NOTES BY FULL BACK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 56

NOTES BY FULL BACK.

It is reported that two very prominent members of the New Zealand team now on its way to England have decided to take up their afcode in New South Wales on their return. Many telegrams of sympathy have been received m connection with the regrettable accident on Saturday last. The Canterbury Union wired regrets, and sincere wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Local footballers and enthusiasts will be' pleased to renew acquaintance with B. I. Swannell, " who was in Dunedin last year with the British team, and who is now a member of the Australian Rugby team at present in our midst. Other members of the Australian team whom, it will give pleasure to meet again are Mr J. Henderson (manager), H. Judd, and A, Burden, who visited Dunedin with the New South Wales team in- 1901. The referee in the Wellington-Australia match a couple of Saturdays ago recently stated that he had never been referee for a more friendly and sportsmanlike team Iban the Australians. In quite a casual manner a member of the Otago Rugby Union mentioned at the meeting on Monday night that for the match on Saturday, Australia v. New Zealand, someone might be told off to throw the ball back into the field of play when it -was kicked out of bounds over the heads of the spectators. During the visit of the New South Wales team of 1901 the practice of returning the ball promptly was not resorted to. It was in view of a similar happening on Saturday next that the Rugby Union official made the suggestion, which was accepted in all seriousness. Another member suggested that two balls might be used, whereat one of the managers of an Otago touring team rose up and scouted the idea of two balls, explaining that Otago lost an important match last year through the two-ball trick. Efforts were being mad© last week to arrange a match between a local Maori team and the Australian footballers for this (Wednesday) afternoon. A communication was sent to the New Zealand Union on the matter, but this was referred back to the manager of the Australian team-. Viewed in the light of a practice game before the New Zealand match on Saturday, the match against a local Maori team would be rather beneficial to< the visiting footballers.

On inquiry at the Hospital, just as we went to press, I learnt with deep regret that W. Bailey, who was injured in the Otago-Southland football match on Saturday, ""died during the evening.

Mr C. Graham, coroner. accompanied by Sub-inspector Green, Mr A. C. Hanlon "(representing the players on behalf of the 0.R.F.U.), and Mr Gallaway (representing Bailey's relatives) attended the Hospital on Saturday, and there the coroner took (-he man's depositions. He stated that he did not know exactly how the accident happened, but thought that ho must have fallen forward and turned a kind of somersault, some of the players falling on him*. He added that there was no rough play, and no blame was attachable to anyone.

Matters in connection with the selection of the New Zealand team to meet the Australians have apparently got delightfully mixed up north. A Wellington paper now states that Macpherson wiil play instead of Bennet as wing three-quarter! The general opinion prevailing amongst football&re and enthusiasts is that the selectors of the New Zealand team to meet Combined Australia on Saturday have not been blessed "with much wisdom in the selection of the rearguard. On Turtill's display in the match against Otago the Canterbury man is fortunate in being selected to fill the position of full back. After the glowing accounts received from, the north concerning Wrigley's prowess in the three-quarter line it was fully expected that the Wairarapa man would be on the wing of the line, but the selectors have, chosen, Wr.igl«y as

