FOOTBALL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13499, 7 October 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

HONEST FOOTBALL

ARCHDEACON HARPER’S REMARKS RESENTED.

(Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, October 6

Commenting on a , statement made by Archdeacon Harper; at a Yorkshire Society dinner in Wellington, at which he said be doubted if one could bo sure of seeing straight football, and making derogatory reference to the Auckland v. Wellington match, Mr M. J. Sheehan, chairman of the Auckland Rugby Union, who accom panied the team on tour, says that during the whole of the tour he did not believe one member - of the Auckland team had bad a wager of any kind, and to allege that the. team which had had a victory hr every •match played had' been open to bribery to play a losing match was as unwarrant'd a statement as ever he had heard in his life. It was true.that in Dunedin a bookmaker had approached the captain of ha Auckland team and asked him what he would take to play a losin(r._game against If ago, but the offer bad been instantly revised with contempt, and the Aucklanders had played a rattling game and won, as they deserved to win. During all the years be had been associated with amateur- R-irgby ho had never known of an incident which would justify Archdeacon Harper’s sweeprrrg assertion. He had managed. previous touring teams, and been connected with the visit of many southern teams to Auckland, and ho was convinced that never at any time had there been anything of a nature which would warrant: an allegation of corrupt practices or cut and'-dried games. Amateur Rugby was the national game of New Zealand, and lie believed that the public at large would refuse to take Archdeacon Harper’s n■harks seriously. In- regard to the Wot 'ington-Auckland match, which had bee.-, particularly mentioned, was it likely that ) nckland would have allowed Wellington L) score nine points in the first spell, and then sallied forth in the second spell confident of pulling up those nine, points and " few more besides. The very idea was

V-.aurd. Wellington in the first spell had nlayed a superior game. During the interval the position was discussed and remedial- measures suggested, and after a desperate game Auckland did pull up in the second spell, and did eventually win, but it was not as the result of any prior arrangement that Auckland came out victorious. No monetary consideration, directly or indirectly, had a hearing on the game. It had been bard fought from start to finish, and to infer anything else was a -gross libel on both teams.