THE FOOTBALL FIELD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7800, 3 September 1903, Page 1

THE FOOTBALL FIELD.

NOTES. (By QUIDNUNC.) In spite of 'the wretched weather and the muddy, slippery ground, the meeting k>f the Old Boys of Nelson College and , Christchurch High School teams" provided gomf interesting' play; and' 'it was "anybody's game" up till r the calj of. time, though.Nelsoni bad somewhat the best of the play at the Tattier end ofHhe game. 'It 'was only •to.be expected that there would be, an absence of .combination in- the .visiting team, seeing that- they had noVhad' a game together, the side Wng comprised of residents in Nelson, Wellington and Christchurch. In spite of this drawback, however, some good concerted work was" pub,- in by the Old Collegians, aridHheir forwards proved more than equal to folding their own with the school vanguard. This . was more especially noticeable in the loose work, «their dribbling at times giving their opporjents considerable trouble, Mules, > Cook * and Adams continually showing up. Their backs did sot attempt, rauoh- passing, but kicked high and trusted to their pace tQ re- - tain the advantage thus gained. The High 5 School^ team followed their' usual- style 1 of play," and, in spite, of .the greasy, state of the , ball,' t-hoir backs gave edme really good exhibitions of passing and' straight running. Their forwards did oniy moderately : wefi, and the heavy ground coon made them want 1 of form very apparent i" The game, was very evenly contested,' as the score* show, but the local team would ..probably have' done much better on a -dry' 1 ground,' judging from the success which attended • the efforts of their, blacks. Stuckeyjwas' the most prominent of the Nelson- backs, ; and his kicking and fast following up gain-' ed a lot of ground for his side. . Moyes, too, played a serviceable game, while the other three-quarter, Fell, played with more confidence than usual. The five-eighths, Smith, played a sterling game, and would, I think, have shown to still greater, advantage oh a dry ground.' Edmonson^showed : good defence, and initiated what few passing rushes were indulged in by the team, but they were not numerous. The forwards' were a sturdy lot, those mentioned earlier? being the.most prominent, Levein being also noticeable by good work in the s>crum. Bain, the High School full-back, got through" a good '^afternoon' s wofk»with credit, his mistakes being very- few. Lawrence was doing r well until his injury -compelled him to retire, when Pratt filled his place with%air success. ' Maude was very erratic in taking the ball, but his defence: was sound, and the run which gained him his try in the s>econd spell was a fine effort. J. Guthrie is not seen 'to advantage on a heavy ground, but, nevertheless,_he put in some good- runs,- while Deans played his usual solid" game. P. Byrne showed once more his claim to be ranked equal with thebest. half-back here both in attack and defeitee. v . Appleby was the one wing forward in the local team, and he certainly played his best game of the season, while M'Lennan, Buchanan, J. Deans and Guth-. rie wtfrc responsible for good forward work -.The finst of the school matches, Wan ganui Collegiate School v. Christ's College,provided a very interesting game, and \\y to the last minute the issue was in doubt The visitors had the advantage in weight, averaging about 31b heavier per man in the forwards, bait the- Christ's „ College boy? more tßTan made up the difference by their . Jy.a fdnvard game, and the" Ideal boys had the better of it. 'What they lacked, how- ! ever, -"was scoring ability. The Wamganui I forwards had fewer cliances than their opponerits, but they showed how much they knew by snapping up three chances am scoring fairly easily. The local • forwards worked like Trojans, doing very well indeed in the second spell, but once or twice they lost possible points simply through want of knowledge. In the back department : both teams showed first-class defence, and i there was little to chose between them in rthis, respect. Their attacking work was .hampered by the wet ball and the greasy ground, but both teams went in for some good passing, i The College boys made more mistakes than their opponents, because they got the ball oftener aad tried to pass oftener. The chief fault in their work was that several threw the ball away when collared instead of passing it to the next man. Many, of the visitors' attempts at passing were entirely spoilt by the five-eightus, Johnson, who persisted in hanging on to the ball instead of giving a very good three-quarter line a chance. Johnson is very ,i>ig and powerful for a school-boy, but size and weight gave him no license to run through the opposing team, and it was unfortunate that he thought they did. Beetham played a safe game at full fon the visitors, kicking extremely well. E. Riddiford was the best of the three-quarters, and made a couple of dashing runs. t3f the forwards, Hanmer, R. Ridddford and Potts were the best. The Christ's College back were all good on defence, and Fryer and Stringer did some clever work on attack: Townend played well until he had to retire, and