FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Volume 16, Issue 2351, 16 March 1899, Page 36

FOOTBALL.

NOTES BY FORWARD. It would £oem that after all an English football team is to visit the Australian colonies this winter, but will not como to Dunedin. Unde. these circumstances the New South Wales Rugby Union has communicated with the New Zealand Union with a view to securing the inclusion of players from this colony in matches between England and Australia, which it is propoFod tc place on the programme for the tour of the visitors. Ido not think this suggestion is at all one that should be entertained. If the players whose names have been cabled are in the English team and the rest of the combination is made up of players of equal 01 nearly equal calibre, it will be an exceedingly strong team, and it will simply be courting defeat to pit against it a heterogeneous team composed partly of New South Welshmen, partly of Queenslanders, and partly of New Zealanders — a team in which there would be little or no combination. Far better would it be to pit representative teams from each colony against the Englishmen. The idea of playing an Australian team againtit. the team from England has an inviting sound about it, but the difficulties jn the way of selecting a really representative team are f-o great that I am convinced they cannot be satisfactorily surmounted, and the team when selected would in all probability have no cohesion about it. Moreover it would be a misnomer to call the team an Australian one. Necessarily there could be no players -from- the majority of the Australian colonies included in it because of their adherence to the Victorian game, and under theFe circumstances it would bo tiffectation to appb/ the title of Australian to the team, and it would certainly convey a wrong impression at Home. "What I think should be insisted upon by the district unions in this colony, to which the matter has been referred, is either that a New Zealand representative team should meet the Englishmen or nothing at all should be done. If the English team is to be as strong as there seems to be a likelihood that it will, the New South Wales Union would find it a thoroughly nrofitable enUrm-ise to ar-

range that a New Zealand team should visit Sydney to meet the Englishmen. The strength, of football on this side is fully appreciated in Sydney, and a genuine interest would attach to such a match. It would probably. be a more popular fixture than a match between a so-called Australian team and the Englishmen, and I am sure it would pay the New South Wales Union handsomely. It may be said that it would not be worth the while of the New South Wales Union to incur the expense of getting a New Zealand representative team over for the sake of one match with the possibility of the weather being so bad as to spoil the gate takings. The answer to that is that there is no reason why, the New Zealand team should not. play two matches against the Englishmen. It does seem to me that anything short of sending a complete team from this colony to play the invaders is not worth troubling about, and would be much better left alone.

The twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Dunedin Football Club, held at the Grand Hotel on- Thursday night, was attended by about 30 niembers. • Mr W. Mills (victpresident), in the unavoidable absence of Mr S. Solomon (president), occupied the chair, and in moving the adoption of the report, said he was sorry to . see ' the ' olub had a small debit balance, but he had no doubt ihey would soon succeed in wiping ie off. The position the Second Fifteen occupied might be improved, and to gain that end he counselled the committee to work up more enthusiasm among the young players. Officers were elected for next year a 8 follows: — President, Mr S. Solomon; vice-pre-sidents—Messrs C. Tilburn, W. Mills, and J. Blaney; secretary. Mi H. F. Sincock; treasurer, Mr J. Stables; committee— Messrs B. J. Finnegan, J. Williams, W. .Hay-Macken-zie, P. Mason, J. Dunn ; auditor," 1 Mr J. Dickson; Match Committee— captain and deputycaptain (to be elected by the First Fifteen), and Mr R. D. Isaacs; delegates to the Rugby Union — Messrs J. Isaacs and J. Williams; practice captain, Mr G. Stephenson. A cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr J. Dickson for his services to the club as secretary. Mr R. D. Isaacs was elected a Ufa member of the club. Twenty-one new members were elected.

