RUGBY FOOTBALL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 156, 4 July 1934, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

ITS HOLD ON THE PLBLIC A SPECTACULAR GAME HISTORY’ HAS BEEN MADE (By *'Crossbar”) “One Englishman, a fool; two Englishmen, a football match; three Englishmen, an Empire!” A Spaniard with a gift of being wise made these observations long ago and they are as true to-day as when they were uttered. The whois woild may stand still, England can come and go on the gold standard as she pleases, Hitler can execute a thousand and sixty people instead of only sixty if he thinks fit, it can hail, rain or snow, but a British populace must have its sport, and to this farflung chip of Old England sport means Rugby, the Dominion’s national game. Ever since Dave Gallaher led ths famous team of .1905 into the land which lies behind Hie ‘‘white cliffs ol Dover,” New Zealand people ha\« had a Rugby tradition to guard. Gallaher now sloops in Nine Elms Cemetery, near Poperinghe, on the Yproi sector of an old battle lino which had its dreaded Alenin Road and memories sad and gay, but the spirit of Rugby which he left behind is a living, vibrant thing. It is a hard game which tests to the full those essentials which go to make a man. For some it is nothing but hard knocks, adverse criticism and continual striving to do better. For others it opens a pathway to fame, a type of fame which is short-lived and dies just as soon as the cheers of the multitude cease. The. Game 3 Spectacle Every country has a type of sport which appeals as a spectacle and because of ceitain fundamentals raises enthusiasm of the masses. Back in the days of old Koine gladiators did each other to death and the masses looked on and cheered. Probably it would not be fair to liken Rugby to those gory spectacles of the Colosseum, but there, is something strangely similar between them none the less. \ mighty multitude looks on while victor and vanquished battle in the arena. Behaviour is more gentlemanly nowadays, perhaps, but. the code of sportsmanship which decrees that the life of a focnian worthy of an opponent's steel shall live to light again is very dominant in New Zealand’s national game. According to the Mayor (Mr. N. G. Armstrong), who welcomed the visiting players to Wanganui last night, oack in 1533 a writer described football as being anything but clean —‘‘from which resulted bloodshed, violence and murder, as every day testified.” It has risen above that type of “game” nowadays, and there is much to enthuse over when two teams play the code as its creators meant it to bo played. Thctc are many sports which may have a stronger appeal on the individual par ticipant, but no game will ever replace Rugby as a spectacle in thc nt n X'ptv Zosl.TTlder.

“Moments Lived Again” Apart from that Rugby has a history. There are stories ot the past, ul famous tries scored in big matches, cd kicks at goal from over half-way, ci tries whicu were scored and the referee was not there to see tncm. Resurrecting those pages from Rugby re cords promotes argument and players and spectators live aga-n lo:*g-rcmem-bcied “mc’meuts” in ’.heir lives. How many times, for luitar-.e?, must Deans have lived over again his famous try against. Wales, which the r<-.f< ice never saw? He, too, lies sleeping now, but his name will never be removed from the annals of a great game fee long as there is a boy left to kick a football. And what of Alorley’s great try in

the first Test which. New zeaiano lost against the British touring team of 1930 at Dunedin? How many times will that be recalled? The try Bul-lock-Douglas scored against Taranaki last King’s Birthday, too, will be long remembered, and perhaps, in days to come, there will be another generation of the Bullock-Douglas clan who will look back with pride on a record which has helped to make Rugby history. Presumptuous Youngsters People enthuse over the past and ri nearly every case the present hardly ever musters up. “There will never be another three-quarter like Steel; “the best pair of five-eighths the world has over seen were Hunter and Alynott, or perhaps Hunter ami .Stead;” “we will never see a Bert Cooke again;” “the 1905 team was the strongest Rugby combination that ever played;” ‘‘the 1924-25 team was the best the world has ever seen’”— opinion and counter opinion arc ex pressed at will and nearly always to the detriment of the present. But in 10 to 40 years’ time many of the young players who are to participate in to-day’s trial will be looked back upon as worthy contributors to tho Rugoy history which the generation of the day enthuses over. We never quite give the present its duo, not because wc are one-eyed, but because ol' sentiment. There is something big aud inspiring in the records of those players who have made Rugby history in the past, and the youngster rising to prominence wc uro inclined to regard us being presumptuous. But over aud over again this country has proved that it has youngsters of the right type. It has been customary to howl them down when they are selected and. within a certain time, to refer to them as has-oeens, but once, their leeor A get printed in cold, hard type wo all attach a sort of reverence t* them r.nd remember nothing but the best. When the 1924-25 team put out f.om Port Nicholson they could almost see in the mists of the departing shoreline the critical headline: “Th c Weakest Team That Ever Left New Zealand.” They came back to a horizon that ftas all with a record. Their period of presumption was over—they were Rugby historymakers. To-day, expert eyes soirt'e of them which selected that famous side of 192-1. will be looking for another great Rugby combination, and they will look with a certainty that they will get it. The whistle blows to-day, the game on. and Rugby historv is again in the making, and Julv 4 is known as the ‘ 1 Glorious Fourth.' •’