WANGANUI RUGBY UNION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 20328, 13 April 1915, Page 5

WANGANUI RUGBY UNION.

TH£5 'ANNUAL MEETING.

lhe annual meeting of the Wanganur .Rugby Union was held last night. Mr he. bpriggens presiding. The annual report slated: The doings V J.H c past reason are naturally at this tlate4 overshadowed by the great European war which broke out towards the - olpse^f last winter. The war had a ■ai^astepus jeffect on the game, all interest btemg re n^ on events in the Old World, leaving Rugby, and all kindred. sPOi'.ts, m; a very secondary position. Cup Matches. —The senior cup wa&, n by, Kaierau, with Wanganui and Pirates .level for second place. College . annexed the junior cup, Wanganui be--ing runriers-up. The thira class fixtureyrk&; declared closed before completion, .and T^as awarded Pirates, who held a good lead from Old Boys. In this, class a word of commendation is due to 1 the. Wanganui team, which consisted of the previous season'^ fourth class players, who, despite repeated defeats, stuck, to their grins, and played out the contests. Pirates alsb won the Fourths Grade contest, after some excellent, sanies. '■ ■ 'Finance.^Durmg the treasurer's1 ab— sence in' Australia last season the bookswere handed by him to'an accountant.. ■ - from whom they have not yet been received. Pending then* receipt it is impossible tb present a balance sheet, but: this will be presented at the earliest pos-. sible moment. Even without the books.. we luiow, that our financial position i». ' . most, unsatisfactory, and is one that must be faced immediately. Our indebtednesa,'tb the N.Z.R.U., the bank,, and sundry creditors amounts to close on £200; apart from the N.Z.R.U. 10an... To liquidate , these debts, and put thounion on a'sound financial basis, some means will have to be devised, apart150m our usual sources of revenue. This-.-has been deferred from time to time, but., cannot well be put off longer. ' ' The War.—At the outbreak t.f war,, and steadily since, tnere has been v.. constant stream ot Rugby .piajers join- .<"; jng the,-colours. All our'club® urvo--,',-;'i £ given a. big percentage'.,of-their memi './;;> hei's, and. will in. consequence .'be weak~ *, -.'J ened in. the field during the coming sea-:- >-> .son. ~'W.hi; l e regretting this, we «rer- . proud' to "know that our players are. playing the game in the way all whtK love the good old game fully expected they would when such a call came. It might here be mentioned that the samething lias occurred in England, where* all the last three season's international , * players, 'except about three, a"re at thetront, or on the way. To pull together ' , and keep Rugby going until our absent, players return is our duty towards them. Sub-Unions. —All our sub-unions havemade good pi ogress, an dare now firmly established. It is to be hoped the coming season will see our intercourse with, them more pronounced than ever. In .moving the adoption of the annual report, Mr. G. Spriggens said that the financial position was not as1 it should be. This was largely due to the' war at the close of last season affecting the gates of the big matches. Ib I wns imperative +hat something should' be done to liquidate the debts of the- v Union. It would be a matter of regret 1 if - they could not get ahead of ihe pre— * sent position. The Onion were much 1 indebted to the secretary (Mr. Pownall)^, who had done an immense amount of . work, and'who had endeavoured to inaugurate sense scheme to put the fin- . rpevs on ii satisfactory position. Mr. Isprigg^ns suid it was hwidiy a time to Liunch any projecl", unless it was toassist the Belgian Fund, and there was Ttu mclin-s «*.: on to tui (mylhing downit' someone v:is lo« king tor part of theproceeds. Personally he did not think, that anything would take at the present time,, unless it was to help the* Belgians. Continuing, Mr. Spriggenseaid that he had noticed that the Tara— naki Union—in spite of Ranfurly Shield . ~- matches —had lost.-- £65 on the year'sworking. They had mooted a scheme " for each club to guarantee 10 to 15----:-honorary members at £1 Is. each. He thought it would be a good idea if the T,Va'nganui TJnion was to arrange for . 10s. season,tickets, and for each dub* to guarantee from 15 to 20 tickets. This, way a matter which might be taken Into consideration. In conclusion Mr. Spriggens said that they would have ri hard task, to make the game go ahead. tJiis season.^ He was sorry that Mrv . Latter ;was ■ not present, as he would like to have suggested that the TeAute match should be played in Wanganui this season, instead of at Palm-- - erston North, as such <a fixture would: put new life into local Rugby. The report was adopted.