The secretary of the New Zealand Union has received a letter from the secretary of the English Union stating that his committee had considered the appeal of the Wellington Union against the decision of the New Zealand Union in deciding that the referee ni the Canterbury- Wellington match last year was right in awarding the Southern team the free kick, from which they scored, their second goal, and it was of opinion that the referee had no alternative but to-rula as he did. The appeal was therefore dismissed. The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Union Football Club was held on the 9th. Mr S. Minn "occupied the chair^ and there was a good attendance. The balance sheet; showed the receipts for the year to be £50 18a lOd,- and the expenditure £45 2s, there being a credit balance of '£5 16a Iodr After the adoption of the repor.t Mr> Mirth va'eatett the'ehaif "in favour of Mr J. Hope. Tke following office-bearers .veer© elected for the ensuing year: — Resident, Dr Batchelor; vice - presidents, i Messrs J. . H. Chapman and J. Hope ; ■ treasurer, Mr H. Harris; committee — 1 Messrs S. Minn, J. M. Alexander, D. "M. j Munro. Mr Stalker, R. J. Stewart, and Jt H-. Stewart ; Match Committee. Messrs W. Beadle and C. Beeby; auditors, Messrs B. T. Ringer and H. H. S. While ; ' delegates to the 0.K.F.U., Messrs W. Beadle and S. Minn. As no one present would accept the position of secretary, Mr J. H. Stewart was ; elected to fill the position pro tern. On the motion of Mr Ringer, seconded ly Mr D. Munro, it was decided to instruct the delegates to the O.R.F.U. to move that the committee of the O.R.F.U. be requested to ask the New Zealand Union to have Mr W. Harris's disqualification removed. ' The matter for arranging foi the use of a gymnasium for training purposes _ wa« left in the hands of the General Committee. The Chairman presented Mr D. M. Murro with a gold Maltese cross, given by Mr Manley for the test forward in the learn last season, and also presented three handsome caps (given by Dr Batchelor) to Messrs W. Munro, W. Harris, and Gilchrist, who were considered by the Match Committee to be the most deserving players. The annual report of the New Zealand Rugby Union congratulates unions on their continued good offices in the direction of maintaining the present high status of the game and the promptness of unions in meting out puniphment to offending players and reporting them to this union for the purpose of making such punishment general throughout that colony.- The Appeal Committee, -which it was decided at the lastannual meeting of the council should he located in Wellington, is alsgt. congratulated on the good work it continues to perform. The committee considers thd new by-law in regard to the location of the committee is an excellent one, and in every respect an improvement on the old system of electing members living in different parts of the colony. The present system' enables the committee to meet together and discuss matters, and unions receive decisions on appeals submitted much quicker than formerly. The important alterations in the rules suggested by the Wellington Union are to come beford the meeting. Reference is made. to the visifa of the English team, which has fallen through co far as New Zealand is concerned, and the proposal to have the colony represented in matches with the visitors in New South Wales, upon which further infoimation will probabl/ be ready by the time of the annual meeting, which is fixed for April 22. The balance sheet Bhows a balance in the bank of £8 17s 3d, assets of over £15 19s 9d, and liabilities nil. ■, VISIT OF AN ENGLISH FOOTBALL *' TEAM. - ~ WELLINGTON, March 9. At a meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union a letter was read from the New South Wales Union stating that the visit of the Englirih team to Australia was not off. New South Wales was anxious that New Zealand should, - be represented in the matches England v. Australia, to be played at Sydney on August 5 and 12, and the match England v. Australia, which would take place at Brisbane on July 22, and New South Wales was willing to pay the expenses of representatives from NewZealand to attend the match and assist the joint committee of Queensland and New South Wales in selecting a team. The expenses of the New Zealand team would-be paid from the port of departure until return should the New Zealand Union decide to send a team. The committee decided to ask the ■various iiniona :—(1): — (1) Whether the proposals of the Now South Wales Union should bo accepted? (2) Whether a New Zealand team should be sent to Sydney to meet the Englishmen? (3) Whether New Zealand should be represented at all?

Electric lighting plant for the searchlight at the heads is under orders from WelKnsfcori lor Tiunaelit>