Football.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume V, Issue 219, 4 October 1894, Page 3

Football.

The most attractive season which Aucklanders have yet witnessed in the history of our popular winter game is now practically at an end, and few, if any, of our numerous kickists will again don jersey before the lapse of half a year. Since the close of the competition for the senior championship the “ blue and whites ” have taken part in no less than ten matches with foreign teams. Against Thames, Franklin, South Canterbury, Waikato, Tauranga and New South Wales the local team came out of the ordeal with flying colours; but in the contests against Wellington and Taranaki they encountered defeat, whilst the contests with Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa each resulted in a draw. Six wins, two draws, and two loses, looks on paper a fair performance, but when we reflect upon 'the fact that nearly all the successes of the local Rugby Union were registered against the representatives of country districts, where little or no facility exists for playing a scientific game, the above figures lose much of their apparent merit. Of the season’s programme the four principal fixtures were those against Hawke’s Bay, N.S. Wales, Taranaki and Wellington, and in these the local “ reps.” were unable to secure more than one win. On results the season can not be said to have been successful, nor do I for a moment consider that the results represent the strength of Rugby football in this Province. All who remember the manner in which the team was altered on almost every Saturday, and thereby deprived of acquiring anything approaching a combined style of play, must know that the men were not given a fair chance of showing what they were really capable of accomplishing. But enough has been already said and written on this subject, and I venture to predict that the same cause for complaint will not exist next season. The local Union has purchased experience for which a costly price has been paid, but the lesson has been an instructive one, and will no doubt conduce to many of the Union’s future successes.

One of the principal features of the football season for this Colony was cer tainly the tour of the New South Wales representatives. Their lengthy programme is now complete, and the team isd doubtless by this time in Sydney. That the Welshmen have failed to accomplish the great deeds which New Zealanders expected from them the annexed table of results clearly proves : — In twelve matches the Cornstalks, on four occasions only, proved victorious, but the pleasure they must find in being able to record another victory over the New Zealand representative team, should greatly reduce the bitterness of their many successive defeats. To my mind the Welshmen were the makings of a formidable combination, and with a little better knowledge of the game would be able to hold"* their own with any of our Provincial teams. In the face of their performance this may seem a reckless assertion, but in estimating the merit of the team there are many questions to be considered. It is the unanimous opinion (and I think the correct one) that the New Zealand team suffered defeat solely owing to want of combination ; and when the Welshmen played their first match in Auckland they were as much strangers to each other’s style of play as were the members of the New Zealand team. Of this I feel certain, for on asking one member of the team to introduce me to several of his comrades, he regretted his inability to do so, as he did not know them himself. In Auckland, however, the team possessed plenty of condition, and their play was characterised by great dash. As they continued their tour through the Colony, and after playing several matches, it is only natural that they would acquire the combination which they so much lacked in their opening contest, but at the same time it is only fair to assume that the team would in proportion lose its condition and dash, and the players gradually become “stale” and unfit for play. Constant travelling and numerous banquets by no means enable a team to play a hard game, and I have no hesitation in saying that with the experience and combination which the team must have acquired towards the end of its tour together with the condition, freshness and dash which

marked its play in this city the Welshmen would prove foemen worthy the steel of our best Provincial team. The following table shows the results of the various matches: —

August 25. —Auckland. Lost by 14 points to II August 29. —North Island. Lost by 15 points to 3 September 1. —Taranaki. Lost by 21 points to 6 September 3.— Wanganui-Manawatu. Lost by

13 points to o September 5. —Hawke’s Bay. Lost by 17 points

to 12 September B.—Wellington. Lost by 9 points to 5 September 10.—South Canterbury. Won by 23

points to o September 13. —Canterbury. Lost by n points

to 3 September 15. —New Zealand. Won by 8 points

to 6 September 19. —West Coast. Won by 20 points

to 8 September 22.—Nelson. Won by 13 points to 4 September 25. —Wairarapa. Lost by 21 points to 3.

Footballers will read with regret of the death of Mr F. Marshall, who by his play last season in this city for the Suburbs team fully justified the high reputation with which he came from England. During the present season the deceased player had been playing a splendid threequarter game for the Strafford Club at Taranaki but, although chosen, he refused to represent the Taranaki province. The annual match between Wellington and Wairarapa was played on Saturday last and resulted in a win for the former by 11 points to 3. The Wairarapa men men were the favourites, but contrary to expectation the Wellingtonians asserted their superiority in all departments of the game. The match was played at Petone and witnessed by only about 500 people. Wellington’s first try was scored by a fine piece of passing, which enabled Kelly to touch down between the posts. Judging by the numerous attempts at goal, and the manner in which the scores were made, the principal feature of the match was the off-side play of both teams. The remaining six points scored by the winners were made from two successful penalty kicks taken by Duncan and Swindley. The 3 points scored by Wairarapa was also the result penalty kick converted by Emmett.