FOOTBALL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 3470, 25 July 1899, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

WAIHI PIEST v. TEMUKA FIRST. The senior cup match between the above teams came oil at Winchester on Thursdayafternoon. 'Die afternoon turned out fine, and, although the ground was rather greasy, the game proved fast and exciting, ! and resulted in a win for the visitors, after a hard-fought game. The Waihi men have jusG been presented by Mrs H. E. Smith with a beautiful banner. The banner was much admired by the visitors, being a beautiful piece of fancy work. The centre square is composed of blue silk, and has the name of the club beautifully marked in ■white silk letters, while the outer part is red silk. Mr Mcßobie, of Timaru, made an excellent referee, and Messrs 13. R. Macdonald and W. McCallnm mado vory efficient line umpires. The attendance was very large, and everyone enjoyed the game. Temuka kicked off, wfth the sun in their faces, and the ball was well returned. A free kick for Waihi and a pretty passing rush carried the ball into Temuka territory, when Lavery relieved his side by a fine ! long kick into touch. F. South next gained i a mark, from which P. Shallard made a I grand attempt at goal. Scrum-work followed, till A. Opie gained a mark, but no goal resulted. Temuka then forced down. Roddick kicked off, but, the ball «oing low, gained little ground, and Waihi gained a free kick well in reach of Temuka goal, foom which S. Clarke made a very fine attempt at goal. Up to this point Waihi had made all the play, but Temuka than had their innings. Temuka kicked off, but a poor return changed the play to the Waihi 25. A series of tough scrums then took place in the north-west corner, and Roddick was almost over the lino. Temuka continuing the attack, the ball was passed to Mendelson, who cleverly potted a goal—4 to 0. Mendelson eoon after gained a mark, and narrowly missed kicking another goal, and the first spell ended with Temuka 4 points, Waihi 0. In the second spell Waihi at once assumed the aggressive, and, from a line rush, (A. Macdonald got over the line rather easily, but foolishly attempted to run right behind, and in doing so let the ball slip out of his hands, and lost a certain 3 points and a possible 5 points. On resuming Waihi men made most determined efforts to score, but without success. Mendelson again showed up with a fine dodgy run, and several scrums took place in the centre of the ground. Roddick, who had been taking it easy, again put in some splendid play, and twice was just stopped in time, the collaring of A. South, the Waihi full-back, being particularly soiviceabkv The latter part of the game was of a very even character, the game being most keenly contested till time was called, but the score remained the same. For the winners Mendelson, Roddick, and Lavery were much the best, but none of the Waihi men were conspicuous, though all did their level best. PLEASANT POINT v. FAIRLIE. The return match between teams representing the Pleasant Point and Fairlie football clubs was played at Pleasant Point on their grounds on Thursday afternoon last. The day was fine and there were a goodly number of spectators present, fully 100 turning out to witness the contest. Owing to the recent rains, the ground was in rather a wet condition. It will be remembered that at ihe last match between these teams Fairlie had decidedly the best of it, but Pleasant Point determined to equalise matters on Thursday last, and they did so in a most creditable manner, beating Fairlie by 13 points to nil. Pleasant Point were the first to set the ball in motion, and soon had the ball hard down by their opponents'goal line, but Willoughby getting possession play was carried back to the centre of the field. Give-and-take play in neutral territory followed, until Todd claimed for Fairlie a free kick, but the attempt to register by Willoughby, though a good one, proved inadequate. After this the Point men worked vigourously, until Nile, getting the ball, made a splendid riuh, and being well backed up by his side, play was carried down to Fairlie's twenty-live, where it remained for some time, till CVoss got the ball into a safer position. The Point after this pressed their opponents hard, and finally got over Fairl e's goal line, but without scoring. Play again began in earnest, but it was not long befoi e the ball got over the touch lines, and from the line out