Tonks, who •came on at half-time, made some good runs. Priest made a lot of mistakes, often failing to secure .the ball when his fonwards heeled it out, and he very foolishly passed once on the line when he could have fallen over and scored. His line kicking was good. The forwards all worked well, the smallest of the lot, H. Murray, being very much in evidence. The second came between Otago and Canterbury Juniors was played at Lancaster Park, the visitors winning by eight points to three-. Owing to the wet and slippery state of the ground the game was practically confined to the forwards. Canterbury playing with., the wind in tihe first spell had all the best of matters, but on changing ' over, condition gave out, and Otago j kept them on the defensive throughout^ and their forwards getting the ball from the scrum, assisted by good back play, enabled them to score two tries ; White, the winners' full-back, was very safe, and he made no mistakes. Donaldson, on the .wing, made s£veral«tioe dashes, and' was always a thorn in th<Fside of the opposition. Tennarit^ on the other wing, dad notT get as much to do, but performed well. M'Hardy (centie), Logan and Dougherty (five-eighths) worked well together. Coulter (half) gave a" good display, being far ahead of the opposing half. Forward, Smeaton and Fulton were the pick of a good, hard-working lot of forwards. Garrard, the local full-back, gave a disappointing display. Moone, Sykes and Dunn were the only backs to show anything like form, and they were responsible for most of the Canterbury back play. Wilcos did good work on the side of the scrum,, dribbling and following up well. Evans, Wickan, Henderson and Rich were the most prominent of tie forwards It is rumoured in Sydney that one or two members of the New Zealand team intend returning to Sydney to settle down. The recommendations adopted by the conference of referees, during the visit 1 of the New Zealand team to Australia, will not be divulged, pending their consi deration by the Australasian Rugby Union. A report on the matters dealt with by the conference will in due course be forwarded to the English Rugby Union for its approval or rejection. Several of the suggested alterations in the laws of the game affect touchriine play, scrumming, scoring, and goal kick-

ing, and are in the direction of adding to the attractiveness of . the; game. , There were seven sittings of the conference. B. Fanning, about whom, the critics had j nothing to .say, 'held no saloon ticket in i the New Zealand pack in 'the Australian i matches. He had to play lock behind , front-rankers -who hooked, and generally I hooked the air,- with the inside foot. Con- | sequently -their hips and thighs did; not tend to .tickle the centre-forward's ears very pleasantly. ■ . The " general" public must have arrived at? the conclusion that the New Zealand pack consisted of' the Aucklanders— Tyler, Nicholson and Long— and Spencer/ -Tie published accounts gave dazzling accounts of these forwards' doings on the field, their; valourj prowess, ,. cleverness [and; what-not.; Uripublished ' accounts," however, lead one to believe that other, forwards,. about. whom the oableman and the Pressman have been religiously mute, were not exactly staffed: mockeries of men, mere burly Bcarecrpws^ whose "main purpose in going to Australia was to, get photographed and Kelp to shout the war-cry and sing ." For He's a -Jolly Good FelW" in Maori. They were rather .utchered to make a ''special" for^ the place where J>he. 'J^isco steamers go to.. It is stated that ' th'fe Aucklanders and; one ■or' two others were. given unwarranted opportunities tto shine, apart* from the ones; i they made for themselves by shirking liarS work and waiting for openings., ;.-, The. un recognised element had its revenge in thi Sbuth'v. North' lsland match. The colony j had been prepared for a rout ; it expected the much-boomed 'northern forwards to go on the field an& wade through their opponents like reaping machines through standing corn. But a surprise, sadder even than last year's, was the, result,, and- the Auckland people must have realised that: it mkes, more than a reporter to make a strenuous footballer. Mr Gilmour, the Mayor of Bat-hurst, who ; spent about .£l5O ort the New Zealanders while they' were in/his neighbourhood, is a pleasantly eccentric gentleman. Presiding ! at ; "a \smoke ' concert, he "called on " Bob " j or "Jttiil," or whoever was due for a turn, to t come on." One day he- took some of me visitors for. a drive in a kind of brake. He was perched pa a seai> lpwer; than his guests, who were peacefully sitting on top of 'the conveyance. The horses were whipinto a frenzied gallop along, a road which led under some trees, and the New Zealanders had. to do some gymnastic feats tc save themselves from being left among the branches . or on the track. '. A camera obs'cura on a lull in Brisbane caused a lot of merriment. Sighing lovers, parading a beach, thinking that for once j ! the world and his wife had been shut out, were cruelly brought ; to light by the merciless lenses. The same apparatus revealed \ one of the New Zealanders' touring party, j uofc a