The New Zealand Rugby Football Union.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 47, 19 November 1892, Page 1140

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union.

ALL the national organisations governing oar sport have had, on their inception, to go through an ordeal of abuse and misrepresentation from those who object to anything in the nature of progress, and the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, launched this year, has been no exception to the rule. During the past winter it has been the most discussed athletic body in the colony. The need tor some such body as the New Zealand Union has been felt for some time. Before the formation of the great Provincial Union, an attempt was made to form one by Mr Bate, now piivate secretary to the Hon. Mr Cadman. The result was the older Unions elapsed, and as the game grew to be one national sport, Unions multiplied, the need for a supreme authority became again evident, and the Auckland Union agitated for its formation without avail. After another interval, Mr E. D. Hoben, then secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, which he had brought up to the rank of one of the representative Unions of the colony, tinding his Union’s local fixtures repeatedly disarranged by hurriedly-organised visits from outside teams, and finding also the need for a Court of Appeal in the colony and a recognised medium of general communication with other countries, took in hand the formation of a Central Union. Taking advantage of a tour with his brother (Mr Sydney Hoben, the well known pianist) Mr E. D. Hoben secured the almost universal approval of the district Unions, Otago being the only Union to carry a hostile resolution, and Canterbury by a vote of seven to two approving. Then a Conference was held at the end of the season 1891, when the Otago delegate was the only dissentient, and in deference to him it was decided to postpone the final decision to a Conference to be held in the following

April, and a draft constitution was drawn up by Mr Hoben, provisions%rhicb the Otago delegate (Mr Waters) considered would meet the objections of this Union being incorporated. This was submitted to the vatious Unions, the second Conference being duly held in April last. At both Conferences the movement obtained the hearty and loyal support of our Auckland Union, but at the second Conference it was found that a revolution in club matters having taken place in Christchurch the new delegates had gone back upon the decision of their predecessors in office, and at the final Conference Otago and Canterbury were the sole opposition, and the new Union was formed without them, but with a solid North Island ; Marlborough, Nelson and South Canterbury in the South Island, Southland remaining neutral. Thus launched, the New Zealand Union began the work of the season, and speedily evidenced its usefulness. On account of the difficulty with the two opposing Unions, the regulations respecting the pre-arrangement of inter union matches were allowed to remain in abeyance until next season, but the Appeal Committee was put in full working order, and has during the season satisfactorily decided a large number of appeals from various parts of the colony. The secretary also was able, by giving advice asked for from often the most out-of-the-way quarters, to quietly settle many embryo difficulties. Oar own Union afforded a valuable precedent by referring the appointment of a referee in the Taranaki match to the new body, thus preventing any suggestion of local feeling in so important a matter. Besides the regular work of the season, the Union communicated with Australia, England and America as to the sending of a representative New Zealand team on a round tour next

year. Receiving every encouragment from Australia, news from England that a good team would be welcomed, and from America that if dates could be so arranged as to meet climatic and other conditions, the great universities would much like to meet our New Zealand athletes. All these and other matches have yet to be considered by the Union. At the April Conference it was decided that the officers should consist of a president, bon. secretary, bon. treasurer, an Appeal Committee of three, and vice piesidents elected by the various affiliated Unions. In order that our readers may know something of the personnel of a body that is destined to come into increasing prominence year by year, and that has already been the subject of so much controversy, we give portraits of a number of the officers and the following particulars, regarding them with special reference to their connection with football : — THE PRESIDENT, Lord Glasgow- needs no introduction to our readers. His first public act after his arrival was to accept the persidency of the New Zealand Union, and in doing so, he expressed the keen interest which he takes in every form of healthy outdoor exercise, and both then and since has expressed his willingness to do all be can for the advancement of football and the elimination from the game and its surroundings of any objectionable features. Lady Glasgow is equally fond of outdoor sport, and the whole family are inveterate walkeis, and great believers in open air exercise ; both their Excellencies practise what they preach. Colonel Boyle, Lord Glasgow’s private secretary, is prevented, by a touch of that tormentor gout, from taking part in anything of the kind, but his interest is just as keen, and the assistant private secretary, Mr Gillington, and Captain Hunter-Blair, and Mr Clayton, A.D.C.s, are all athletes. THE HON. SEC. (PROMOTER). Mr Ernest D. Hoben is a good specimen of the rising young colonial, * rising ’ 6 feet 3 inches in his socks. He first saw light in Auckland, afterwards residing for some years in Australia, but spending bis boyhood at Tauranga, where he occupied a prominent position in nearly every branch of athletics. He succeeded Joe Warbrick as captain of the Tauranga Football Club, which could then put into the field probably a stronger team than any other club in the colony—a team which played tough matches annually withtheAucklandreps. Mr Hoben represented his districtas

