NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 965, 3 September 1908, Page 10

NOTES.

It is stated ’‘thjat ‘ the tour of,.tile Australian team to the United Kingdom will cost £9OOO. Thus the Sydney “Referee”:—i“ln the forwards of the Anglo-Welsh team there is no one with the bounce and übiquity of D. R. Bedell-Sivright and A. F. Harding, of four years ago. It has been stated in New Zealand that the British team is superior to Sivright’s. So far as form in Sydney indicates, there is a big difference between the two teams, with that of 1904 the stronger. There cannot be any two opinions on that point. * * * E. Booth, the ex-Otago player, who has been residing in Sydney of late, left with the Australian Rugby team for England a couple of weeks ago.. Booth is going on private business,

but while in England will tour as the special correspondent for several important newspapers. * * * * . At a meeting held in Sydney for the purpose of raising a benefit fund for the stranded Maori professional team in New South Wales, Harold Judd, the well-known N.S.W. ex-re-presentative forward, said he considered athletes should always render assistance to other athletes when necessary, irrespective of their status, and to back up his opinion Judd started the benefit list with £5 ss. The final match between the Harp of Erin Hotel team and the Ellerslie Hotel fifteen is to be played on the Ellerslie football ground on Saturday. As both teams have a win each to their credit the forthcoming contest is arousing particular interest as it is expected the game will be a very close and exciting one. The proceeds of the match will be devoted as a benefit to Mr Harry Phillips, the well-known horseman, who is practically. disabled for life through his horse falling while riding in a hurdle race at Ranwick (Sydney). A large number of tickets have already been sold and everything gives promise of a large number being in attendance at the match. The teams have been picked as follows: —Harp of Erin: Backs, H. Murdoch, P. Cleave, J. Hardwick, H. Blackburn, J. Peach (capt.), M.. Chaafe; forwards, C. Chaafe, R. Handcock, E. Cleave, J. Kean, G. Peach, L. E. Austin, C. Hodder; emergencies, McMahon, Barnes, Speakman, E. Stewart, Gillespie. Ellerslie Hotel: Backs, Saunders, Kendall, Graham, Sorreson, Murray, Chapman; forwards, Rhodes, Strong, T. Cawley (capt.), H. Hull, T. Williams, W. Kean, J. Cawley, W. Hull, T. Crotty. * * * According to J. L. Williams and W. Morgan, both of whom belong to the London-Welsh Club, few New Zealanders can conceive the difficulties under which Rugby is played in the great metropolis, a stronghold of the Association code. For some years the club had to pay £lO a week for the hire of a ground. Very often on a wet Saturday, the takings would not amount to more than half that amount, and the members had to make up the balance out of their own pockets. Needless to say, the club often found itself in difficulties, and would have gone to the wall but for the assistance given by the Welsh Union, which loaned it sums of money up to £IOO to tide over any temporary embarrassment. The players, of course, provided their own outfits, and taking it all through, it cost each player at least 7s a week for his football. “So, you see, we play the game for the pure love of it,” remarked the Welsh international forward to an interviewer. It has been rumoured in Palmerston for some time that the professional game was to be established in the Manawatu district. The Manawatu Times has been supplied with the following:—The promoters have been in communication with the members of the Wellington combination that toured to Auckland lately, but nothing of a definite nature was settled. Since the team’s return, it is more than probable that a match will be arranged in the near future. The movement is well supported, and all the financial arrangements for the working of the game are complete. The number of players offering is largely in excess of those required. As regards payment of players there is no foundation for the statements, for all those who are willing to take part have signified that they do not want payment, nor will they or the promoters benefit to the extent of one shilling over, the venture. The players who are to take part are most of the leading lights in Rugby, and their main object is to try and place a more attractive game before the public. Otherwise their motives are disinterested. Our informant states that the public in a few days will have all the facts placed before them; until then nothing more can be revealed. Mr J. Williams, of Dunedin, who was referee in the Auckland v. Taranaki match, has made himself very popular with Aucklanders. On entering the field on Saturday he received an ovation, the warmest I ever remember a referee getting during my thirty years’ experience of the game. Mr Williams is always on the ball and his rulings, while perfectly just, are always in the direction of keeping the game open. * * , • * Dyke, the British full-back, who failed to show his true form in New

Zealand, evidently struck it in New South Wales in the first game. Says the “Daily Telegraph”:—The performance of full-back Dyke against the New South Wales team has been the theme of football conversation during the week, and experts declare that not only has it never been excelled on any metropolitan ground, but it has rarely been approached in point of consistency anywhere. The certainty with which the “last man in” fielded the ball, the accuracy of the line-kicking, and the soundness of his defence generally were remarkable, and there was small wonder that at the close of the struggle he had become the idol of the spectators. It has frequently been urged against Sydney crowds that they take defeat unkindly, and are wanting in that good grace which admits the supremacy of victorious opponents. Anyone, however, who saw the occupants of the stands all around the playing area giving Dyke an ovation as he walked towards the dress-ing-rooms will concede that Sydney Rugbians are ready to recognise merit in play, no matter who is responsible for it.

The Otago representative team which goes on tour this month playing matches against North Otago, Canterbury, Wellington, Taranaki, and Auckland, has been selected and given forth to an expectant public. Generally, the team has given satisfaction, but there are isolated instances of dissatisfaction. Personally I hold that it is a good side from the players available and certain to give a good display of Rugby on the tour. The weakness of the team certainly lies in the back division, and I am not optimistic enough to hope that the rearguard will paralyse the flying backs of the north. But if the backs are not in the first flight (continues the same writer) and the division does not boast any “stars,” the forwards are of the best possible type. Indeed, it is doubtful if any Otago touring team was ever represented by such a pack. With players like Fitzpatrick. Ivimey, Patterson, McDonald, and Paton in the vanguard, Otago’s scrumming brigade to go on tour this this year is something to ponder on. Two years ago Otago sent on tour a team which was criticised off the field, yet it returned covered with glory, and carrying the scalp of old foe Wellington dangling at its belt. This team won its matches through the agency of those Trojans of the scrums —the forwards. Even now the Otago forwards of 1906 are spoken of with awe by Wellington Rugby enthusiasts. What will they say when the McDonald-Patterson-Fitzpatrick-Ivimey quartet get swarming in amongst Mitchison, Evenson and Co.? It may be that the Otago forwards will not play up to reputation, but at this writing the probabilities of that dire happening are remote, and I look to them to “play the game” throughout the tour.

On the first Test match of the An-glo-Welsh team with New Zealand; Dr. P. F. McEvedy in the “Sportsman”; “Our forwards battled gamely, but the backs, with the exception possibly of Jackett, were all below first-class form. . .Football in New Zealand is altogether different from what it is at Home, and until it is possible to get a side to play them at their own game, I fear the ‘Ashes' must remain in the Dominion.”