player, making frequent visits to a keg in a secluded spot. Aeher used to throw kisses at the people who were wont to howl at him on the field. His unpopularity seemed to be, due to his vigour, for he was always in the thick of things. One of the South Island members of ; the team, states that the Auek-- ■. ander was worked too much, to the detriment of himself and the team. Most of the ,back play was made to wind : up in Ashsr. who was, of course, unnecessarily burdened. Just before the Mararoa reached Aucka lady member of the.vlusgrove Opera Company, who remarked : ' You are • going to win on Wednesday." •'Well, I hardly know/ replied the southerner. " Oh, bub Mr (an Auckland, member of tue team) told me his boys were going to win." The lady, in .unconsciously taking' the enemy into her confidence, whetted his appetite for the fray. South Canterbury beat North Otago by ten points to five. Opie and Mundell got tries for South Canterbury and Tennenfc kicked a goal from a mark. Keddel scored a try for the visitors, and Mullins placed a goal. Generally the teams were well matched. The local forwards were better than their opponents, and the visitors had an advantage in the backs, but the latter had few chances. The game was chiefly forward. The. Taranaki representatives defeated Manawatu on August- 26 by seven points (a a mark, arid an unconverted try) to chree points (a try). From a scientific point of view, the display was somewhat disappointing, although the teams were very evenly matched. There was a good deal, of rough play, and one man on each side had to retire. The following items are from the Sydney '[ ( "Bulletin":— Compare achievements of Maoriland football fteam with those of last English Rugby team in Australia four years ago. English team's greatest gathering of points was 36 against Bundaberg and 28 to New South Wales Northern Districts' nil. Reckoning all the matches of the tour (excepting one at Melbourne, where Rugby hasn't even a look in, and where visitors scored 30 to nil), Britishers totted up 303 points to 90. They engaged in 21 matches, winning 18 and 1 losing 3. Maoriland played 10 matches, winning all of them j and scoring 276 points to 13 ; best scores 53 to 0 against Northern Districts of New South Wales, and 47 to 7 against Western Districts of New South Wales.— The t-hor- j oughness of Maoriland football methods is demonstrated by the code of signals to which the team answers. Getting, the hang of these has badly baffled many Australian skippers, for the whole side is so well managed that directly the signals- are given each man gets into place and knows exactly what is expected of him. Hence the effectiveness of the combination and the machine-like manner in which it operates. When Australians play on such thorough lines they may have a chance with. Maoriland, but not till then. By a recent English mail Mr W. Coff ey, of Wellington, received advices from an ■enthusiatsic Rugbyite in the Old Country, intimating that the suggested visit of a colonial combination) of footbaJlers to Great Britain next- "year had stirred unusual interest in Rugby circles. The writer said that an impression, apparently existed in the colony that the English Rugby Union was throwing obstacles in the way to the consummation of the proposed visit. Such was not- the case, and although the parent body might, in certain directions, be credit-

siqi st! .mj o.>- qn.C 'mspuAjasuoD i[M^ V s venture was concerned, its officials w«re desirous of doing- ail in their power jto biing about its accompiishm-jnt, recognising-, as j they did, that siich a visit would give a j wonderful stimulus to f ho grand old game , both in the Motherland and in her dependencies. The writer- declared that the doings of colonial footballers were watched with the greatest interest by their kinsmen in Great Britain, and the results of -the tour of the New Zealand team in' Au^ tralia would be closely scanned, seeing that' -it would give to those memb^s of Mullineaux's team aiid others some idea df tho progress of ' New Zealand champion Bugbyites. If a N«w Zealand team did go Home it would get a great. reception from Rugbyites and the . general public. Moreover, there was not the slightest fear But what the financial returns would amply suffice' to cover all transit and hot-el exposes, etc. A friend, of his • had taken t3i© opportunity, of visiting several, .matches when on a. visit to New Zealand lagfc year, ;and -he was powerfully --impressed with the qualifications of colonial .footballers, -k tho pick of whom he. thought .would stretch the very,- finest combination that England, Wales, Ireland or Scotland could muster.. If New Zealanders did visit- the Old Country next year it was very doubtful whethej an English combination would come out to -"Australasia; in ,that> year. The .; visit: "would be deferred till, the following season. Jt; was practically certain that New Zealand .would in future be included in- Australasian tours of -All England teams. The writer impressed upon the New .-Zealand: Rugby Union officials the absolute -necessity for sending Home the very be^t players if they wished to achieve satisfactory'results. ; ■ , ■ ■ -■ -