Purple Patches on Sporting Fields

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17835, 1 May 1926, Page 11

Purple Patches on Sporting Fields

Old Players tell of Thrills, Flukes, Tight Corners and Last Minute Wins.

Hon' often has it happened on the football field that some fluke at the last minute turned defeat into victory ? How often has everything depended, upon the kick that might or might not convert a try ? Hour often have thousands gasped while some great three-quarter dashed off in a solo effort determined to achieve the almost impossible , and run through every man of the opposing side ?

Football history is full of such incidents. In the interviews given below Canterbt/fg players and ex-players draw on memory and relate passages from the past.

(A 1924 back-line that provided many Star turns.)

When Wallace Potted A Brilliant Goal. "AUR defeat of Swansea in 1905.” That was the answer a member of the 1905 All Black team gave when the question. “What is the most remarkable incident on the football field inat has come under your notice was put to him. ' It was an indifferent display of football on both sides,” he said. “Serine scored a try after a short passing rush, and great enthusiasm prevailed

amongst the Welshmen. The crowd broke into song. They were thoroughly worked up. In the second halt New Zealand had the high wind behind them instead of blowing down upon them as it was in the first spell: and the result was that they were almost

continually on the offensive. After thirty minutes’ play, and after New Zealand had been for ten minutes in Swansea's twenty-five, Wallace picked up near the twenty-five line and potted a magnificent left-foot goal from a difficult angle. That was the final score in the game, which terminated by a narrow win of 4 points to 3.” :: % When the Ball Burst Before the Goal. • T.JAVE you . ever heard of the score that nearly was but wasn't?” asks “W.,” a veteran Rugby enthusiast. “I saw it myself—not the score, of course, but the incident. The ball was sailing straight for the goal. It would have gone clean over the bar, but just a few yards from the posts it burst in midair and fell to the ground. And the man who kicked the ball wasn’t the only one who gasped.” *: x Alec Dey Throws His Mind Back. '\"OU want to know one of the most J unusual incidents that I have witnessed during my association with football?” asked Alex Dey. “That's easy. Listen. “Two Rugby teams were playing on grounds side by side without an inter veiling fence. As often happens under such conditions, the balls frequently became mixed. “On one occasion during the game the 1-all from one ground was kicked into the other; and about the same time the ball from across the way arrived to take its place. “Nothing extraordinary in that,” you say. “But listen. “Almost simultaneously dashing forv ards on either ground caught up the l alls, and almost simultaneously tries were scored. "But the referee didn’t allow them, of course —it was too much of a mix fare.” Rounded Up At Cranmer Square. VV T E used to be keen—too keen on training in the good old hockey

days.” says F. J. Crawford. Canterbury Hockey representative. “I sometimes look 1 ;ack and think f hat we were almost too keen. We got ourselves into numerous '••rapes for trespassing on anything that looked like a patch of ground that would do to play hockey

n. In 1909, when ve were stuck for a field we used to use Cranmer Square. It meant coming a long way for some of us, and it abo meant knowing what time the cop • >uld be passing by. We had to keep a watch out for him. Some mornings wc just got clear of Cranmer's green fields when he hove in sight. One morning he got us. We were caught mod and properly. Some made a duck for their lives but he rounded us up, escorted us off the Square, took our names, scared us stiff and then said good morning. We never heard any more about it. but the suspense was V. orse than awful for a long time afterwards.” How They Settled the Maori. ( \NE of the best football stories I " ' have heard was that concerning a Rugby game up in a certain town in the North Island.” says Mr L. W. < iuiney, the well-known referee. “ A visiting team were playing a Maori fifteen. The majority of the Maoris be•nged to the place where the match was being played, and consequently ’heir supporters turned out in full force. The referee was getting a bad spin from the crowd who resented any decision given against the Maoris. Men nnd women were rushing up and down the side lines yelling for all they’ were vorth. and the referee really had ‘ the wind up.’ In the Maori team was one ' iig forward who was playing a particularly rough game. The referee did not have the courage to order him off the tcld, as he considered that -would be

more than his life was worth. At halftime he was approached by members of the sub-union of the district with a request that he should put a stop to the tactics which the big Maori was using. The referee made no secret of the fact that he was scared that the crowd would take to him.

