Tag of War

Southland Times, Issue 19102, 20 July 1903, Page 2

Tag of War

Tile tUK-of-war contests arranged by tho T{ ail way Rowing Club Carnival Committee were docidMl in the Zoalandla Hall on Saturday evening, in ttlo presence of ft crowd of spectators.' The tirst pull was between the Writs. / and sstnr football teams. -the former wimung after v pull. lasting about a. minute. l x ho special match. BM\ Ouaids v. Railwayoien, . resulted in a win for the Hluff on the -first pull. There was considerable dissatisfaction nmong tho railway men, they claiming that they were not ready for the start. The -.mutch , however, was awarded' to tho Guards, who then offered to pull their opponents

"for fan." This was accepted; and the railway men, after a very short pull, took their opponents over the marK. As before, there was again an eloinent of dissatisfaction, the Blufl men loudly'accusing some of their opponents of, lying down on the batterie, but all rccrlunnation was stopped by the oillcer of the. Guards oidening them to " fall in," and a war cry drownod all other noises. The Pirates team then took their place against the Brits, aiid provided the most exciting contest of the evening. The HlactkS got a jump of about four fern on their opponents at the ".first strain, and for about 12 minutes the arari£;sw>iit backwards for about a foot. At "^imes the- Pirates were within a couple of inches of the mark, but the Brits responded in gnimo stylo, and delayed the end. With n last effort after a 15 minutes' pull, the Pirates secured the v4<>., tory, amid the excited cheers of their supporters. A most regrettable, feature of this contest was that at. least one spactaton, when tike umpire's baclc was turned, gave assist;ancer on the, rope to one of the teams, evidently preferring a victony without hortour to an honourable defeat. The bartons on which the various pulls were held weire found unsuitable, owing to the distance between Ohe rungs, the men being unable to seep back with any certainty of maintaining their footing. Mr J. A. Alitcb«U acted as referree, uncl Messrs McCrecJie and H. trajbraith lent valuable assistance as umpires. .