BOWLERS WHO PLAYED OTHER GAMES IN DAYS GONE BY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18055, 15 January 1927, Page 1

BOWLERS WHO PLAYED OTHER GAMES IN DAYS GONE BY.

FORMER RUGBY REPS ON AUCKLAND GREENS. (By MARK TAPLEY.) Among the seven or eight hundred bowlers assembled m Auckland for the Dominion bowling championships it is only natural that there are men i "’hose names were household words in other games in the particular parts of New Zealand whence they hailed. Some indeed gained international fame as players or administrators. N. M’Robie (Remuera) was a New Zealand representative forward against Queensland when the Bananalanders were defeated b}* three unconverted tries to nil at Athletic Park, Wellington, in 1896. A. Nash (M.P., Palmerston) was one of the best all-round athletes Manawatu has produced. He still takes a great interest in games and pastimes generally, and is ever readv to lend a helping hand to foster them. “Jimmy” skipped the Dominion rink champion team in 1915. It included his brother, N. IT. Nash (Editor of the “Manawatu Standard”) lead, Dixon No 2 and F. J. Tasker No. 3. ■ Phil. Skoglund (Stratford) is an old Seddonlander. After leaving the West Coast he settled in Taranaki, where he became a leading Rugby referee, and was for many }*ears secretary of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union. He is town clerk of Stratford. His son, P. O. S. Skoglund, a master at Palmerston North Boys’ High School, has already entered the ranks of in-tei-provincial Rugby referees. Joe Conder (Island Bay) is another Rugby fiend. He was a forward in the good old days when Melrose was a power in the Rugger land of Wellington. He later took on the whistle, and handled more than one representative fixture. His son wore the black jersey with gold monogram for Wellington a few seasons back, and was quite a useful forward.

B. A. Marris (Kelburn) is one of the best-known rowing enthusiasts in New- Zealand. He was also for years the trusted representative of the players on the Wellington Rugby Union appointment of referees board. In 1919 when the conservatives who occupied the front benches in the Dominion Rugger parliament went out in a body in a fit of pique, Basil was the first chairman of the new part}' in control of New Zealand’s Rugby destinies. He did not see e> r e to eye with his confreres over the matter of the failure to take disciplinary action against Auckland for pla}dng the amended rules, and resigned, but he shook things up in his short term of office, the invitation to the South Africans being one of his works. One of his sons, Basil, was a member of the Wellington team that lifted the Plunket Shield from Canterbury in the New Year challenge in 1919. The youngster was a successful googly bowler for a few years, and also topped 200 in an innings for Old Boys in Wellington senior competition.

No doubt E. Harraway (Green Island) is the old Otago lawn tennis champion. The last time the writer saw that Otagan was in Christchurch, during the Davis Cup matches of 1912. In the New Zealand Championships preceding Ilarraway was a linesman in a game in which “Mark Tapley” was umpiring. Rod Heath (Davis Cup player) was a contestant, and Ilarrawav called him nobly for foot faulting. Heath used to stand with one foot plump on the line, lie didn’t seem to understand he couldn’t do it, either, and it was not a case of cribbing as the Victorian never attempted to go in on his service, being essentially a baseliner. 11. G. Siedeberg (Dunedin) was No. 3 in Harraway’s Dominion champion rink of 1926, but he didn’t come north this year. Harry, of course, is the New Zealand representative cricketer of 1905, 1907 and 1910. He was also several times amateur billiards champion of this country', and was a competitor as late as the recent tourney at Auckland.

Among the younger generation of bowers is Norrie Bell (Hamilton), one of the leading golfers of the north, and a player who always makes his presence felt at the New Zealand championship meeting.