Football.

West Coast Times, Issue 13733, 1 February 1906, Page 4

Football.

THE NEW ZEALANDERS' TOUR.

PRESS COMMENTS.

"TAFFY'S TRIUMPH."

NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST REVERSE

THE STRUGGLE AT CARDIFF.

GREAT EXCITEMENT IN WALES.

(From the N.Z. Timeß Special Correspondent.)

London, Deo 23. It is questionable whether any single game of any kind created more wide« spread interest tban the memorable tussle • which took place at Cardiff last Saturday between tbe New Zealanders and the chosen representatives of Wales. Immediately before its decision and after.

the match was the topic of conversation in trams, 'bno, and train, and not only among followers of sport, bnt among people who in the ordinary course of events pay no heed whatever to either Kngby or Association football. Honestly I tbink the Cardiff match created more genuine interest among the non-sporting community than even the Test Matches between England and Australia. The reason is not far to seek. Never in tbe

history of football of any description had

a team created such a record as that to the credit of the New Zealanders: They bad won 27 victories off tho reel, beating the majority of the premier English

dabs pointless; tbey had smothered England's chosen, gained brilliant victories over Scotland and Ireland, and had piled np the enormous aggregate of 801 points to the miserable total of 22 pot together by all their opponents. Only three times hud their lines been crossed in the 27 games played, whereas tbey had scored 198 tries. Their doings had been made the text for innumerable disquisitions on the decadence of tbe I-'ritisher, photo* grnpbsof the team had appeared in every paper which usually indulges in illustra* tion3and in many which do Dot generally spoit anything beyond letterpress Clergymen pointed their jnorate and writers and speakers on all I opus adorned their tale by reference to tbe "AiJ Biaeks. 11 The team as a whole enjoyed a greater sbare of popular f avonr than any touring com* bination thac ha& yet visited these shores

in search of cricket, football, or other

sport' ng laurel?. Apart from the Principality itself I tbink it may be said tbat the general desire was that the New Zealanders should remain unbeaten to tbe end of their tour; though it was recognised that they would find tbeir Waterloo in Wales if anywhere, there were few who reckoned tbat tbe Welshmen had anything better than an outside chance of lowering the colours of the 'All Blacks' On all hands it was agreed that the Cardiff match was

"THE GAME OF THE CENTURY." In Wales as in New Zealand Rugby football is "the" national game. There

yon see on every piece of waste ground, even in the romote villages, ragged little urchins playing Rugby, sometimes with a bail, more often with a string bound mass of cloth or paper, and even with an empty salmon or corned beef tin. It is indeed "tbe" game of the children of the people, tbeir elder brothers and their fathers. For a really keen appreciation of the fine points of Rugby football there is no crowd like a Welsh crowd to be found in the United Kiugdom. Had the Cardiff gronnd been twice as big it would have bean filled just a* easily as it was on Saturday. Then close on 50,000 spectators were crammed into tbe stands, and

the sates were long before the

appointed boor of play. Ido not think it would be wide of the mark to say tbat

90 per cent of genuine Welah p^rfc of the "guts" consisted of youths and men who either were or had been Rrjgby players. Those that came from »far— there most have been close on 30,000 visitors to Cardiff— were certainly mainly composed of players and ex-players, Many of them bad taken the risk of coming from places a* far distant, as London, Weymouth and Liverpool without tickets, and consequently nuless they arrived ere 1.30 found themselves barred oat. As early a* eleven o'clock people begin to tike up their position on tbe unreserved stands, and by one o'clook the field of play was surrounded by a densely packed crowd thirty deep. Massed on sbtuply rising eUods tbe spectators, viewed from a distance, gave the appearance of a great wall in mosaic compoaed chiefly of flesh coloured tiles »*l in sombre hued cement, gpladhed with vivid spots of colour. (

HUMAN LANDSLIDES.

The wall idea wa?, however, one that

could not be held for long. Ever and anon the mass of humanity would commence swaying sideways and forward and the back rows would slither down on those below in a manner tbab conjured up visions of broken legs and ammulances at work. These human landslides occurred every few minutes in all the unreserved stands, but not a single serious accident was reported. The curious part about it was the rapidity with which tbe people regained their places. One minute there was a confused mass of struggling humanity on the lower part of the stand, and the next the mosaic wall presented itself to the watcher's vision.

But the thing that impressed one most most of all whilst waiting for tbe game to begin was the crowd's unbounded enthusiasm, which found vent chiefly in bong. There was music in the air all the time we were waiting for the play to commence.

CELTIC FERVOUR.

