FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2558, 25 March 1903, Page 50

FOOTBALL.

BY FULL BACK. The annual meeting of the Oiago Rugby Union will be held on Saturday • evexungi next, March 28. ' ' •„"'- v, rj,\;^- ;- • The Canterbury Rugby Union will''ho!cl their annual meeting on Friday, March 27. "Wallace will captain the Poneke (Wellington) Senior Fifteen this season. Roberta is not to be a player. The proposed tour of a New Zealand Rugby team to England is estimated roughly to cost about £2000. ■ P. Jacobs, the speedy .Southland . and .New Zealand three-quarter back at present in New Plymouth, is reported to be suffering from quinsy, 'and not likely to play- football this season. . ./ ..,''-.-. j j Several, proposed "alterations to" the*- rules" will' be? moved at the, 'annual meeting, of .the G.R.U.- with the "view of reducing-'the i exV penses of clubs to "the union; -. ..One proposal is* to, reduce the fees to., .the" union „f tornI.os 6d to 5s ier. delegate., also to, reduce the? fees under the insurance scheme.. Another, proposal is to reduce the size of the "Annual," lessening the cost of printing. W. A. Peterkin, 1 the old Rugby international forward, is accompanying Mr Edward Lloyd, the distinguished English tenor, who is coming out under engagement to J. C. Williamson to Australia and New Zealand. The executive of the English Rugby Union 'has issued, the following official rulings: (1) A player, thrown or knocked over is not necessarily , tackled " (see definition of j a tackle). To constitute a tackle a player' must be held. , .(2) A player running -at the ball may only charge shoulder to -shoulder an opponent also running at the ball. (3) A player from whose grasp the ball is snatched cannot claim that it has been held. The late Mr - Quintin Hogg, though a I Christian man, could find it in his heart to stand up , for the American football game*, which in England is described as brutal. Speaking at the Armour Institute, at Chicago, he said : "Bring me all your oases" of physical injury sustained from scrimmages on the -football field in the 1 United States. Pile up at my left hand all the! broken collarbones, fractured' limbs, and', sprained wrists that have resulted fronv gridiron' -xrimmages/and at' iny//right' -letme put -all • the ' bodily wrecks and physicaldegenerates that owe their' weakness- to nothing else -than lack ■ of -proper ' exeroise. ; I'll 'tell you- that your pile of ■ football in-^ juries 1 will' look \ like a •'molehill;'! 1 and' my. group of. weaklings will be* the 'mountain." ' * The annual report of the Merivale (Christchurch) Football Club/stated that the total; [ membership was 220 ; that in club matches' the teams failed to maintain the high, ''standard of ~ excellence, set them by teams in former years, .this, so far as the Seniors ' were concerned, being^due entirely to laxityand carelessness; that the club had moved into more sspacious rooms, which now contained a billiard, table, purchased at a cost of £93 12s; that 24- members were unfinancial, and that 75 new members had bee a elected during the season. The balancsheet showed the receipts (including a balance of £9 6s 9d from the previous season) to have been £297 5s 7d, and the expenditure £271 5s Id, leaving a credit balance of, £26 0s fed. The assets were £22+ 83 6d, and the liabilities £39 8s 4d. Young Bengal is displaying an almost wild enthusiasm for football. Cricket is absolutely thrown into the shade, and that in spite of Ranjitsinhji and his well-earned fame. Not only in Calcutta, but in provincial towns that can boast of a score or two of fashionable ..young men, football cjubs are springing up like ' mushrooms. Matches are played once or twice a week, and" they excite the greatest - interest^ in various circles of society — from the splendid courtyards and verandahs of princes and maharajahs to the loafers about the bazaars. The results of the matches- played by the Canadian Rugby team i» England work out as follows:— Matches 23, won 8, lost 13, drawn 2;. points scored— for 114-, against 243. A game played at Paris against the Racing Club de France , was lost. These" results, said Mr J.-8.-S.- M'Clure, ;the Canadians' -, captain, in conversation witlr^ an_ interviewer, were fully "satisfactory to his^men, especially when it was taken into considera- | tion that the English, game- is' so different' 1 from theirs.- ' In the 1 Canadian- game there are three half backs (here called three-quarr; 1 ters), pne., quarter back (here* called' half), land ten forwards, of whom only three go. into the scrimmages. It was mainly with the view of getting educated in the Englishgame that the tour was undertaken, and, with the undoubted superiority of the English, game now fully demonstrated to them, it only required a tour through Canada, by a good English team to convince the Cana--dian people of the fact. Then the English style would be at once adopted and international matches on level terms could be instituted. An English authority describes the Canadian Rugby footballers who were touring the Old Country when the last mail left as "a good team of 20 years ago suddenly ushered into the modern game. • Another writer remarks that the description is, ,vejy. , apt, and adds that the kicking and tackling, of the backs are of a very high olass, it being merely lack of knowledge that was losing them games. They have plenty of good football in them. _ It is understood that the majority of the members of the New Zealand Rugby, Union's Management Committee are m favour of the proposal of the English Union to postpone the tour of a New Zealand representative Rugby team to the Mother. Country till after season 1904-05. At the annual meeting of the Northern, Association Club, the election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows:— President, Mr H. J. Duncan; view presidents— Messrs O. Campbell, H. G. Siedc besrg, A. Dickson, J. Haynes, D. Murray* J. W. Roberts, J. Downes, J. Thomas, T. A. Maitland, and A. M'Lean; secretary and treasurer, Mr W. Utfcley; General Commaix tee— Messrs Haynes, W. Morrison, and Wi M'Lauchlan; Match Committee— Mmrs «« Reilly, R. B. Irvine, and the captain of th«| First Eleven; delegate* to the association— ' Messrs Ohadwick and Morrison ; delegate W the Sports Protection Association— Mr Wj TOtley; auditor"— Messrs H. G, Siedeber*.

Waimate has been appointed by the Trinity College of Music, London, as a centre of examinations in music, and an influential committee have bean, appointed, consisting: of the local Anglican, Roman Catholic, and. Presbyterian clergymen, and. <§Y« other centlNMA

The construction of the light on Jackson's Head has been completed (says the New Zealand Times), and the> Hinemoa returned to Wellington on Saturday morning. The new beacon will be lighted after due notification has beep, given to mariners— probably in about three weeks' time