' one of the five-eighths, and this after ho has made his name as s wing three-quarter ! The inclusion of King- as a connecting 'ink for what is now practically en Otdgo threequarter line would give the team b..Uer comI bination on attack than under the present 1 construction of the back division. Biutoss, lof Southland, won his place 1 1 tho New Zealand team on his form aW-Mist the New Zealanders. bound for England, a few weeks ago, but on his display against Otago on Saturday last the tsourhtan jcr ;s; s r.ot worthy of inclusion. For the -akc of *be attack of the New Zeala-id te<un it is earnestly to be hoped that when the ball comes out of the scrum Bur<jo>s wiU scixl it out with some urgency to the men behind him. The forwards coukl not n-eil be improved upon, unless it be in the inclusion of Porteous, who has been playing splendid footbail ihis season. A correspondent writing to the football expert ot Sydney Keterce asks for his opinion as to the respective merits of xc Aute College team, which visited Sydney in 1903, and the Otago University te^iu which played in Sydney this season. The Sydney critic is 01 opinion that Te Aute wa& the better all-round team, which grts to show how tar below form Otago University played on the IS'cw South Wales tour. 'J he captain of the Australian Buajbj team at present in our midst is Mr fc. Wiekham, while Mr Harold Judd, who was the best all-round forward of the New South Wales team which toured New Zealand in 1901, is vice-captain. Mr J. Henderson, who was manager of the 1901 team, 1,5 acting in a similar capacity for ho present team. " One believes that no belter team from New South Wales has ever visited j\cw Zealand, and it is doubtful if any quite as good all-round has ever gone across. The best possible fifteen will be a difficult side to defeat, for they have now worked up very good combination." The foregoing is a Sydney appreciation of the Australian Ilugby team which meets New Zealand on Saturday. As the Australians will have a week between the Canterbury and New Zealand matches, their prospects of defeating New Zealand are brighter (says Sydney Referee) than they were in former years when the matches were played on New Zealand soil. "Wellington has seen enough of Wrigley, the Wairarapa three-quarter, 10 gain a colossal disrespect for the New Zc<i!and selectors. Any body of selectors that i.culd pick Booth of Otago to represent the colony and leave Wrigley out of the team either has no more judgment than could be found with a microscope or there wa3 a regrettable ignorance of the merits of the various first-class players in the colony." Which all goes to show that the Wellington scribe who penned the foregoing- means j well, but doesn't know — that is, he doesn't know anything about Booth when he selects the Otago man as a target for his jibe. There are others in the back division of ! tho New Zealand team for England who have considerably less claims than the Otago player. A.prortos of Wrigley's selection as fiveexerhths 111 the New Zealand team, a Wairarapa correspondent in a Wellington paper says some trenchant things. Amongst others, that the ways of selectors (especially New Zealand selectors) are strange. That Wrigley should be asked to fill the bill at five-eighths for the New Zealand team against Australia is at once curious and amusing. He has played in Masterton for the last half decade or so, and has never been deemed good enough to oust the Wairarapa men from this position. Yet on his first appearance in a New Zealand combination he is preferred to all other five-eighths in the colony. Who should know Wrigley's qualifications better than the Wairarapa selectors? As a wing three-quarter he is well worthy of selection. ! Ihese experiments on ihe part of Messrs Fache and Co. expose a lamentable want of judgment with regard to playing men in their right positions, and makes one think that the sooner capable selectors are unearthed the better for the game. It appears to us that the selectors feel that they owe an apology to Wrigley for not ascertaining his qualifications prior to the do- | parture of the New Zealand louring team. The defeat of the Wellington reps, by the Auckland touring team on Saturday last certainly camo as a surprise to local supporters of the Rugby code, wires my Auckland correspondent. With six of our best forwards on their way to the Old Country with tho New Zealand team and a marked scarcity of backs up to representative form we were inclined to view the chances of our men winning back the Ranfurly Shield as extremely remote, especially as Wellingron papers invariably referred to their forwards as a clashing, weighty lot, and quite the best front division that had represented the province for some seasons past. Our own forwards j were of course known to bo a pretty solid lot, capable of giving a decent account of themselves when ihe honour of Auckland was involved ; but it was hardly expected that they would hold their end tip against a pack that had been described as quite equal to the New Zealand team's front division ; and on a day when the game was confined so largely to forward play as was the case in tho match on Saturday, according to private advices. It, however, seems they were quite equal to the Wellington men in all departments, and got possession of the ball much more frequently than their opponents. Kiernan (our serum half — who should have been in the New Zealand team to meet the Australians) played a magnificent game ; while tho result goes to show that our forwards are a bit better than we were inclined to give them credit for being. I must say that I have also come to the conclusion that the Wellington pack of 1905 has been over-rated, and that it falls far short of being equal to the division now on the way to England with our rep. team. I hope that I will ' not be accused of reviewing the situation through Auckland glasses, but may state that I am satisfied that the selectors of the New Zealand team to play the Australians next Saturday at Dunedin made an error in overlooking W. Tyler, of Auckland. His play this season as wingforward has on the whole been better than that shown by D. Gallagher (now on his way to England), and I don't think that his superior in this particular position can to-day be found in any part of the colony. Had the selectors seen him play a game or two, Tyler would most certainly have found a place. Footballers in Newcastle and Sydney cannot understand why P. Walsh was omitted from the Australian team for New Zealand. At Newcastle there is much indignation, and the Northern Union has written to the N.S.W t Union asking for an explaua-

