FORWARDS BIGGER NOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 October 1939, Page 8

FORWARDS BIGGER NOW

THE "GIANTS" OF THE PAST WERE NOT SO HEAVY tf i .

A great deal of nonsense is talked from time to time of the poor physique of the modern footballer as compared with the giants of the past—giants in the literal, as well as in the figurative sense, if legends are to be believed. But when actual weights are compared it is usually found that modern first-class forwards are bigger men than their predecessors. Under the grandstand at Athletic Park, Wellington,,' is a collection of old photographs which sheds interesting light on this point Some of the forwards in the Wellington representative team of 1899, for instance, were the following:— F. Glasgow 11 stone 10 McGurk 10 stone 10 B. Gallagher 12 stone 4 Judd 11 stone 5

These were forwards, mark you, not backs, and one of them, Glasgow, became an All Black says the Observer. The Wellington forwards the previous year were heavier, but not by a great deal, as the following five , cases, taken at random, indicate:— August 13 stone Hardham 12 stone McGuire 13 stone 3 Kelly 12 stone 3 J. Spencer (All Black) 12 stone 2 Few representative teams these days would contain so many light-! weights, and in many teams no forward under 13 stone can be found. Lambourn, the lightest man in the New Zealand teams against the Springboks, weighed 18 stone 8. It must be admitted, however, that many players exaggerate their weights these days, just as they often conceal their true ages. In the old days age did not count against a player—it was his form on the field that mattered. Nor did lightness prejudice his prospects if lie was hard and fit, as most of them were.