FOOTBALL IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Daily News, 16 March 1928, Page 9

FOOTBALL IN NEW ZEALAND

MORE ABANDON NEEDED. Wellington, Monday. “After a year in England I am quite satisfied that we, in New Zealand, are taking our Rugby too seriously. After all, it is only a game and th© purpose of a game is relaxation, exercise and the provision of fresh air,” said a prominent New Zealand sportsman who has just returned from a world tour to-day. “We need more abandon in our playing of the game, higher spirits, perhaps more risk taking.' Above all, we need to make it clear that when w© walk upon the field we are there for the fun of the thing. It is, of course, the penalty of the good player that he comes to take his sport more and more seriously. Perhaps the best thing that could be hoped for is that our standard of Rugby would fall for a season or two.

“I say this because I hav© found after my visit to England that the All Black team which we sent there in 1924 is anything but popular. I am told that the English Rugby Union mad© greater profits from the recent tour the ‘Waratahs’ than from th© visit of the All Blacks, whose methods were considered to be of greater perfection. I am not surprised, for th© personal popularity of the ‘Waratahs’ was such that the English crowds were always glad to see them win. In 1924 they went to the New Zealanders’ matches hoping to see the All Blacks beaten. That was the difference. “It may be that our men won too many matches, and those at one-sided scores. But a greater factor, I found, was the demeanour of our footballers on the field. They have the name for technical perfection, strategy, solid defence, but when the name of the All Blacks is mentioned at Home the Englishman thinks of two things: Grimnes© and implacability. These ar© not qualities which make for popularity. “Nothing could be greater than the contrast which I found between the reputation of our footballers and that of our cricket team. And that difference, I am convinced, was because our cricket team played its matches ae if it enjoyed them. The New Zealand batsmen have become proverbial at Home for dash and enterprise, and the whole attitude of our men, following on the heels of th© last Australian team to tour England, made a great impression. It has been said of them in the Old Country that they taught England what she had forgotten, that cricket was a game to be won or lost. And since that visit there have been more outright wins in English county cricket than ever before. "It is' regrettable that our first visit to England for 20 years should have resulted in our footballers being remarkably only for austerity and determination. These are not popular traits, and to draw Motherland and Dominion together we need not only mutual respect and mutual liking. Nowhere is this to be gained mor© than on the field of sport. Therefore I returned determined to make a plea to New Zealanderr to play the game for the game’s sake. It may be bad tactics on the part of a team which ha© forged ahead in the last few minutes to throw the ball about and take risks, but it is certainly more sporting. Let us remember, then, that to provide the opportunity to b« sporting is what sport was designed for.”