BY FULL BACK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 52

BY FULL BACK.

The latest Athletic* News to hand contains a reproduction of Nolan Fell, wing tlirei-quarter back for Scotland against Engi.aid. The ex-Otago cratfe, judging by his j.icture, lias filled out to an almost unrecognisable extent. Canterbury never took seriously to the Association game, nor did '"soccer" take seriously to Canterbury, and, after a struggle for a season or two, the players gave up the Association ghost. Now Christchurch is threatened with the "Australian" game, which booms principally in Victoria. Tom Costel'.o, who captained the New South Wa'.es team in several matches on the New Zealand tour, has this season retireri from active football. The work >A our senior as well a? that of cur junior referees is quite arduous enough without- being added to by the incessant back-talk of the players. The captain is there to look after the team's interests, and t-veu he ebouH not question the referee's decisions and discuss the rulings of the earrve at any time during the two 45min ■spells. Nothing looks worse than to see the skipper of a team tailing several yard? behind the pack discussing a point of law with the referee. Much gratuitous and well-meant advice is given from the touch line. A sample heard during the progress of the DuJiedin-Kai-korai match at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday, what time the referee was kept busy blowing his whistle for repeated infringements on both sides for not throwing the ball out straight from he line : '" 'Eave tho bloomin' ball out straight and give the referco a charnoe !" While fully recognising the arduous duties of referees iai controlling some of our Rugby matches ihe writer is of opinion that much of the work could be lessened and the game improved were the officials to promptly penalise when players intentionally lie on tho ball instead of waiting, as is invariably the oase, until two men with a ball underneath are join-pd by others and become a Ktruggling, writhing, squirming mass of human beings with arms and legs going like mill flails, and he has nerforoe x> blow his whistle for "danger." Stated at. the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union, in reference to financing the pronosed New Zealand team to England in 1904, th-at one gcmtleman in W-eMinjrton last year had promised assistance to the extent of £2000, and that th<=> offer no doubt still held good ; also that five assurances had come from Auckland that j there were plenty of offers there to give help without trenching on the rules of professionalism. Wic-kham, a clever New South W.tlcb I Rugby player well rememborpd by the laft ( New Zf-aland team which visited Sydney, and ! particularly so by two of its member.- — Duncan of Otago and Orchard of Canterbury — is this year captain of Western Suburbs. Finley. the plucky little scrum half who toured New Zealand with the last Now South Walot team, is playincr up to the I scrum for North Sydney. Others of th"> [ New South Wales combination rememberer! in New Zealand are; — A. Vercre, full back j for University ; H. Judd, forward for Newtown : Vie. Harris, five-eighths, and A. Burden, forward, for Globe. Peter Ward, who has gained, as a footballer, both name and fame in several parts of the world since he last played im Invercargill, was expected to make bis re-

