Hornby Club Rises In Stature

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 22

Hornby Club Rises In Stature

Nearly all the players in the Hornby club’s under-20 team this season were members of the under sst 101 b team on which the club was founded 10 years ago.

The Hornby Rugby Club this season is fielding 16 teams and has more than 300 playing members. Next season, the club expects to field a senior reserve side. The club, looking to the future, hopes to have a senior team in 1968-69—“ but it may be a year or two later when we achieve this objective,” said the secretary, Mr W. Backhouse, on Saturday.

“It was a struggle to begin with, but the district, from Church comer to Templeton, has gone ahead remarkably in the last 10 years,” he said. “The great majority of players come from the Hornby area.

“From a solo under-weight team to 16, including an under-20 side and fourth grade team, is the measure of the development of Rugby in the district. The club’s under--16 and under 6st 71b A teams are leading their respective competitions. “There are so many families living in the district now that there is room for league and soccer teams as well, and there is little or no competition between us for players,” Mr Backhouse said.

The Hornby Workingmen’s Club has been a great help to the Rugby club, leasing it land and buildings. The club has had a pavilion with showers for two years, and also has a lighted training ground. “These are adjacent to Denton Park, our home ground, where we have the permanent use of two fields and a share of the oval,” Mr Backhouse said. “We get great spectator support on our home ground. “We lose players to Riccarton High School first and second fifteens, but the great majority of these boys come back to the club and come back better players. We also get a few players from the Lincoln District High School and Christchurch Boys’ High School.”

The clubrooms are good, but a bit small. Extensions should begin this year under the club’s building programme. The club has grown with the district and the club officials and 120 senior members have every intention that it will continue to keep pace. The strength of the club in its own district, and the esprit de corps generated within a district club is shown by the way that the boys aged nine and 10 have played up through the grades from the club’s foundation sst 101 b to form the under-20 team in the club’s tenth year. Maori Teams

Another example of the way in which Rugby can foster club and team spirit is the two teams, under 18 and under 17, entered in the club competitions from the Te Kaihanga Hostel in Hansons lane. At present, there are 48 Maori apprentice carpenters at the hostel, almost all from the North Island. The boys play for the Merivale-Papanui club, and teams from the hostel have now been playing club Rugby in Christchurch for four years. This year’s under-18 team, coached by Mr R. M. Cully, was the champion under-17 side last year. The notable feature of both teams’ play is the wonderful backing-up by all players; in this respect, they play more like the French or British Isles teams than New Zealanders.

This approach to the game, passing instead of kicking, makes for exciting football and the sides attract a good following. The under-18 side is leading this season’s competition. The captain is D. Skipper, which causes the Maoris a good deal of amusement and there are cries of “come on skipper” from supporters who jiggle and dance

to music from transistor radios when play is dull, but cheer and shout encouragement when play livens up. K. Tumal is captain of the under-17 team, which is coached by Mr M. Kirk. “Ours is' the under-18 B team for Merivale-Papanui, but we always beat the A team," said one of the teams’ supporters. “Some of the boys play for other Merivale-Papa-nui teams,” said his girl friend. “We can easily get two teams, but three teams out of 48 boys is a little too much.” Too Much Talk A surprising aspect of junior Rugby is that there is far more talking by players in the under-age teams than there is in the under-weight sides. The noise in the underweight competitions comes from the sidelines: in the under-age games it comes, mainly, from the field. Cries from parents and other supporters to boys aged from five to 12 to “Dump him!”, “Get stuck in!”, “Screw his head off!” sound a jarring note to people entering a park or walking past a game.

The effect of this partisan and frequently unsporting advice and encouragement may well be the cause of halfbacks, forward leaders, captains, full-backs and other players giving the same advice in equally stentorian voices to their team-mates in under-age games. Coaches and referees in the under-age competitions could well adopt a much stricter policy towards stamping out this unwanted talk by players on the field. It appears that small boys, shouted at, shout to encourage themselves when they grow older. So the fault goes up through the grades and is not uncommon in senior sides.

Teams And Players

J. Campbell, Hornby second five-eighths in the under 17 competition, is fast and gets into top gear very quickly. He is improving with each game, but could concentrate on his handling which occaasionally lets his side down at critical times. R. Jones, on the wing in the same team, is very fast with a good eye for an opening, but could improve his tackling. G. Carson, a former half-back, is showing a lot of promise at lock and is playing well. C. Murray, breakaway, is improving with every game. The High School Old Boys under 17 team is comprised entirely of boarders at the school. The centre, J. Smalley, has scored 80 points for the side. The team can call on 25 players, and only one of them is not interested in a football trip to Nelson planned for later in the season. The boys are raising money themselves for the venture.

The parents of 13 of the players in the Linwood under 6st A team were on the sidelines on Saturday when the team beat the competition leaders, Burnside. Linwood won, 5-3, after a good game. In the first round, Burnside had beaten Linwood, 27-0. The Linwood half-back, G. Chaffey, played very well, combining excellently with first five-eighth G. Davies. G. Wislang, second five-eighth and C. Simons, winger, were

others prominent in a backline that was too strong for Burnside. The Linwood under sst 71b A team has a very good record this season, scoring 123 points without giving any away in the first 10 games. Under the coaching of Mr M. Wilson, the backs have combined speed with good handling for boys of 10 and 11. Both backs and forwards are strong on defence and the forwards are very quick to the loose ball.

The Merivale-Papanui B match against Christchurch in the under 17 section was the most exciting game on North Hagley Park on Saturday. Christchurch, against the wind, led 3-0 at half-time from a penalty. Then the Merivale side scored a try against the wind and converted it, to lead 5-3. Christchurch attacked hard but could not breach the defence. Then a perfectly executed cross-kick allowed the winger to score in the corner without a hand being laid on him. The game seesawed, with Merivale close to scoring, but Christchurch used the wind and its forwards played with much more cohesion to keep play in the opposing half over the last few minutes. Clothes Stolen The recent field day held by the Suburbs Rugby Football Club was marred by the large amount of clothing and shoes stolen while the players were engaged on the field. Mr C. V. Emanuel, the club’s publicity officer, has strongly recommended to all the coaches in the club that the clothes be either covered by a groundsheet or placed in a special bag and held by the coach on the side-line. It is a poor state of affairs when a player cannot be sure his clothing will be awaiting him when his game is finished. It is unlikely to appeal to his parents either.