“So after watching the play in the second spell for a minute or two and noticing that the big Maori was continuing his aggressive tactics, one of the officials called to him that he was wanted urgently on the 'phone. The big fellow immediately bolted off the gtound to the pavilion, and while Lo was endeavouring to persuade the vuung lady at the exchange that someone had been ringing him up the offi

cials locked him in and there he had to stay till the game was concluded—needless to state in a more friendly spirit.” “ DID I SAY ‘ ROT,’ SIR?” “ I was immensely amused at a young chap who was playing in a team in one of the lower grades a couple of seasons ago. I was refereeing the game,” continued Mr Guiney. “ I forget for the moment which team it was, but that doesn't matter much. It was quite a friendly game and the teams were fairly evenly matched. On one occasion I blew the whistle to rule a player off-side. He was nearly fifteen yards ahead of the man who had last played the ball. I blew the whistle and said ‘Off-side; free kick or a scrum back?’ “ ‘Rot,’ ejaculated the young fellow to whom I am referring. “ Turning quickly’ round I said to him. ‘What is your name?’ “ He was so taken back that he was flustered for a few seconds and then said, ‘ Did I say 44 rot,” sir ? If I did I am sorry. I didn’t mean to. It just slipped out. He was a long way offside.’ "I replied: ‘Well, why talk like that?’ “He said: ‘ T don’t know, sir, I won't do it again.’ “ SASANOF’S ” DIVE. “ One of the most amusing things I have seen on a football field occurred in a representative game I was refereeing in Dunedin. It was in a game between Otago and South Canterbury. Playing on the wing for Otago was the late George Owles, popularly’ known to the Dunedin football crowds as * Sasanof.’ There had been a good deal of adverse comment in the newspapers about Owles being included in the team, various writers preferring other men. However, 4 Sasanof ’ confounded all his critics by scoring five tries, and he was a regular idol and hero in the eyes of those ten thousand people who were assembled at Carisbrook.

44 The incident to which I make reference was when Owles scored his last try. Clever work on the part of Fea and Perry had left the wing threequarter with a clear run in. When Owles was streaking for the line there was not an opponent within a dozen or fifteen yards of him and he could easily have run behind the posts. Instead of that ‘ Sasanof ’ leaped up in the air and dived over the line for al the world like a porpoise leaping from the sea and then diving back. 4 Sasanof’ had a clear space in which to perform his little feat and the crowd roared with laughter for some minutes. The incident is fresh in the minds of all the Dunedin folks who saw the match, and they often relate it when speaking of 4 Poor old Sasanof.’ ” X X X When Steel Ran Through the Springboks. \ N old-time Rugby’ play’er and enthusiast said that the most thrilling incident in his football memory was in the first test between New Zea-

land and the Springboks at Dunedin on August 13. 1921. The first spell had been a gruelling encounter, particularly for the New Zealanders. The Springboks with their huge forwards seemed at times to dominate the situation and at the end of forty-five minutes the score w r as: Springboks

5, New Zealand 0. The second spell was harder, faster and fiercer than the first. Beilis got a try and Mark Nicholls converted. That made the score 5-all. From now on it was terribly exciting. Man after man got away only to be hauled down. At length came the really sensational incident of the game. Steel took the ball high from a cross-kick just inside the Blacks’ territory’. After throwing off one man he set out for the line like a flash, entirely outpacing Meyer. Gerhard Morkel could not get across in time and Steel raced behind the posts and scored one of the most brilliant tries ever seen at Carisbrook. New Zealand won by’ 13 to 5, fer Storey got a try later, but it was Jack Steel's try that did the trick.

SOCCER INTERNATIONAL HAS SOME GOOD ONES.