appearance on the Union. Ground last week. The New South Wales Rugby Union, fiaicling that the insurance of players was coutinued last year at a heavy premium, and that the rilayers and secretaries of teams did not follow out the rules of tho insurance company's policy, proposes this year to establish a medical fund, and to endow it with £150 and 5 per cent, of ths gross receipts from all matches. The principal clause reads: — "The Managing Committee shall nominate doctors for each district, whose services must be availed of by an injured player. In cases of extreme urgency the services of any doctor may be availed of, but such cases must be at once notified to the hon. secretary of the union, together with the name of the doctor whose services have been requisitioned and .1 full ext/anation of the circumstances and injuries received." Dr A. X. Fell, of Edinburgh University, a Now Z-ealander by birth, played threequarters for Scotland in the International football match England v. Scotland at Richmond. The press reports of the match hay that, "thank* to his great pace, Fell wqf seen to advantage, acid once his speed saved Scotland when a score seemed almost certain." F&ll's fine running throughout earned great praise and did much towards Scotland's ultimate winning of the match. In reference to the event the Globe says: — "It has often been claimed by enthusiastic followers; of football that nothing more encourages tho excellent spirit of local patriotism than international games. The game between England amd Scotland on Saturday was a fine instance. All the four three-quarters on' the Scotch side — and who so proud of his country as the Scotsman? — came from the coloniss : Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. Diluted Scotch." Mr Mark Newsome, president of the English Rugby Union, ha 3 some trenchant things to say concerning the future of Rugby football in Yorkshire. The President said the way in which Jie Northern Union (professional) clubs got hold of players was not very orev.'table. They had in Yorkshire arrived at the conclusion that it was impossible in future to encourage the working man to play Rugby, and that they would have to rely upon the assistance of old public schoolboys, from, which they hoped in a short time to get together a side that would, as in the days of yore, give any other county a good fight. On dit that the Scottish Internationals, Fell, Timms, and West, may all end their Edinburgh University careers, and as Mark Morrison, the captain, talks of retiring there may be several changes next season in the Scottish fifteen — young though it is as a whole. So Arthur Parr has gone to his long rest, killed in an heroic attempt to save life at a Chicago fire, the papers tell us. To the present generation of local footballers, Arthur Parr was unknown (says an "Old Footballer" to P. N. Times), but tho.=e whose acquaintance with the Rugby game in this district dates baok 12 or 15 yeara will recognise the name of a dashing threequarter. Parr was a member of the splendid Feild:aig late eighties team. A quiet, unassuming fellow, a thorough sport, a staunch friend, Ihere will be many in this district to mourn his untimely end. At a meeting of the committee of the Canterbury Rushy Union a letter wao. received from the West Coast Union stating that they were endeavouring to arrango for a series of interprovincial matches, and a>kinpr whether the Canterbury Union would SMnd a team to play a return match if the West Coast Union rent a team to Christcl:urch. It was leckled to reply that it wculd be impossible to entertain the offer as far as the present year was concerned. I regret to chronicle that J. Matthewson, the popular captain of the Pirates senior team, who injured his knee in the finst match of the present season, will be unable to play football again. Matthewson ihas been a useful member of the Pirates' team for several seapon-s, and won representative honours in 1901. . Re the proposed New Zealand team's tour of Australia, it is unfortunate (says a Sydney writer) that but one match will be played against Australia, And I am sure when the date comes round there will be a good deal of disappointment amongst the public. When the New Zealanders wers here before their matches attracted very large crowds indeed. The climatic conditions of New Zealand render football the national game over there, and their best representative team would win the majority of matches against New South Wales and Queensland combined. Their appearance here will be eagerly looked forward to. The English Rugby Union is sending a team to South Africa this year, starting from England about June 20. To those members of the proposed team who have never been in South Africa, "Judex," in the Sportsman, vouches that they will have a delightful and interesting tour, for, now that the war is happily snded, South Africa is a place full of interest. The Rugby Union he considers must send out a thoroughly representative side, for Rugby foot/ball in South Africa is a national sport, and they can put a thundering good team in the field. The Villagers, near Capetown, and the Wanderers, at Johannesburg, are two clubs who could give a good same to — or even beat — our best Enjrlwh olubs. The last English team was beaten by South Africa when they played on the Capetown ground. At present we> are looking forward to the visit of the far-famed New Zealanders (says Sydney Referee) with keener antic i nations of delight than New Soutli Wales v. "Victoria at oricket stirs within our breast. Our friends across the sea are not our rivals at cricket; they hve scarcely reached the standard of our swhnmer3 ; in some ether sports they a.re not yet able to take The Kangaroo down from hia little pedestal. But in Rug-by football the New Zealander is an adept. There is some-thing in his drought'ess climate that encourages him t<> grow tall and bread and luii'y; ho h:i« nn inborn lovr> of ff-'WI, nivl particularly V football. On slushy grounds that seem impo-.-siblc to the quick-footed- Australian he i* a chnrnpinn. Fa eh of the last two Now Zoaland teams that came this way was beaten in Rvdney. as was al=o the combination of English. Irish Scotch, and Welshmen which tke Rev. M. Mullincux brought along four years ag-o. It is well to occa=ionally dwell on our snrcpfses. for, numerically small, they are bright, and the other side of the record sbow= soms sombre ihincrs. jo think of which is not on our programme just at present. The task our footballers have to face is to b^at Now Zealand. A bit imbibious ! Well, there is something to back up the r-mbition, for Australiaa Rug-by is improving in its ecicn-

tific side. It is incomparably higher-class in the matter of concentrated attack than it was at the time of any other visit of a team from New Zealand. Whether we have correspondingly improved in defence, or even maintained solidity in defence, is a question on which men differ, and only to be answered on the field this season.