a forward, but also played full-back and three-quarter, and at the same time was also secretary of the local cricket club, etc. Unfortunately, a knee slightly twisted at cricket was wrenched at football, and playing again on it the following week it became so bad that it was for a time a question of saving the leg, and for two years Mr Hoben was compelled to give up every form of athletics. Meanwhile be removed to Hawke's Bay, where he filled in his spare time during a winter in the country by reviving football. He captained various club teams in Hawke's Bay, but finding that he could not train on account of his leg, finally gave up active participation in the game, but became secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Union, wjjich he brought forward till it ranks with the leading Unions of the colony. Mr Hoben is now a resident of Wellington on the staff of the Evening Post, and during the past session was the Parliamentary representative of that paper. THE APPEAL COMMITTEE. Mr G. F. C. Campbell is well-known throughout the colony for his prowess as an all round athlete, and wherever known is respected. He is another of the rising nativeborn New Zealanders—a descendant of the Campbells of Perthshire, and owning Nelson College as his alma mater. * George,’ as he was best known then, began his fojtball early. At sixteen he played his first representative match Wellington v. Nelson in 1875, and soon became known as one of the best forwards in the colony, tall, powerful, and of splendid physique. He represented Wellington in many a tough struggle from this on, winning the game for his province against Canterbury in 1884, but to the regret of players throughout New Zealand he had to retire in 1886 through an injured knee. In 1880 he captained the first

team sent round the colony by the Wellington Union, and so successful was he as a skipper that it was proposed, had he been able to get away, that he should have captained the New Zealand team which put up such a unique record in New South Wales. Besides being a member of the Wellington Rugby Union, Mr Campbell, who is chief clerk in the Land and Income Tax Department, is Vice-Piesident of the Athletic Football Club, of which he was one of the founders. Off the football field Mr Campbell is an expert yachtsman and the winner of many prizes,

and has represented the Star Boating Club in many crews. He represents the Auckland Rowing Club and Auckland Yacht Club in the New Zealand Rowing and Yachting Associations. He is also a popular and exceptionally efficient volunteer officer, holding the rank of Ist Lieutenant in the Wellington Naval Artillery. Mr Frank Locan is the legal member of the Committee. He is an English barrister, resident partner in the wellknown firm of Sainsbury and Logan, of Napier and London, and a fine specimen of athletic manhood. (Indeed, the New Zealand Union Appeal Committee would be a combination very difficult to excel in the matter of physique, and still more difficult in the thorough knowledge, theoretical and practical, of football.) Mr'Ljgan hails from Newcastle onTyne, and learnt bis football at the Bedford County school, which he represented for three years at half back and threequarter, afterwards filling the same positions with distinction in the Northumberland Club. An accident cut short bis football career, but he never ceased to take an interest in the game, and on coming to the colonies and settling in Napier, rapidly became a persona grata in the football world. For many years he has been president of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, and has never spared himself in advancing and purifying the game, and is a strict and impartial referee. Mr Logan referees

in the principal games every Saturday during the season. He has been sole selector of representative teams for the Hawke’s Bay Union for a number of years, and last year he organised and captained a * veteran’s’ team, and the heroes of the past defeated the Napier Club Fifteen to the unbounded delight of a large crowd of spectators. Mr Logan is a crack tennis player, a good cricketer, and a prominent member of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club Committee. THE VICE PRESIDENTS. Mr W. S. Littlejohn is the centre of football in Nelson, and deservedly esteemed by the players of that haven ot rest and shore of beauty. He has given up active participation as a player, but since the inception of the Nelson Union be has been successively its vice-president and president, and no one takes a keener interest in the welfare of

the game. Mr Littlejohn's influence amongst Nelson players is great, and it is invariably exerted in a healthy direction. He is second master of the Nelson College.

