FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 544, 26 June 1909, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

RUGBY. fJjT ATOBTOJULBB.) "Aal right, Tahmmy," said tho pugilist to tho moth on a oertaln occasion in Sydney, and we will take Mr Jack Johnson's words v pretty much as we find them A noise suggestive of some poor creature being slowTy assassinated in a wind-swept field has been blowing Willis Street for somo time, , bnt it turns out to bo nothing more serious than another writer in search of this writer 'Aal right leddle "Drop-Kick" of tho ''Evenjug Post," come right along here —jestwhcie 1 wast you. 'This was originally,a caso (as the Court reports would say) wherein it was sought to he shown that one, Rugbj, was being seriously assaulted, and his life endangered by •tho Apostles of tho General Compliment {The nmao, who was the first witness called, deposed that Rugby was "mortial bad." She particularly noticed him ,at Athletic (Park last o Saturday, on which occasion ho was , hardly able to walk. "Anstobnlus," tho next witness, stated in evidence that the General Compliment was a subtle, poison. It produced ratner pleasant, but very weakening, effects ' It swelled tho head, but had a disastrous effect on the legs, which were tho efieetrvo part of a Rugby footballer. (When his legs vero affected, there was not ffery much of him left In consequence of €h« continued doses, increasing lumps of Rogby were continually breaking off, and Tho hockey and "soccer" so-' gregataons were cases in point. The picas-1 out poison was 'not administered out of iienewtfence, bnt out of a calculated pursuit of the immediate'' penny. A player who had played a very bad game could always •eooror his, eeJf-respccb by buying a paper and learning therefrom that he bad played a -fiood one. *Tho consequence was that tho WOJS3 games ho played, the more papers ho bought. Tho policy, was also consistently pursued, negatively as well as positivelj Tie late British team, according to tho Purveyors of the Pleasing Soporific, had been described as ,a pretty bad lot. That was chiefly, because they only numbered about thirty, and vyero therefore not numerous enough, to seriously affoct the copper of the moment. Cross-examined, witness admitted .that the foregoing bore some intimate rcfer'enoe,to "Drop-Ejck." but conceded that "Drop-Kick" was only ono of many of tho '' Barns sort. Tbe caso was adjourned pending the death of tho patient. ,' ' ' Arising lout of this was' a civil case in which "Drop-Kick" (plaintiff) and "Aristobulns" (defendant) claimed and oounterclaimed in the usual varied and tiresome manner., The >statement of claim, ,as set iortii by plaintiff,'" embodied (1) that "Ans*obclne,'Vin his notes, had too much to say ■ about Napoleon and too littlo about football; (2) that "Anstobulus" was an impostor Baling under an abas, and that his 1 real name was '"Harry Stopperless." In -support of the last, he put in a copy of tho "Post" dated June 19 Defendant's statement was to tho effect that the expression "Sony Stopperless" showed a remarkable descent'to pavement wit on tho part of a metropolitan paper. As to ".Napoleon" and all that sort of thing, it was mainly a question ' of give-and-take. Last year he (defendant) .put up with a gram of football in tie ."Post" concealed behind a bushel 1 of - such;meaningless'words as "evanescent."'lt all read as 1 grotesquely as a mams-danoe, bnt he (defendant) had made no complaint !As to' pure football he stated that ho (defendant) had asserted within the last threo or four weeks (a) that Oriental wero oxtieodjngly proficient ,at M walking through tiEsni^paper; (b) that against canvasj'tor brown paper They woiild not be iruite eo deadly: (c) that any ordinary team could run Oriental off. its legs; (d) that Poneko had forgot more football than its antagonists ever learned; (e) that the best of them (Poneko or any other) had imbibed eo much of tho calculated poisons of the day that they were hopeless' state- . racnts had hod justification in tho last four ■weeks, and they seemed to. bo more to tho . point to (him (defendant) than anything "Drop-Kkk" had written during the past 117 years, His Honour said that tho only ques- ' tion was what could be done with plaintiff 1 ("Drop-Kicfc") -What he really needed was - BomeMnstruction in football, but that, would , be difficult, not to say dangerous, on account of the injunction laid down about casting pearls in front of unsuitable creatures. In the Game of tho Great Groy Walk, at lAtWetio Park, ono of tho few fine features ivas Gardiner's goal-kicking. It, and Ryan's pretty dropped goal, fell like bright, crimson splashes across, a featureless afternoon !And more than they fell Tho theories of ■"Poor For'ard," in a contemporary, re "tho ' jmld artillery of the potting back," 'also Jumbled with a tbnd that might have been ' leard beyond Petone'. Even v the nine stirring minutes that 'opened the gamo were not perfect Sunlight— bright, baffling shafts of it—was striking full into,the faces,ofthe Oriental men Ono would have expected, an experienced team 1 like Poneko to .have' dono, the right thiiit, ihen. A shower of high-anglo, contrmg (kicks (all,swiftly followed up) should have ieen kept raining down mto tho Oriental twenty-five. As Oriental backs simply could Hot see the ball as it descended, a lot of tries might have been got by centring and following up. , But Pdneke just amb|cd on, finding tho profitless touchlme, kick after kick. 1 t , Curious is it to note the diagnosis and. prescription of the usua\ Rugby j>hyßician, - when things go wrong with a gamo On Saturday, a good deal of 'criticism was showered on this'and that"little side issue , —how the ball did not come out of the 1 scrums cleanly, how ,ono man missju n.s passes, and another man didn't tackle, and how the ball novor came out to tho wings, and so on. This seems like treating a mon--1 bund man for a scratch on his hand , The trouble with tho Poneke-Onental match was that the forwards weie trailing out behind the play, like a tiled caravan in ;tho desert. When forwards "let down the whole thing" on tho backs like that, all manner of bad play sets in But that bad Play 13 only tho sjmptoms of the troublo; m. 1. er i]mK lhat « tno cause. ' ' Ihe walkers! 'Ihe great, weary army of latter-day walkeisl How safe thoy arc from observation! Tho spectator probably does "?* vhis eye is always following where the ball is, and, ]f a walker does his walking far enough away from the vicinity of tho ball, he will not be noticed. Any spectator may test this by picking out a player and keeping an eye on that player JB the time. Ho will see some amusing things. It would bo a good thing for Rugby if lists of the walkers were published every week, matt-ad of the usual insipid lists of alleged "heroes," "great plavcrs," "Trojans," and such liko .After two or three careful observations, I Bolieve that I have managed to sort out the most distressful walker in Wellington 6 "j ?,, p J n <*° forward, and will not bo named till I have made another observation t ßu f' ,n , dM ?.> °«Pht not to bo allowed to play football at all On Saturday,, ho struck ono of tho Oriental backs violontly. and deliberately 1 in tho face This amiable person needs watching Wellington's prospects of a win seem, on present going, nbout as hopeless is a qurst for the philosopher's sfono In tho fifteen which tho club his' put m tho field on recent Saturdays are a few pla-ers, who, if placed in more worthv surioundings, would soon succeed in tmnins; honour Bnt these fow have to be content just now to worrv along, v tryinc to make .imtnds for the deficiencies of their comrades In addition, tho team lacks just thit fiomnnf of luok winch sometimes <'o<?s far MwsMs wctorv Acainst Old Bov= list S-itnrriV Wellington (almost solcIv fhiniioli tt"> f*"vnnto time and again iwont isi In tH" V hites' defence, and nsRnmod slr-mr iift-rbr.R positions, but, jiist when fl w« looked h-np- for the Yellows, a fur-''l'lf hick would dfsnoil nil 1 In hard fonnrd rushes which characterised the first snoll, Wellington bad a'