Scotland haasjfinished up the season much better than even the nurat enthusiastic Scot anticipated a few months ago. and the transformation of the Wooden Spoon into the Triple Crown ha-s been a great achievement. Two year* ago Scotland gained the championship by reason of the excellence of her baok>3. Last year the championship team collapsed curiously, the fatal falling- off bring most pronounced among the forwards, Tlrs year new blood was freely introduced, and th-j selectors pinnod their faith to a stalwart, young, snd fiery pac-k that has not failed to respond to ;he highest expectation?.

It seems to bo a remarkable fact (says a writer in an exchange-) that there, are some points in Rugby football of which players and spectators a'Hke are ignorant. Perhaps one of the most important of these is a fair catch. The definition-laid down in the ruled is-: "A fair rat- oh. is a catch made direct from a kick or knock on or throw forward by one of the opposite side; the catcher must immediately claim the same by making a mark with his heel a.t the spot where. h» made the catch." In the circular letter addressed to referees and players by the International Board in September, 1.899, it is distinctly laid down — a fair catch can only b? claimed by the catcher making via mark after he has caught the ball — the mark, however, must be nadt- as scon after the ball is «uieht as possible : and in practice referee© might allow- a claim when the mark was simultaneously mad-? with the catching. What really does harjpen very often is a player about to 'atch the ball makes his irark first, and •rs.itclm? the ball afterwards. He is thp.n much surprised when the referee's whistle do*?s not round, and the spectators alike are down on the referee. A wellknown player the other day, having taken a penalty kick which was toitphed by one of the other side and went over the goal, claimed a scrum phould be formed at the place whore his opponent had touched the ball in its flisrht, on the .around that this constituted a pare or carry back over his own goal line. The rule is : "If a player shall wilfully kick, knock, or carry 'the ball back across hi<s own groal line," etc The referee very nroperlv disallowed the claim on the eround thiait iit was not wilfully done. These points, and scores of others would never crop u.n if players only studied the rule?, of which a great many have only th© flimsiest ideas.

To hand, from the ser-retary, a copy of the Canterbury Rugby Union's Annual for 1903. From cover to cover this little publication is in<terp°tm<r, and shows careful work on the part of the compiler. Against Dunedin on Saturday Duncan was doing three, men's work, and wris certainly receiving the knocking about which should have been spread over that number. When will players l^arn that to bring the. ball into- play from tihe outline by bouncing; it tihey must have both feet in the field of play when taking the ball. I notioed Churchill, of the Dunedin. on several occasions on Saturday bounce the ball and nnke off with it. having taken the leatiTer ■while one foot only was in play. He looked surprised when brought back. Stalker, the wing three-quarter of Dunedin. put plenty of power into his kicks against Kail-orai. and what was as much to the purpose, invariably found the line. Glnrinir breaches of the foot-up-in-the-srrum rule were committed by both Kaikarai and Dunedin. Some of the p'ayprs apparently did not realise that a free kick wa,= the penalty for this infringement, and the referee failing- to distin<ruisb the particular foot up, allowed many opportunities of penalising to pass

When a player is marking a ball, there is no decent reason why an opponent should rush tip and jostle the man or give him a vio-lcnt shov-e, as is frequently noticeable in some of our senior matches. Priest had occasion to caution Torrance, of Kaikorai, for th 19 unfair practice against Dunedin on Saturday.

S'lortlv after the start of the enme between Dunedin and Kaikorai on Saturday, Dunr-an and Te-esdale came into violent collision, with the result, that the veteran was completely stunned for a few moments. Only tough old warhorse-s like Duncan can stand some of the knocks received on the football field.

Both Spiers and J. Caradus were missing from tihe ranks of Zingnri on Saturday. The former had not recovered from the injury to his shoulder, received in t>h© match against Kaikorai the previous Saturday, and the latter was not feeling well. It is to be hoped both will be fit for nex' week's engagement. Local referees might fall in line with their confreres in England, who, when they have occasion to puni.~h a player severely, order him to stand on the boundary line instead of ordering him off the field aJtosjo-ther. Tn this way the puiblio is in-formed that the player has been guilty of misconduct, and it is said that having to stand in full view of the public has pre-vent-ed many a player from a.^nin offending. Unless a, player is altoeotlir.r devoid of «-hame, the effect of being publicly disgraced is far more beneficial t'ha-n comes from being ordered off the field altogether. But tho difficulty to the writer's mind appears to bo how to .get the disgraced ono to stand on tho line in full view of the public long enough to have the shame of it all enter his soul. A colonial penalised thus would first make a bee-line for the pavilion, dress himself quietly, and take up a position where he could enjoy the game bo the full without being in the least danger of identification.

