FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 876, 23 July 1910, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

9 _ RUGBY.

fv DAY OF THE TIRED FORWARD.

(BX AIUBTOBULUeJ.

1 INovelties of the Week. Tho week has seen two notable events, ffhe match of the Californian University -footballers with Wellington, although of no great interest as a spectacle, is of v the first importance, as-opening the way for ing developments in the near and distant future. The possible universal adoption of Rugby throughout the. States, (now talked about, is a thing to make v Hovers of the game rejoicu. It is cerItain that if Rugby is as heartily taken op in Uncle Sam's country as its rudi- ' , ■ iments are being absorbed.by the touring JCalifornians, New Zealand. footballers twill soon see rising up a great band of ' (opponents well worthy of their steel. The ICalifornians are now laboriously working . |op to standard. ■ By and b", if all goes Well, the Americans may set' one. ' , The second event of the week was, of leourse, the match played by Wellington (against the Maoris on Wednesday. The (enterprise of the. Maoris is a thing to be .commended. By their • own efforts they ■ [have raised' up a really fine team, with (anything but. "Taihpa". for its motto, land, among other achievements, it has ■giveu-the Wellington representative team ieolid reasons for seriously considering the (path of improvement. ! Both events of the week were, welcome, and are likely to prove of value in livening up the football atmosphere, and sowing tho seeds of aspiration and effort, where, to , say truth, they seem to be rather badly neediri. Against the Americans, in their immaturity, Wellington put up but a poor display, and snatched against the' Maoris good luck irather than good play preserved them Worn defeat. Each experience should jirove salutatr, particularly the Jattei. r €em Barrackers. . ■. v The Maori as a barracker is an unsophisticated gem. A Maori success, on ftVedheVday wns-the signal for a wild- and iwonderiuT salute from a' party of compatriots in the stand. The dusky ones put-their whole hearts into-it, and as 'they laughed and roared and stamped, 1 their ■ "tribute" stood out in quaint, conbast d> iflt rolling wave of British ing and applause. To do the Maori spectators justice, they were almost as vociferous when Wellington romped home to o score as when Maori fortunes were in jtha ascendant. ' . ■ ■ The Maoris on Wednesday played a ratitling game, and kept their opponents ftmsily employed until the last ten [minutes of play, When both teams showed u tendency to slacken their endeavours. •The Maori forwards were easily' better than the Wellington pack. Their dribbling rushes were fierce, and well-sus-Gained, and in the hustling on the line ■ ithey appeared to advantage. In one success■l eion of line-outs they drove Wellington : right down to their goal-line. The suc,cess of- thellaoris in the scrum has been .noted. The backs, although they were ( eplendidly served by the little half-hack, |Piki, did not show quite tne same outstanding effectiveness as t)io forwards. ■ iTheir passing < rushes were, few, but [when they did get- going they showed themselves' masters of the art of Vthrowing it about." The all-round [performance of the team was so 'good that it would be interesting to W them tested against still weightier -. .opponents. At all events, the showing ithey made on Wednesday will go soma sway towards justifying tho claim ol their . manager that members of the team are deserving of a placo in New , Zealand re- : .presentatiye combinations. iThe "Policy Speeches" a* the Dinner. When footballers and their friends gather round the festive board they may presumably claim the latitude granted all men under like circumstances. At the eame time it will be just as well to draw ' ia, clear, line of demarcation between ut'terances so made and cold facts that will . jbear the light of day. Addressing the iCalifornian and Wellington footballers . tat the.Eugby Union dinner last Saturday evening,' Sir Joseph Ward declared that the visitors had that day made a "most excellent display.". It was a graceful thing to say, and at that we hasten to . leave it. A shade of doubt creeps in, -■ ■. however, when we find Mr. G. I'. C. Campbell following with a declaration that the display waa "remarkably good." Presumably it was said as appropriate to . the atmosphere of the moment, but Mr. Campbell, as a Rugby Union official and an • old and noted exponent of the game as well, is playing with fire when he says things like that on such slight provocation. It may be deemed heretical and disagreeable, but would it not be a good thing if our Eugby magnates. preferred ■ rather, in moments of unbending, to touch lightly on faults and failures, and to discourse pleasantly on methods of improvement, than to strain themselves ■ in unnecessary compliments? The Myth of the Park "Gates." The -precise number ot spectators at a football match 13 usually a subject of speculation, and in arriving; at an estimate even newspaper scribes are not infallible. , The extent 'to which estimates . vary is wonderful, and some of them betray a touching faith in tho bigness of things. For example, the number of people who viewed the American v. Wellington match at Athletic Park last Saturday was variously estimated at from five to ten thousand. The first-named number was very near the mark, the last may be taken as an evidence of touching • faith in its authors. For the benefit of those who desire to reach a tolerably accurate approximation of the strength of Athletic Park assemblages, it may be mentioned that the stand holds" about 1200 spectators, and tho bank near the dress-ing-shed affords room for about 2900. A popular club fixture attracts a maximum of about 4500 spectators. When tho officials give out club "gates" of six thousand or more, it may bo a humorous enough statement once in a way, but . when kept up season aftur seuson it bu< comes merely a bald bit' of monotonous hyperbole. . In the first half of their game on Sattirday last the' Californians employed tho 8-2-3 scrum formation. Whatever its inherent merits may bo it served no useful purpose on this particular occasion. In the scrums of the opening spell the Wellington hookers got the hall half a dozen times, the Californians twico and in a couple of cases the event was indecisive. Apparently the Americans themselves have no great faith in the 3-2-3 formation since in the second spell they used the same formation as their opponents The Tired Commando. In the opinion of a good many experienced followers of the Rugby "game the Wellington team would do well to look to its training methods. By reliable judges th 9 game with California has been , described as one of the poorest exhibitions of Rugby put up /for a long time by a representative team. This is not a? it should bo. The match with the ■ Americans was only by courtesy described as a contest. The visitors were undoubtedly a promising hand of athletes, Hut they are yet. in the early stages of • -their Rugby novitiate and by way of sustaining their reputation as a highgrade team, Wellington should have given a first-class exhibition. In this they signally failed. The best-that con be said is that a dull and slow game was redeemed a little by occasional bright touches. Throughout the greater part of its progress Wellington were content to engage in a mere scramble with the half-taught American players. They had the best of the scramble it is true, but their, acknowledged superiority should have enabled thorn to introduce better methods. Thnt they are capable of dashing, concerted play is proved .by. occasional bright interludes, but instead of