thorough "pipc-oponor," and gave Old Boys many uncouifortablo moments on their goalline But only a goal from the field was registered. .From the outsot of tho second spell, Old Boys' bads took a hand, and Wellington, being caught napping, six points were rattled on, M'Luan scoring two tries. A solid period followed—no regald for finer elfort or eifect, just hard kicking and harder —and with "about ten minutes to go, Wellington seemed' to have a fair chance of .winning, when fluky circumstance favoured Old Boys .Avery being on the Bceno sei/od the opportunity, and, after a short dribble, kicked across-Held in the twentyhvo, and Poole picked up and dashed over This was tho deciding incident in a game which, although not scientific, was at all times earnestly fought, and sometimes fairly interesting Dawson was again absent from Old Boys' back division, and was replaced by Wiggins Whether it was on account of Dawson being away or not, Old Boys' back play was not up to previous performances Tho halfback, up till late m the game, chose to find the line often than to pass On tho form displayed by tho opposing backs, this was not a paying policy Noither side handled tho ball cleanly, and the passing generally ended m the last man being jammed on tho touoh-lino. Tho spectacle of senior backs scurrying across the fiold from touch-lino to touch-line, and then' finishing up by passing about ton yards to the rear of the original starting-point, is not odifymg , On Saturday, Thompson and Lomax, for Old Boys, and Garr and Bridge, for Wellington, showed flashes of good,form in attack and defence' Avery, the Old Boys captain, kept well in touch with play at tho side of the scrum, and no opportunity escaped him. Ho may be credited with having played the best gamo on tho ground Though ever keeping an eye to tho main chance, ho nevertheless generalled his team well, and, by his example, promptly enlivened his men whenever the element of disorganisation seemed likely W creep in. Of the other forwards, none deserves special prai'l3. Marcbant was off-colour with his place-lucking , Excoptmg Carr and Bridge, the Yellow back division were uncomfortablo throughout Carr> who, this last Saturday or two, has boon playing up really well, put in somo strong dashes, but his efforts were not Hell secondod , ' , Of the Wellington forwards, Wilson, Fernando;,, and H'Kellar never fail to earn distinction Wilson, especially, is a hard worker, m scrum, line-out, or'loose, can always be noticed Symo was also prominent. .This quartet were tho \mamstay of tho Wellington team An element of uncertainty as to tho result lent added interest to tho match at Petone last feiturdij St James wore in good fettle, and phjed vigorously. Thus it came about that Potono found themselves clorcly followed up, and victory wae theirs by a one-point margin. Reds were 8 points np boforp Potono really attacked. At tho end of the first spell, tho scores were equal rhe second half was also a good fight, Pe- | tone being hard pressed over and 01 cr again . The scores, 14-13, are n true' indication of tho comparative merits of tho teams on tho 1 day Crcwes went out to tho touch-lino with tho 1 flags, intending ,to give hia 'injured leg a rest, but, when Stewart camo on limping with a bad knee, Crowee stood by his team, and played a good game at wing-forward Petone backs were unchanged except for the inclusion of Miller (wing) Corson having loft tho district Pace is Miller's strong point. He scored once in the second spell, and, just beforo tho whistle blew, made another good attempt, which was frustrated by the clever "tackling'of M'Grath Roberts,knpws)now that he who hesitates is lost f In tho match last Saturday, he received the ball after a high kick, and then endeavoured to get clear of charging opponents. Miller was upon him, and ho commenced to dodge, but he deliberated and jumped back and forth for a couple of seconds It was just long enough to allow Millor to get waj off and SOI7O him. Tho last try awarded to St. James doubtful E Roberts originated tho move/ and the line, of attack comprised H. Roberts, Crewes, Ferguson, and Phillips Tho last-named was pushed outwards over the corner flag by M'Kenzie. However, tho referee held that a score had been effected Disci tion must be used when one would tackle Green, the nlert voung Petone half He has a knack of bending down and presenting a well-braced shoulder below the knees of his adversary Tins is ono of those knowledgeable ruses which make it safe for a small man to nky football M'Kay had a rather ungainly tumble across Green's back last Saturday. Tho takings at-tho Athletio Park- last Saturday totalled £158, which represents an attendance of over 6000.