ALL BLACK "SIMON PURES"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 30 November 1935, Page 4

ALL BLACK "SIMON PURES"

• ALL PLAY—NO PAY” VIEW OF THE DAILY MAIL Before this All Black Rugby* tour is over English crowds, and also those who sit at council tables, are going to appreciate these young men from New Zealand as the real Simon Pures of the game, says a writer in the Daily Mai! of November 1. For gradually the terms on, which they made the trip aie leaking out. A.nd the burpi’-iug news is that the only reward these wearers of black je-.oevs will get will be that of havi:.g played fur their country. No fee.-, no bonuses, no wages disguised as expenses. Just the thrilling satisfaction of having turned out fcr New Zealand—and, iu many cases, having hid a sight of the Mother Couutiy. That will be their reward. Their travel costs and their bills are, of course, being met. Their football kit is also being provided. But the only other gift they are pick ing up is a weekly coupon value one guinea, tu be tabbed and spent in the h-itcl. Cigarette Money. Ihe vveeklv guinea is lor the men to spend uu cigarettes, an afternoon cup of tea, or an occasional glass of beer, and to impiess them with a feeling of independencei’ily the mental struggles uf those members of the party who neither smoke nor drink' It they have two shiilings-worth at the pictures they must be wondering whether they have professionalised themselves. This guinea coupon business may be nothing to New Zealand footballers, who aie strict ob--eivers of amateurism. 15ut to me it is somewhat astonishing. I am thinking of the Australian erbketers. who got £6UO a man for placing lor live months in England. And of the recently departed bouth Africans, who collected £-»U0 apiece, plus bonus, for a cricket season in these parts. I am not saying that they were wrong. I’he English idea *•£ amateurism is so peculiar.

Difleieut Ideas. If u. e of our amateur-, losing six i months’ wages to play for England. I picked up a bonus ns compensation, : sports legislators would be horrified. And when they had recovered from the shock they would sack the offender on the spot. ' The Au.-iia ..ins and ihe Scut"' • Ait mans figure that those who venture ' abroad to uphold the national piestige ! should not be out of pocket over it. ■ That’s the difference, and 1 suppose . - vill always ex’-st. Still, the All Blacks arc going io be well liked heie fur their “all play i'v MAORIS OF !88<S A TEAM WHO FLAYED AT HAWICK The Svctlaud-Ncn Zealand match j at Murrayiield to day recalls the fact tliat the first New Zealand fifteen to i xi-.it Scotland di-i so in season 1888- ’ >V, and the unly match the Maoris I played in Scotland was at Hawick on y L'hursday, November 22, 1888. That game tuc-k plate at Mansfield Park, which had just been opened that season, and resulted in a win for the New Zealanders by a goal to a try. In spile of a vuilent storm of wind and rain, the attendance was good, •he match having aroused immense interest in Scut laud. Ihe touring party consisted of 25 players, six ot whom were natives (full Maoris) fifteen halfcasts and four colonials, born in New Zealand uf English parents. Only «hree or four were what might be termed teetotallers, though a few of the men never tasted liquor until they started on the lour. All the Maoris were Christians, ami most of them superstitious. Only two or three were married. The players were: —W. Warbrick, I ArCaus’.and* (<.apt.). Wynyurd. and ' Gag : ■ 1 lliot. Keogh, and J . W ar- ’ brick; Ellison, Taiaroa, Webster. Wil- ! bams. Stewan. A. W'arbrick, Karauria. ! am! Anderson. The umpire was Joe ; »\ aror w The Hawi. .. team comprised:—T. j Piddle; R. W iiseu. W . Burnet, and T. i Crosier; M’. W iiEcn, A. Jardine and J. Waldic; Dr. Wade (capt), A. J. Lang, I.; ; Bovd W. Hogg. J. Jackson, J. 1 Scott. T. Ames and D. Gibson. 1 The Hawick player, T. Riddle, was the hero of an interesting incident in the game. To quote from an account ui the match —“The Maories seemed ••eitii d at not winning easily, and inctx’kej their energy and physical force, bat the Tories showed magnificent staying powers, and to a man played their hardest. Just before the dose, however, Taiaroa got clear away, iand v. Lf.ii onlv confronted by Liddle, . i.c threw a kiss io the Hawick back ■ .'U- -estive of self-confidence in his lability and ‘gras&ed’ the New Zea- .-. rounds of ap- • piau.-e. Ihe game soon after ended. ; ihe Maciis winning, not without some i luck, bv ore goal to one try.” 1 The referee was the lai- James ’ Aikman Smith, and the match was one ‘ io which he often referred as being j played in the worst weather of his ex I pcrien* e as an odicial. ' It is a far erv back to that match, j but at least three members of tht Hawick fifteen of 1888 saw the game the 1935 All Blacks played against South of Scotland. These were: R Wilson. J. 1.. Boyd, and T. Riddle. 01 ■the others only three are still to the i fore. In addition the umpire. Andrew Landles. a former Bailie of Hawick > !H still alive. lie is a life member < l . he Hawick Club.

TITLE DISLIKED The New Zealanders’ line sportsman snip both on and off the field has. in fact, already won them a big reputation. says a writer in the Daily Mail j’f November I. There are even pe<>/le