Mr E. T. Rhodes is a good liberal supporter of football, and is President of the Timaru Football Club and takes a keen interest in the game throughout the colony, and in all matters pertaining to it. Mr Rhodes is well known himself,

and belongs to a well-known and wealthy family. He has given up active participation in the game for some years. In 1880, he played for Christ’s College, Christchurch, and on going to Cambridge played for Jesus College in 1883 4, and in the picked fifteen of the University. He was also waiting man in the Canterbury team selected to meet Otago in 1881, and is a good all-round athlete. Mr John Snodgrass, manager of the B.N Z. at Blenheim, recalls a past generation of footballers, having played with • Billy ’ Robinson, Charlie Mercer, and Mark Donovan on the Thames before the introduction of the Rugby rules. Two years later he was captaining the Napier Club team and helping to revive football in that town, and soon

after going to Wellington, he played as one of the team of which Werry was captain, which severely defeated a visiting team of Aucklanders led by George Dunnett. In ’75 he went from Wellington to Wairarapa, and was a leading forward of that redoubtable district. In 1883 he was baile

as an acquisition to the Tauranga team. After a couple of seasons’ play he joined the ranks of Benedicts and retired from the position of an active player. Mr Snodgrass now takes great interest in the Marlborough Union, and is one of its Selection Committee. The name of E. M. D. Whatman is a household word amongst footballers, wherever the Wairarapa representatives have appeared. Mr Whatman was one of the best forwards tbe colony has seen, and his football experience extends over a period of twenty-two years, commencing at

Rugby School, where he learnt the game in the old hacking rlays, and continuing as a representative of the Royal Agricultural College. In this colony he has been captain of the famous Masterton Club, and the Wairarapa representatives for years, and in addition, has represented Wellington province against Hawke's Bay and the Englishmen, having the misfortune to break a leg in the latter match. This did not daunt him, as we find him playing again right up to this season, when a broken rib in the Masterton-Alhambra game at Dunedin caused him to bid a reluctant adieu to the field as a player. Mr Whatman can always be counted upon when any movement for the benefit of sport in general and football in particular is on the tapis. Mr George Fisher, M.H.R. of Wellington, is a wellknown politician, who has been many times Mayor of Wellington and was Minister for Education in one of the Atkinson Administrations. Though president of the Wellington Rngby Union for the past four years, Mr Fisher was never himself a footballer, but was a rower and runner of note in his youth and still takes a keen interest in athletics. The remaining vice-presidents are Mr G. F. BAILEY, of Mokoia, Haweia, one of the famous Bailey family of athletes and footballers of the West Coast. Mr Bailey is a runholder, and besides having been one of the best players

in the colony, is a keen supporter of football. He was nominated as vice-president by the Taranaki Union. Mr W. L. Bailey is another enthusiast representing the Manawatu Union, whose home is at Taonui, Fielding, and Mr C. V. Powell, a well-known resident of Wanganui, completes the list. The hon. treasurer is Mr Levi CoupLAND, late of Auckland, but now of Wellington, who represented Auckland at the first conference. Mr A. E. Devore, one of the Vice Presidents, is the well known lawyer of Auckland, who held the office as Mayor of this city with much popularity for three years, is

an enthusiastic follower of the game, and holds the position of President to the Anckland Rugby I'nion, an office he has held since 1889 Mr Devore is a stannch supporter of the ‘King of Winter’ games, and takes great interest in the many contests played in Anckland during the season, he being a regnlar attendant at the Epsom Ground. Mr Devore has made many valuable suggestions to the Auckland Rugby Union, which have always been accepted ; while he never fails to attend any of the general meetings of the Union.

Mr T. Henderson is an old warhorse known—and esteemed—on every football field in the colony. What he doesn’t know about football isn’t much worth knowing, and he has represented Auckland Province oftener than anyone usually captaining the team. His thorough knowledge of the game, and his ability as a forward has been tested in many a tough stmggle. Mr Henderson is perhaps better known in connection with Rugby football than any other player in New Zealand, on account of the large number of inter-provincial contests that he has taken part in. He started playing football from its infancy in Auckland, and in 1876 represented his province. In the following year, and in fact for a term of ten years, he donned the blue and white jersey of Auckland in nearly every contest that the Northern provinces played; his last match being against the New South Wales representative in 1886. In the majority of these matches Mr Henderson captained the Aucklanders. He did not retire from the football arena till this year, as last season he played for the Auckland Football Club, as well as in several games for the Grafton District Clnb. With such a practical knowledge of the Rugby game, it is only to be expected that Mr Henderson should take an active part in the management of Anckland football, and at present he occupies the position of Chairman to the Management Committeeof the Auckland Rugby Union. This office he has held for the last six years, and has always given general satisfaction, while in all his dealings he has been found free from petty Club jealousies. Mr Henderson was one of the members of the Committee of the Auckland Rigby Union when it was first formed in 1883, and with the exception of one season has alwavs held a seat in that body. He is also well known in yachting and rowing circles, being the owner of the 13tonner Rita, which has a splendid record for racing. Mr Henderson is considered one of the best hands at the tiller of a yacht in Anckland. He occupies the position of manager to the Auckland branch of the Union S.S. Company of New Zealand.