League Season Closing

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 150, 15 September 1927, Page 8

League Season Closing

ROOPE ROOSTER FINAL THIS WEEK A Word in Season

WITH the League Rugby season in Auckland drawing to a close, interest attaches to the final of the Roope Rooster next Saturday between Devonport and Richmond. On the following Saturday the inter-island match will be played at Auckland.

Reminiscences of the short but varied history of the League code in New Zealand are darkened in patches by the unsportsmanlike action of players whose disloyalty toward both the controlling body and their club has thrown a stigma on one of the fastest, open, and sporting types of football, played. But this was yesteryear. * * * To-day in Auckland, which is the headquarters of the League game in New Zealand, the code has an exceptionally firm hold and it would be safe to say that in this city it claims more reguilar fans than any other code. The season about to close has been a bumper one and it therefore appears that the controlling body has been successful in erasing the reproach of last season’s trouble. To do this it did not make any attempt to excuse the discreditable state of, affairs which had arisen, but made a clean sweep of those' who had so brought discredit on the code. Furthermore, reliance was put on the individual player now on the field to play the game and play it clean. AN UNPLEASANT INCIDENT So far this season, excepting one or two sporadic outbreaks of violence, which, of course, may be seen on the playing fields of any code, the fans at Carlaw Park have been treated to a season of comparatively clean football. But to pick a fight in open field, and to have men on both sides chipping in, presents a situation which is scarcely pleasant. The player has to realise that the clean game is always better to watch and play than a dirty one. There may be an odd spectator or two who puts his money down at the turnstile to see one man intentionally whack another in the eye. But they are mighty few. That form of amusement is not suited to any football field and first-class fighters can always be seen at a reasonable price.. A club which works on the right lines will not be troubled long with the player who is alv/ays getting into a fight. Coaches and selectors can do a lot in keeping the game clean. NOT WANTED It would be a good thing if those players who are fond if displaying their pugilistic prowess on the field were prevented from playing again, as they are the men of the wrong temperament. Football is not a parlour game and players have to lea.rn to give and take hard knocks. The player who cannot take a hard bump without trying to strike or kick his opponent, is unsuited to the game and the sooner the selectors leave him out of their teams the better for all concerned. Furthermore, if he is always looking for an opponent to punch or kick, he is not going to improve his game, and the sooner the selectors leave him out of their teams the better for all concerned. * * * All this is not exactly dedicated to those players who went over the mark in the big game at Carlaw Park last Saturday, but merely a reminder to them that if they consider themselves worthy of a place in any senior team they should at least play the game. Further than that, it is up to referees to keep a firm hand on the games. It it difficult to understand how both referee and linesman could have missed last Saturday’s incident on the field, and it makes it all the clearer the necessity for the officials in charge to be on the qui vive, and to take im-

mediate action to stop this sort of thing as soon as it occurs. Delgrosso Should Be Closer In Degrosso, Grey and Usher are undoubtedly Ponsonby’s strongest backs, and yet on Saturday in the big clash against Devonport they were found as far out in the rearguard line as possible. The selectors must have been snoozing when they allowed the team to go on the field in that order. Shore found the weak point in the Ponies’ inside backs, and this is where it broke through into the open time, and time again. * * • Ponsonby have had a shade of stiff luck this season. It has been run-ners-up in the senior championship, the first juniors and the third grade. Its only hope of annexing a League trophy thiis year is left to its first juniors, who are in a sudden death knock-out competition. RICHMOND’S ILL-LUCK

Richmond made a name for itself last Saturday, when it defeated Marist. but during the game Dixon, one of its wide-awake forwards, was badly knocked about the face, and it is not

likely that he will be ready to take the field next Saturday against Shore. Another useful forward, Carroll, is also on the sick list. He is in the hospital suffering from an abscess caused by a kick on the back during a game a week or two ago. He has had a couple of operations already, and it is expected that he will be discharged from the institution any day now. In the West Coast the League game was commenced in 1918, with only three teams. To-day there are 34, and a number of schools have also taken up the code. Buller has only recently gone over to the 13-aside code. * * * WELLINGTON’S CHALLENGE Should A.uckland retain possession of the Northern Union Challenge Cup, at the conclusion of its South Island tour, Wellington intends making a bid for the trophy on Wednesday, September 21. However, the code in the Capital City is not so very strong, and once Auckland succeeds in bringing the cup out of the South it is not. likely that it is going to lose it in any North Island match. * * * The captain of the Auckland League representatives, which are at present on tour in the South, is M. Wetherill, and J. O’Brien is vice-captain. The selection committee consists of these two players and the manager, Mr. Mincham, who get their heads together and do all their choosing while .they are on the road. At present Devonport can see no reason tvhy it will not be fielding the same team next Saturday against Richmond in the final as it did against the Ponies last week. All the Shore players are very fit, and with the addition of their ex-Rugby players, Holmes, Simmonds and Rhodes, its chances of winning the Roope Rooster are very bright, although Richmond, last year’s winners, will give the men from across the harbour a big tussle.