OTAGO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 43

OTAGO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

The annual meeting of the Otago Football Association was held at the Coffee Palace on Monday evening. Mr J. Wilson (vice-presi-dent) occupied the chair, and delegates from I all the clubs were" "present. Apologies were I received for the non-attendance of Messrs S. S. Myer3 (president), and J. M. Nicholson j i (lion, treasurer). - ; J The Chairman, in< moving the adoption of j i the annual report, which was taken as. read, said that the principal thing which the asso-" ciation v might congratulate itself upon was the formation of two new clubs during the past year. He thought that more clubs would have been formed were it not for the scarcity .of grounds. The inter-club matches had been I well, contested, and- the final tie for the charity matches was a particularly exciting game. He had never seen two more evenly matched teams, and the team that won richly deserved »the victory. — (Laughter and applause.) Certainly Ihe defeated team were not disgraced. The five aside tournament had also proved interesting, and, as stated in the report, was a fixture that was keenly looked forward to by players. Ho cordially endorsed the sentiment that the thanks of all players were due to the referees. Although he did not suggest "that players would be guilty of such a thing, when onlookers began to barrack referees the good men would soon drop out, and inferior referees would take their place. Of course, in a", sense, they were disappointed at the position their team filled .in the New Zealand tournament, but there was no doubt the. team did their host. From what he could- gatheiy- 1 j the day was . very 'unfit for. football-, and-ijt j was more like a swimming tournament than anything else. 'Under the circumstances he j did not blame the team for knocking off be- | fore the match was finished. He wfis glad ,to ! see that the association had a credit balance I of £8 in their funds, and "some idea of the ; i creditable manner in which the committee ! had managed the finances of the association i could be gathered from the fact that the year j »vas started with a debit balance of £10, and j during tho year a team was sent north. The i present financial methods of the committee I would have to be carefully maintained, for j the proposal to send a team to Auckland next year involved a serious outlay, j Mr Hiddleston (Roslyn Club) seconded the i motion.' . ' \ Mr Ross (Southern Club) cordially supported the motion for the adoption of the report. One factor which made for the inj creasing popularity of the game was the greater ■ attention which had, during the year, been i paid to the necessity of sending reports to the press. Mr G. M'Millan (Wakari Club) also supported the motion, and, in doing so, expressed the desirability of 'a referees' association being formed. The motion for the adoption of the report was then carried., Mr J. A. Uptsher (Ronlyn Club) moved — " That .owing to the absence in the existing rules of the Otago Football Association of any definition of the premiership, a special rule bearing upon that position be drawn up and included in the present rules." . Mr Hiddleston seconded the motion, which, •after a, short dkoussion, was lost. Mr A. Sligo, junr. (secretary),, moved — "That Banner rule 5 be altered to read: 'In tlie event of the final resulting in a draw, the teams will again meet on the following Saturday, unless the committee of the association shall decide otherwise.' The rest of the rule to read as usual." Mr M'Millan seconded the motion, which was carried. . Tho following office-bearers were then elected: — President, Mr S. S. Myers; vicepresidents, Messrs J. Wilson, G. M'Millan, J. Sparrow, and tho Rev. A. North; secretary, Mr A. Sligo, junr. ; treasurer, Mr C. Ross (Mr J. M. Nicolson declining re-elec-tion) ; committee, Messrs T. A&hton, W. G. Smith, M. Gilroy, R. Nagle, and J. A. Ussher; auditors, Messrs A. W. North and T. Scoular; delegate to the council of New Zealand Football Association, Mr P. D. Leslie (Wellington). It was decided that the association endorse all disqualifications imposed by the Otago Athletic Protection Society. It was decided to start the inter-club matches on the first Saturday in May. On the motion of -Mr T. Ashton (Southern Club) it was resolved that a letter of sympathy be sent to Mr P. M'Millan, who has been laid .-wide by illness for some considerable time. A vote of thanks to the press was carried on the motion of Mr Ross. A motion, moved by Mr Ashton, "that it be a recommendation to the committee that Banner matches should be commenced at once," was lost. jOn the motion of Mr Scoular (Mornington) a vote of thanks to Mr Nicolson (the retiring treasurer) was carried. A vote of thanks to the chair closed the meeting.

The body of the late Mr Patrick, who was drowned in the Molyneux at the Hartley and Riley dredge, was recovered between Clyde and Alexandra on Saturday by the crew of the Matau dredge. The funeral took place at Clyde on Sunday, 9lh*