The scene at the ground was unique in j the New Zealandera' experience, 'limy realife now what Celtic fire and enthusiasm mian. When a contrast be« tween this frenzied throng at Cardiff and that other great gathering at the Crystal Palace a fortnight previously. The English crowd was quiet, orderly, undeoionstrative, only mildly partisan. The Welsh — who can describe tbe excitement, the volubility, the unbounded confidence of the Welshmen? They were there to sing and to cheer their champions to victory. The very idea of defeat never seeaied to enter their beads, it was simply unthinkable. Wales to be beaten on her own ground? "Never!" said the men of Cardiff, and SwaDsca, and the Rhondda Valley. So they mustered in their thousands on Saturday arith one fixed and dominant idea— to see the triumph of Wales. And when tbe brass band beguiled the hour before the great match with patriotic Welsh airs, like tbe "Men of Ear lech,'' the crowd caught up the melody and gave it forth from thousands of throats with true Celtic fervour, It is a peculiarity of Welsh crowds that they always sing while waiting. The love of music is in their blood, and their voices art melodious and well trained. Their songs are always native airs and hymas, instinct with patriotism and pride of race, and because their singing comes from tbe heart— for your Welshman is intensely patriotic— the effect is inspiring and most impressive. The excitement reached its climax when the long expected teams filed out on to the field of play. First came the New Zealanders, clad in their sombre black, with the stern, set faces of mea who have a great ordeal ahead of them. Tbe crowd started from tbeir seats and almost tumbled over one another in their eagerness to see the famous "All Blacks," the men who had dared to challenge the football supremacy of Wales. But it was for the Welsh team that their ovation was reserved. No knightly cbsmpions of Ihe brave daya of old could have inspired a more tremendous welcome than Wales gave to the fifteen men in scarlet and naw blue who, with Gwyn Nicholla at tbeir bead, filed oat into the arena. The great crowd rocked with excitement, and cheer after ringing ;cheer rent the air. It seemed as though the people could not stop, and the "All Blacks" bad got half through their Maori chant ere they could be heard above tbe voices of tbe onlookers. The war cry went well, and the crowd listened and watched in pleased silence, and thundered their approval at its close. But for dramatic effect it was far surpassed by what followed. The Welsh team, led by "Teddy" Morgan, Btaited the Welsh National Anthem "Hen Wlad ty Nhadan (Land of My Fathers"). Their singing was weak in volume, and it was some seconds before tbe eager crowd could hear tbe melody. Then, suddenly, forty thousand VVelah voices caught up the noble strain, and' from every corner of the ground rose the deep, swelling, be»-t twining chorus. An English version of ibt soug runs thus: — "The Land of my fathers ! the land of tbe free ! How dear are thy poets and minstrels to m& J Thy bold hearted warriors, at Freedom's

command, Died fighting for their native land. Wales ! Wales! fondly I love eld Wales 1 Wh'le rolls , the sea and hearts are free, Shall live the sweet tongue of old Wales !"

A SONG OF TRIUMPH.

Imagine some forty thousand people singing their National Anthem with all the fervour of which the Celtic heart is capible ! Imagine, too, the mighty buists of cheering which thundered forth, as^ain an'ijagain, at the close of the hymn ! It was the mosr. impressive incident I have witnessed on a football field. It gave a eetni- religious solemnity to this memorable contest. The effect was intensely thri ling, even awe-inspiring. Gallaber, the New Zealand captain, is reported as saying afterwards that he w,v never more impressed in his life when be and bis men stood on the field and listened to that mighty chorus It was a wonderful revelation of the serious spirit in which the We 1 1 take tfceir football And standing alono there in the arena, a handful of men from a far country surrounded by a □ew and strange multitude who sang themselves into i patriotic frenzy with songs in an unknown tongue, tho "All Blacks" could not be blamed for feeling that they were a few against many, and that their task was magnified tenfold by the overpowering enthusiasm ac ibe back of Walea's champions. Undoubtedly some of the New Zealaodera showed by their subsequent play that the nervous tension of tbe scene had told upon them. One or too of them were obviously nervous and flurried; nearly-all seemed over anxious. Upon tbe Wel-h team tha support of the vast team had an exhilarating and steadying « fleet, and in tbis way proved a very present help in the great struggle upon which so much depended. Tbe game tbat followed was an Homeric contest of skill, endurance, pace, and sheer brute strength— the hardest, keenest struggle I can ever remember. But long after the incidents of the play has giown dim and blurred in one's memory, the impression that will linger still vividly will bo of that vast chorus mounding forth the de.ith knell (as it proved) of the "All Bljcka' " unbroken recor I.