THE SOUTH AFRICAN FOOTBALLERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10818, 10 November 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE SOUTH AFRIC AN FOOTBALLERS.

VICTORIOUS TOUR OF THE "SPRINGBOKS." LONDON, Sept. 22. The South African footballers now touring England are likely to be known as "The Springboks." The newspapers have already seized on the name from the fact that a .springbok — a small African antelope — is embroidered on each of the visitors' myrtle-green jereeys. Thanks to the "All Blacks' " triumphal progress of last year, the South Atricans have arrived m (juite a blaze of reflected glory. The president of the English Rugby Union and a corps of newspaper correspondents journeyed down to Southampton to meet them, and each of the London papers has since devoted about a column a day to their doings, even though they have attempted nothing more exciting than an exercise spin at Richmond. The South Africans themselves are commendably modest, and do not expect to come near the amazing record of the "All Blacks." But they consider they have a good team, and they confidently hope to win more matches than they lose. Physically they are a fine lot of men. The average weight of the backs is 11.12, and of the forwards 13.5. No fewer than six of the forwards are six feet or more m height, and eight more of the team are within an inch of the six-feet standard. The youngest man is twenty, and the eldest twenty-eight. Their scrum formation and their game generally are on English lines rather than New Zealand. They pack eight men m the scrum, and use two scrum-halves; the wing- forward and five-eighths find no place m their system. This would seem to indicate that their game is not so highly developed as that of the "All Blacks." Like the New Zealanders, the "Springboks" have a wild and weird war cry, calculated to terrorise the unaccustomed English ear. The origin of this call seems to be doubtful, and several members of the visiting team give different versions. It is said to be a hunting cry of the Hottentots; but another version, and one which most of the team support, is that it is pure Zulu, and is a battle cry. Owing to the fact that it is m any case the cry of an uncivilised race, it is almost impossible to write this war cry down m English; but Hirsch, who gave the Zulu version to a reporter, spelt it as follows : — Ghee Gammilio Gshee Ghee Gammilio Gshee Ghee Gammilio Gshee Wah. In explanation of this cry, the old Light Blue said : "When they rush into battle, Zulu etiquette does not allow their* warriors to mention the name of the man to be slain. However, as soon as the attacking party set eyes on the wretched victim the leader shouts. out 'Gammilio,' which means 'that is his name,' at the same time pointing to the victim with his spear, and thus the difficulty is overcome. The 'gshse' is meant to describe the hiss or whizz of the spear as it flies through the air." There is no official spelling of this word, but, just like the English words "gallop" and "click," it is an onomatopoeic word ; that is to say, one which is meant to graphically represent the round it describes. As New Zealand footballers are likely to follow the progress of the South Africans with some interest, m order to compare their record with the "All Blacks," I append the names of the team and a list of their fixtures :—

— f Average 13 5 The rest of their fixtures are : — November 13. — Harwich, South Scotland. November 17. — Glasgow Scotland. November 20. — Aberdeen, North Scotland. November 24. — Belfast, Ireland. November 28. — Dublin University. December 1. — Swansea, Wales. December 8. — London, England. December 12. — Manchester, Lancashire.

December 15. — Carlisle, Cumberland. December 19. — Richmond, Surrey. December 22. — Redruth, Cornwall. December 26. — Newport, Monmouth County. December 29. — Llanelly, Llanelly. January I.— Cardiff, Cardiff.

W. A. Burger ... 22 5 11£ 14 0 D. Brookes ... 23 6 1 12 12 W. A. Neill ... 23 5 9 12 7 H. J. Daneell ... 6 0 13 0 P; A. Le Roux ... 21 5 101 13 10 D. J. Brink ... 22 6 2 13 3 W. C. Marthese ... 28 5 9 12 0 J. W. E. Raaff ... 27 6 3 13 8 W. S. Morkel ... 26 '5 11 12 7 H. G. Reid ... 23 6 2 14 6 P. Roos 28 5 11 13 2 W. A- Millar ... 22 5 10§ 14 4 A. F. Burdett ... 25 5 10£ 13 10

, — Backs. —

Height. Weight. Age. It. m. St. lb. A. Bunneister ... 21 511 13 6 A. P. Marsburg ... 25 6 0 13 4 J. D. Krige ... 27 5 8 10 10 H. A. De Villiers 23 5 9± 12 0 A. Stegmann ... 22 511 12 7 J. Loubser ... 22 5 8 11 10 J. Le Roux ... 25 5 11 12 ' 6 A. Morkel ... 24 510 12 8 S. C. De Meiker ... 22 5 7 10 10 J. G. Hiisch ... 23 5 11 13 0 H. W. Carolin ... 26 510 11 10 F. Dobbin ... 27 5 5 11 3 D. C. Jackson ... 21 5 11* 11 9 D. Mara .... 21 5 9 13 0 Average ... ... ... 11 12

— Forwards. — ,