FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 17, 26 April 1911, Page 9

FOOTBALL.

Echoes from Wairarapa* The announcement of the death of J. A. Blair, the ex-New Zealand representative footballer, has been received with deep regret by those Wairarapa players and followers of the game fifteen years ago who knew the genial Wanganui forward. Blair was one of the finest, forwards ever New Zealand produced, and he was a member ©f the New Zealand team which visited Australia in 1897, and which contained such sterling players as George Smith (Auckland). Alf Bayly (Taranaki), F. Murray (Auckland), Barney Armit (Otago), A. Wilson (Auckland), Jimmy Duncan (Otago), R. A. Handcock (Auckland), L. Allen (Taranaki), T. Pauling (Wellington), A. Humphries (Taranaki), and W. McKenzie (Wellington). Wairarapa footballers of those days have played against Blair on. more than one occasion, and always found him a clean sport.

Blair, by th© way, is the third member of that 1897 New Zealand team to cross the Great Goal Line. The first to go was poor old Barney Armit, the sterling Kaikorai back, who died as the result of an accident, he being thrown on his head while trying to hurdle Alf. Bayly in the Otago-Taranaki match at Dunedin in 1899, receiving Injuries to his back from which he died some weeks later. Then, by a strange coincidence, Bayly was the next to go, dying about a year ago, and now Blair has followed them.

As the Greytown Club are unable to put a senior team in the field this season, it is probable that the Rugby Union will classify Dalefield (last year’s champion junior team) as seniors. A case of alleged professionalism.—A player, It is stated, having for two years received payment from a certain individual to play for one club, will probably engage the attention of the Wairarapa Rugby Union at an early meeting. There is said to be a good deal of this sort of thing carried on In the Wairarapa, and if this is •so, the Rugby Union should institute inquiries and ascertain if such a state of things does obtain.

I know of a case in which a supporter -of a club offered a certain player 10/- per match to play for his club, and the offer was accepted. However, before the championship fixtures started, this player received a remunerative appointment in another district—probably obtained through football influence—and he left for his new sphere, much to the regret of the WairaTapa Club concerned. Obtaining a billet for a player, on the understanding that he throws In his lot with a certain club, is quite a common occurrence in this district, and no doubt obtains in other parts in New Zealand.

I recollect many years ago a well-known supporter of the game in Wairarapa—who could sign his name to a cheque for thousands —“importing” a player with an Australasian reputation to play for a local club in which be was interested. But this gentleman—he is now dead, having died, as a matter of fact, in Auckland, quite recently—was a “sport,” for, when the best player in the rival club in his town was going away from the district owing to loss of employment, he promptly “employed” him as gardener. The only stipulation Insisted on was that the latter should continue to play for the rival club, and on more than one occasion he robbed the “Australasian reputation player” of a certain score. This “gardener-footballer,” who was afterwards one of Wairarapa’s “crack” players, is now a flourishing land and estate agent in the Auckland district. The “Australasian reputation player” was, by the way, a member of a New Zealand team many years ago, and subsequently, removing to Australia, came over ns one of an Australian combination to New Zealand. Football is now in full swing in the Wairarapa, and the annual meeting of the Rugby Union will be hold this evening, when the following clubs will nominate teams for the respective classes:—Seniors: Red Star (Carterton), Gladstone (Greytown). Juniors: Dalefleld, Red Star, Liberal, Lower Valley. Grey town, Masterton, Carterton. Third Class: Red «tar, Carterton, Greytown, Mastertom Dalefield, Liberal, Basil.

Sydney's Rugby War. At the annual meeting of the New South Wales Rugby Union, Mr. M'Mahon said that during last year, the Union had undertaken things which meant a big expense, and which had resulted in financial loss. Union football ran in cycles.- At the present time the Union was in trouble, but he was confident that they would overcome tlie present crisis from the amateur point of view. (Applause.) The dividing way had come. Many they thought were with them were now against them. It was good to know their exact position. It was not a good thing that amateurs should have a large bank balance. The amateurs were not dead by any means. They had had the same trouble in England. He had expressed the opinion in England that if New South Wales adopted the Scottish amateur definition, there would be many seceders. <A League team, when it suffered financially, ceased to exist. That did not apply to amateurs, and he was firmly of opinion that the amateurs here would get back their original position. (Applause.) Their money had been spent in the interests solely of the sport they desired to figure in. By and bye they would get back the publie who were now leaving them because of statements made in regard to Rugby Union officials scuttling the Rugby Union game. There was a strenuous time before them, and the difficulty could be overcome by club men, as they did 29 years ago, not taking any interest in the money that was taken at the gates of enclosed grounds. They were better without the men who looked on the gate, for the man who deserted for 30/ a day would further desert to someone else for 31/. Before illicit practices had induced the public to lose confidence, and he was of opinion that it would happen again. In the future, to keep up international matches, the players would have to make sacrifices, and it was just as well that this should be known, for the reason that waverers could leave and make the position of the remainder plain. The right class of men could be got. The social part of football played a great part in it. With a little self-denial during the next year they could get this class of man, and the Union would then, as the English Union had done, feel the benefit of them coming in. The financial loss sustained last year would be regained in the years to come.

Mr. J. J. Davoren said that last year the programme put before the public was unprecedented, and, while there had been no recompense in pounds, shillings, and pence, a feeling of brotherhood had extended right across the Pacific Slope. The loss of £Bl6 arising out of the visit of the Americans was small as compared with the ultimate result. The return visit would be fraught with good result, and there could be no professionalism or corruption. There were still 326 schools playing the game in this State. Last season the energy and work disclosed were unparalleled. He was sure the game would go on as a. pastime so long as pastimes were played. Mr. B. L. Swannell said that in appointing one secretary to act for the New South Wales Rugby Union and the Metropolitian Union, he was of opinion that the authorities had done the right thing. During the next season the Union "was making a fresh start. He had been to various -annual meetings of the clubs, and he was impressed by the new note struck. There was a determination to keep amateurism a live thing. He was sure the men were there, and those who had held aloof from the Union when balances were big would now flock to their standard. Professionalism had failed In cricket, cycling, running, and rowing. He was sure that the new season would be a successful one.

Mr. Wood, president of the Metropolitan Union, said that he had been at a number of the club meetings, and he was of opinion that the lines to be worked on in future would be sounder than they had ever been before. There had been ia number of defections, and possibly the standard of play would not be as high for a few seasons as it had been hitherto. The result of the visit of the American footballers would be, in his view, very great indeed. Mr. Franklin, who captained fh<* Victorians against the Wallabies, said that there wore a few of them in Victoria, ■who would not play under anything else

than amateurism, even to save their lives, and they .were glad to know that the New South Wales Rugby Union stood for amateurism alone. Attempts were being made to start the game in Victoria and America, and he was sure that it was on the amateur basis alone that t.he game could be made to progress in those places.