the Poiut men passed splendidly one to another, first to Madden, and he in turn passed on to Amos, the latter making a grand rush, but meeting with a rebuff from the Fairlie men, had to surrender. After further even play, in which Amos, Meredith, Close. AVilloughby and Rogers were conspicuous, play was carried to the visitors' line, and a rush by the Point forwards caused Fairlie to force down. At this stage the referee's whistle sounded half time, neither side having scored. Just prior to this, one of the Point men, Hobbs, received a nasty kick, and this necessitate! their playing one man short the rest of the game. On resuming, Point returned to the attack, and after a lot of scrum work, pretty passing and forward rushes on both sides, Watkins, for Fairlie, succeeded in getting the ball, and made one of the best runs of the day, the Point backs only just succeeding in preventing his scoring. From this out Fairlie became aggressive, and after a good deal of play in neutral territory succeeded in getting the ball well down in their opponents' twentyfive, but Point always succee led in holding their own. Shortly after this the visitors were awarded a free kick, but AVilloughby failed to turn it to advantage. After further scrummaging Point were allowed a free kick for one of Fairlie's men picking the ball out of the scrum. The Point men now began to show their real metal, and after'some dribbling runs, short lushes, and scrums, the ball oftentimes getting over the touch lines, S. Meredith succeeded in getting over Fairlie's line and scoring the first try of the day, and Amos taking the kick succeeded in registering the major point. Point now had considerably the better of the play, and it was not long ere Nile succeeded in scoring another try, but Meredith's attempt to convert was a failure. Fairlie again pulled themselves together, and for the last five minutes, both sides played up hard, the Point finally getting over again, Parr scoring this time, and Nile taking the kick, another goal resulted. Shortly after (his time was called, Point thus winning as above stated. The.match was a really well fought contest. At one time it seemed as though the game was going to be without score on either side, and the scores put up by Plesant Point were registered only withiu the last ten minutes of the game. Perhaps the most prominent for Fairlie were Willoughby brothers, Caskey, Rogers, Nixon, Saunders, and Watkins, while for the Point Amos at three-quarter ; Madden at fiveeights ; llobbs at half ; the brother Meredith, Wigley, Parr, Nile, aud Cartwright in the forwards, each did good service. The match was played in good spirit throughout. Mr W. White carried the whistle, and proved an efficient referee: while Messrs Bowie and Carr were successful flag waggers. In the evening the visitors were entertained at a concert before leaving for home. Dr Thomas presided, and after a song by Mr Caro, " I happened to be there," the following toast list was gone through : " The Queen" proposed by the chairman. This was duly honoured, after which the ehairmau said he was very pleased to see so many young fellows coming down from Fairlie to play a friendly game of football at Plesant Point. As far as he could judge, the game had been carried out in a thoroughly sportsmanlike manner. He was certainly glad the Point boys had beaten them this time, or they might have begun to think too much of themselves. lie hoped these matches would continue, and that the two teams would keep up a friendly rivalry. Games such as these assisted materially in helping them to control their feelings, and besides this they were of great benefit to | them from a health point of view. lie was very pleased they had come down, and ad much pleasure in proposing the toast

of “ The Visitors.” The toast was drunk with musical honours. Mr Saunders then gave a recitation, in character, in splendid style, after which Mr 0. Cross responded on behalf of the Pairlie. He thanked the Pleasant Point team for the manner in which they had drunk their health, and said that the afternoon game had been a pleasant one; just as much so as when Pleasant Point visited Pairlie. He was very pleased they had started to play against Pleasant Point, although they had suffered a defeat that day, and hoped they would yet have many a friendly match with them. (Hear hear.) The genial chairman then announced a song by himself, and gave a humorous ditty,“The blue bot tles.” Mr