| tion regarding the omission of Walsh. In some quarters the opinion is held ihafc 15 is not want of form that has kept him out , of tbo team. ' "Old Forward" writes to a Sydney paper thusly :—"I: — "I was one of 15.000 'loafers' who patronised the recent football matches. It struck me that in the modern style of play the three-quarters are so much hampered I with theory and rules that they are afraid ] to have a try to do anything on their own I account. In the first New Zealand match I our three-quarter players were simply afraid Ito originate anything. When they got the I ball they seemed terrified lost they should do something wrong, and they at once either kicked out of bounds or threw the ball away. • In the second match there was a great improvement. Last Saturday's play ajrainst Queensland was so one-sided that our men seemed to be invincible ; but though toy won so easily, the three-quarters, with the exception of Wiekham, seemed afraid to try to pass an opponent, and the moment they met an adversary they threw the ball away. In the days when Stoddart brought an English team out, that great player, ones he got the ball, used to use every effort to gain ground. If a couple of men confronted him he would either go roudn, through, or over them. When Abbott and Colquhoun were the bright particular stars of local Rugby they used not to be afraid to do a bit of running. Golouhoun would dodge and wriggle through a mass of opponents, while Abbott would go bumping his way down the field. Two such players on the N.S.W. side on Saturday would have added 40 points to the sccr-e, as our forwards are spl-endid. The only survivor of the old stylo of threequarter is Wiekham, and his dodging on Saturday was a treat to witness." A lot has been written and said about the outcry against rough play in Wellington (says "Touchline," the well-known Wellington writer), and the watch being kept against the same by the referees, with the intention of proving that such measures are taking the sting out of our forwards' play, and the vim and 'lash always associated with Wellington football would be missing when the representative matches came round. But it was all claptrap. It is many a long day sine© a Wellington representative forward team has shown to such advantage as in the matches played so far this season. True, the whole of the set are just now at the top of their form, Lut, ail the same, they can all play a hard and. willing game without recourse to underhand tricks. And if the "Kugby Hough" tirade has done this ie lias served its purpose well. A Palmerston North telegram states that Manawatu defeated the Bush Union team by 20 points to 8. the Bush team being outclassed at all points. Our Wellington correspondent reports that 1-ee-r was discussed at some length by the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Union last week. At a recent meeting it was decided that beer would not be brought in at local football dinners. The resolution was rescinded on Thursday i night, when it was decided that one toast should be honoured with beer. The general tone of the iaceting was that beer should not be supplied in quantity, but there was no reason why a man should not have a glass of ale with his dinner if he chose to. One speaker, who has been in touch with the Australian team since it arrived here, stated that both the manager and trainer of the visiting Australian team are setting their faces against smoke- concerts, etc., in. the south. A Sydney cable states that the soccer football nremiership was won by the SydneyClub. " The usual weekly meeting of the Otago Rugby Union was held on Alonday evening. Before the business of the meeting was entered upon, the Chairman made touching reference to the regrettable accident which occurred to an Otago player on Saturday last. Telegrams of sympathy were read from the Canterbury Rugby Union and from the Auckland representative team. The- Secretary of the New Zealand Union, wrote, in reply to a communication forwarded to the controlling body by the Otago Union in. respect io the replacing of injured players, to the effect that with regard to the matches in Australia in which the New Zealand team, was engaged there was an express existing agreement . that an injured player could be replaced. The New Zealand Union did not sanction an agreement after the English Rugby Union's ruling had been obtained. The agreement was entered into at a conference held in Sydney in February, 1902. An arrangement has been entered into with the manager of the Australian team that no injured player is to be replaced during Ihe prest-nt New Zealand tour. — The letter was received. The- Secretary of the Southland Rugby Union wrote advising that the schools' representatives to meet a team from, the Olajro schools on Saturday. September 2, would leave Invercargill for Dtmedin by the first express on Friday, September 1. In connection with the dispute between the Alexandra and Upper Clutha Clubs as to where the final match for the Goldfields Banner is to be played, it was decided that the match be played at Cromwell. The sub-committee's report in re the purchase of Forbury Park was discussed in committee. The Secretary of the Union Football Club wrote advising that the members of the Albion Football Club of Gore were coming into town on Saturday next to witness tho match Australia v. New Zealand, and that while in town the Albion team was anxious to play a match against the Union Second Fifteen on the- morning of the match. The Tokomairiro Second also desired to play the Union Third on the morning of the Austra-lian-New Zealand match. — Resolved that permission be granted for the matches to be played — one match to be played on Tahuna Park and the other on a ground to be arranged. A letter was read from the secretary of the St. Bathans Olub advising- that in the match between Cambrians and St. Bathans, played at Cambrians on Saturday, August 19, a player in the Cambrians team named Edward Kinny was ordered off the field by the referee for striking a St. Bat&ans' player named Frank Pyle in tha face.— The/ report of the referee (Mr R. _F. Foster) in connection with the foregoing was to' the effect that he ordered Kinny off the field for striking Pyle in. the face with his fist, causing the latter player to bleed ati the nose. Kinny accused Pyle of having struck him fir&t, but- Pyle denied th© accusation. The referee reported that there was a good deal of feeling in the game.— Kinny attended in person, and explained the circumstances at considerable length, pleading provocation. — After heai*« ing Kinny 's statement the committee resolved that the case be adjourned until this (Tuesday) evening, the referee a* l^ +-' ; a> player to be present..

Mr A. Dey was appointed manager of the Otago team to play North Otago at Oarnaru on Thursday. In connection witli the request for expenses for the inter-county match Vincent v. Maniototo, it was decided to grant £10 towards expenses.