JJAROLD WALDEN, the Yorkshire comedian now* appearing at the Opera House, is an international Soccer player, having played for England on many occasions, and being a member of the team which represented the Mother Country at the Olympic Games at Stockholm in 1912. He saw the AH Blacks play at Home two years ago. and was greatly impressed with them as players and gentlemen. He has also seen football played in many* other countries, and has naturally seen and been associated with several amusing incidents. Here are a few, for the accuracy of which Mr Walden can absolutely vouch:

THE SHORTSIGHTED FULL BACK. In a team belonging to a neighbouring county to where I lived they had a full back who was very short-sighted, but he was very big and powerful and could kick like a mule whenever b* Liad the good fortune to catch the ball. One day a cat went running across the field and passed immediately in front of the full back. lie let fly with his boot thinking it was the

ball. Yon can imagine where the cat went. On hearing the thing meow, the big fellow exclaimed, ‘There I told you I’d bust it.’ ” DETONATORS ON IRISH GROUND. “I took a team after the war over to Ireland to play in a charity match. It was the English Play’ers’ Union against the Irish Players’ Union, and the game was played on the Distillery ground, Belfast. I happened to score a goal in the first spell and then detonators began to be hurled on to the ground. Jock Stewart, our full back, said to me, ‘This is no good to me Harold. We had enough of this at the war. I’m not coming out after half time.’ During the interval Micky Hamill, one of our opponents, asked us to have a spot. We said to him, ‘What’s the game? What’s the strength of these detonators?’ He replied. ‘We'll have to score in the second half.’ “Well we saw to it that they’ did score bright and early, and as the detonators ceased to be thrown then we we were content to leave it at that and the pme ended in a draw. It was a regular Donmbrook. I shall never forget the Glenavon ground near Belfast. The first time I played there 1 thought the cheers were for good play’, but when the stones commenced to fly I woke up.” A FLASH LEFT WING. “In one of our teams we had a left wing who prided himself on his pace, and after the ball had been taken from him he would prance on for a few yards and pull up like a proud race horse. On this particular day his opponent was taking the ball away from him reguuarly. I got a bit fed up with seeing him cantering on for a few yards, and the next time he did it I called out, ‘When you run down that wing again. Coupland, take the bail with you.’ The crowd enjoyed it immensely and laughed and cheered for several minutes.” “GO ON; KISS HIM.” “Soccer crowds at Home are terrors for giving players ‘the bird.’ Amongst the amateurs when one player accidentally knocked an opponent down he would say he was sorry and lift his man up. The crowd would then yell, ‘Go on, kiss him.’ Once a crowd get a plaver set they’ give him a had time. Every time he touches the ball theyapplaud and cheer, and to hear thousands of people carrying on like this is very disconcerting. If they get it into their heads that any man is playing too gently they do not to nickname him Annie or Nellie or some other name. Another favourite expression was to call out ‘Have you got ’em on the coupons,’ whenever a plaver missed a penalty’ shot at goal. This meant of course ‘are you backing the other side.’ ” HOW HE CAUGHT HIS CHILL. “In one game which we were playing we had Dicky’ Bond, a famous international playing on the wing. He was far too clever for his opponent and left him standing time after time. The following day this young chap who had been marking Bond complained to his trainer about having caught a chill. He said, ‘I can't make out how I caught it either.’ The trainer, who was rather a sarcastic chap replied, ‘Oh. you got it from the draught caused by’ Dicky’ Bond when he passed you yesterday ! ’ ” OVERCOATS FOR PRIZES. “The team I tised to play for was Bradford City, and a mercer in that town was so enthusiastic about us that he offered an overcoat to the man who scored two goals in a match. And I can tell you we used to do quite a good trade. The overcoats were worth £4 each and it was not long before every’ man in the team had one. Being a centre forward I was in the most likely position to score, and it got so bad that the crowd used to greet me with ‘Another overcoat to-day’, Harold?’ Anyway we made the pace a bit too hot for the kindly’ disposed mercer and before the season was nearly half over he realised it was too expensive a proposition and he chucked it.”