Dalgleish next proposed “ Football.” He said they would all admit no doubt that it ivas the national game of New Zealand.and he was pleased to see that the Point knew how it was to bo played as well as other people. In Plossant Point they had material for a good many such matches, and ho hoped they would stick together and give the public many such treats. Mr Saunders (Pairlie) and Mr W. White (Pleasant Point) briefly replied. Mr Saunders said there was no doubt, but that the better team won, and they were all pleased with the way in which the game had been played. The referee was as fair and impartial as it was possible to be. Mr Nixon contributed another song and Mr White said a few words. In their previous match the Pairlie hacks had, by their smart rushes gained the day, but this time the positions were reversed. The Point forwards he thought had also excelled themselves that day. He would like to see those matches made an annual affair, for it was a class of recreation which went a long way in country places. The Pairlie boys had taken their beating in real good spirit, and he considered them wai'm hearted and good, gentlemanly fellows, in every way. (Hoar hear.) Mr Dalgloish sang “Dear Mother England” in splendid voice. Mr Cross proposed “ The 5 Pleasant Point Football Team,” couj)led with the name of Captain Amos. He said they were jolly good fellows in his opinion. He was glad to see so many spectators present at the match, and took it as a great compliment. Mr J. Acton gave the “ Long Shoreman” in good style, after which Captain Amos replied. After thanking the visitors for coupling his name with the toast ho said he had been looking forward to this match, for they wanted an opportunity to reverse the order of the last one. They “ went down” on that occasion, but this time tables were turned. They had never had a win before, and the people of the district rather looked down ou them ; hut now they might do something to encourage the sport. Ho thought the teams should play at least once more this season to decide the conqueror. Mr Carr, sang “ Sons of tho Sea” iu first-rate style. Kindred sports” was the next on the programme, coupled with the name of Mr Parr (tennis) and Mr Willoughby (cricket). Both gentlemen suitably responded, ho'dingthat sport had done much to make the British nation, what it is. The chairman sang “ Ring tho Bell, Watchman.” “ The Fourth Estate,” was toasted and replied to. Mr Nixon sang two songs, and Mr Acton a humorous ditty. “The Host and Hostess” was royally honoured and responded to by M r Dore. “ Auld Lang Syne” brought the proceedings to a close.

The Junior Flag match, 'Timaru v. Waihi 2nd was played at Timaru on Saturday. The Waihi team was rather a scratch one, while the Timaru put a fairly strong team on, and the result was tho defeat of the Waihi by Jib' points to nil. Mr F. Tasker acted as referee very impartially. CANTERBURY v. SOUTH CANTERBURY. The following are tho teams representing the above which will play a match at Christchureh on Thursday next: —South Canterbury—Pull-back, O'Malley ; threequarters, Purchas, Shirtcliffe, Orr ; half, Glondeuniug; five-eights, Blendelson ; forwards, Roddick, Pox, Dunn, Preslaud, Rattray/ITial, Hepburn, Wright, and Hobbs. Emergencies—Backs, Tasker, Thomas, and McKechnie ; forwards, F, Shallard, J. Moore, and i\ Opie. Of the selected men Mendelson, Glendening, and Dunn did not play against Canterbury in either of last year's matchos. Cauterbury-C. Burrell, S. Orchard, W. Balche, P. Menzies, H. Phillips, I). Fisher, C. Farquhar, H. Frost, Brunsden, B. Fanning, H. Driscoll, &. Evans, G. Bush, and P. O'Brien. The following teams will try conclusions at Geraldine on Thursday next:—Public school —Burke, McLean, Riordan, Hamilton, Evans, O'Brien, Ferguson, McCaskey, Groves, Sutherland, Boughton, Prouting, Bret, and Baughen. Geraldine—O'Malley, Taylor, Giinson, Fish, Blissett, McKechnie, Dunn, Clouston, Fyfe, Henderson (2), Canavan, Martin, Kennedy, and Lysaght. Bkisbanf, July 22. England hed the advent >ge of a etroiig wind in the first half, and after a hard half-hour'd fight Ayre-Smith ecored a try which Adamson failed to convert. In tho second half, contrary to expectation, England kept the garao entirely confined to the forwards despite Australia making desperate efforts to open it up, The local backs played badly and allowed the Englishmen to add to their score. The game ended—England 11 points, Australia 0.