, and consequently it will not be necessary to choose any more men from the north for the inter-island match. But of those 15, 11 are forwards and only four are backs ! How the North Island team is to be disposed, under these circumstances, is by no means clear. The match almost promises to be a farce. • . • The weekly meeting of the committee ol tho Ofcago Rugby Union was held on Monday, and attended by Meßsrs Gallaway (president), Jowitt, Wilson, Campbell, Duncan, HHarriss s Issacs, Strong, Torrance, and Hutchison. A letter was read from the New Zealand Union, stating that in view of the letter from that body to the Otago Union, dated the 27th April, 1895 O

and written by the late secretary of the former union, and which bore the interpretation placed upon it by the Obago Union, the expenses to and from Wellington of the Otago members of the New Zealand team would be defrayed by the New Zealand Union, which body expressed surprise, however, at the undertaking contained in the letter referred to. The beleotors of the North Otago team were authorised to pick 16 players. Messrs Isaacs, Torranoe, and Duncan were appointed a sub-commitfcee to procura accommodation for the North and South Otago teams that are to visit Dunedin in the Diamond Jubilee week, and generally to make arrangements for the matches. Corresppudenoe was read from the New Zealand Uniorj, in reply to an inquiry from bhe 0.R.F.U., with regard to the documents forwarded Home in connection with the Canterbury-Ot igo appeal, and it was decided to ask the New Ze&l&nd Union for a copy of its covering letter to the English Union. The Kaikorai Club wrote claiming matches by default for its 6eoond team against the second Fifteens of the University and Danedin Clubs. the Zingari-Richmond Club wrote stating that it did not y«t see its way clear to fall in with the proposed settlement of the difficulty between it and the Kaikorai Club. Thereupon notice of motion was given for the next meeting of the committee — " That in the event of the Zingari-Richmond Olnb not seeing ita way to fall in with the arrangement proposed for a match with the Kaikorai, this committee resoind itsresolution of the 17th May and take no further action in the mttter." It was decided fthat unless all O.R.F.U. jerseys lent to members of last year's representative teams be returned to the custodian before Saturday nexb the committee will take proceedings to recover those not returned.