IV Kelly, the px-We-JHngton representative, is this year pl-ayins; five-eighths for Graf ton. which club also claims e.vOtago player Sffibie Mackenzie.

Cunningham, the burly Aurklander who wns the northern representative team's look n';m last your, is now in the Upper Thames district, and will be unable to pay for City this vn'-on. M'Gurre, who played in several of lhe games last year, will fill the gap. - • (Jeorgo Smith, the Auckland crack t-hree-qm.rtor and hurdle champion, br>idcs retiring from the cinder path, has also made up his mind to trive up football. "Boin^fr" Row, who played a season of Rushy football in Wellington, and returned to New South Wales a couple of years or so ago. -where he played for North Sydney, has retirf-d from the game this season. It may be interesting to members of the various Referees' Associations throughout; Now Zea\ind to know they are not forgotten by their confreres of the whistle in Australia. At the recent annual dinner of the New

South Wales Referees' Association the toasf list- included, "The Referees' Associations of Australasia, South Africa-, and England." This toast was proposed by J. R. Henderson, who manag-ed the last New Soutli Wales team's tour through New Zealand.

Comber, one time of Milton (Otago), butl who of late years has been in Sydney, where he gained inter-State honours, has this year decided to retire from the game. For eovera Iseasons Comber wa6 Newtown's best forward.

Harold Judd, the finest forward in the New South Wales team which toured New Zealand two seasons ago, has resigned the captaincy .of New-town (Sydney) . Senior Fifteen.

Two New Zealanders, R. Glasson, a forward, and H. Oliphant, a wing three-quarter, are likely (says a Sydney paper) to be found playing for South Sydney this season.

The New Zealand Rugby team which is to visit New South Wales in July ■ will, in addition to other matches, play a combined t?am of Australia in Sydney. A combined team of Australia, practically means NewSouth Wales and Queensland, as the Rugby game is not played to any extent in Australia outside of these two States.

Arthur Cripps, who recently won the Middle-weight Boxing Championship of Australasia, ie a playing- member of the Glebe Rugby football team in Sydney.

Tho New South Wales Selection Committee consists of Messrs J. F. Maomanamey, H. D. Wood, and J. R. Henderson. The Metropolitan Selection Committee consists of Messrs James M'Mahon, I. O. O'Donnell, and Allan Scott.

A Wellington telegram states that in the senior football matches Poneke beat Old Boys by 15 points to 5 ; Melrose beat Oriental by 9 points to 4 ; Petone beat Athletic by 18 points to nil.

A Christchurch telegram states that in the senior football matches Linwood, with a goal, a potted goal, and two tries (15 points), beat Old Boys (nil); Sydenham drew with Christchurch, a goal from a try each ; Albion (three tries) beat Merivale (two tries) ; Lyttelton drew with Canterbury College (no score).

A Wellington ' correspondent- telegraphs that in the Association senior matches Queen's Park defeated St. John's by 1 goal to nil ; Swifts defeated Diamonds by 2 goals to 1. Both were fine srames. Rovers and Petone did not play.

A football match between the Waikouaiti Juniors and the Palmerston Star Club was piayed on Wednesday last at Waikouaiti. The Palmerston team, playing two men short, were overmatched from the start, and were eventually beaten by 18 points (six tries) to 3 points (a try). The Waikouaiti tries were scored by R. Wilson (2), D. Russell, W. Russell, J. Carbon, and W. Pebbles, none being converted ; and for Palmerston White was the only scorer. The Waikouaiti team played a good game, the best of them being J. Maxwell, Carson, and Russell among the backs, and Russell, Pebbles. Robins, and Hood among the forwards: and for Palmersron. Picket, Diack. and Young were about the best. Mr Bell was referee.

Although nothing is said in the report furnished, it is evident the Committee of the Otago Rugby Union could not decide on a single selector of teams, and a special' meeting of the union is called for Wednesday. 27th inst., to consider the question of reverting to the system of three selectors.