being episodes these should be constantly recurring features in the methods of a crack representative team. . In the match against the Maoris on ■Wednesday the Wellington team again showed weakness and lack of resource. The forwards in particular were found wanting. There were notuble exceptions as when M'Kellar, almost unaided, broke the neck of a hurtling Maori rush, but in the general progress of the game the forwards were often at fault. ■ Free movement amongst tho backs was seldom possible for the re.ason that the forwards imposed no efficient check on advancing opponents. Repeatedly the backs had to save with desperate speed in the face of a Maori rush, and the scope afforded them for aggressive activity was strictly limited. Unless the forwards open the ploy and afford the rearguard a certain amount of clear space to work in, it cannot be expected to achieve any marvels in the scoring lino and,the Wellington pack would do well to realise the fact. It was noticeable -on Wednesday that the home forwards were repeatedly pushed back in the scrum, overcome by solid weight of Maori. It is notorious that the Maoris, although good in the open, display little heart in. scrum-work. In this department Wellington should have been able to at least hold their brown brethren in check. Players! Players And More Players I At last, declares "Full-back" in the "Otago Witness," we have had an'exhibition of football which was football as distinguished from the colourless games of several seasons past. The Maoris, furnished it in a manner as refreshing as it was remarkable in the match against Otago on the Caledonian Ground on Saturday afternoon. The ■ spectators were thrilled with the spectacle of as bright a game as one might hope to see. -At the outset, let it be understood that if the Rugby Union , game were played as the Maoris played it on Saturday, there would be no danger of Northern Unionism gaining a hold in New Zealand. I have all along contended that it is not the rules of Rugby that are at fault in giving us such poor football, but the players. The Maoris demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt that the Eugby game well and intelligently played with fast backs and expert forwards, will hold its own with the best that Northern Union football can furnish. Players! players! and more players! that's what the Rugby game requires, not rules .to suit players. Captain Takarangi, continues "Fullback," . the " well-known representative, who, by the way,-led the Maoris from the thick of the pack, remarked: "We arc all awfully sick at being beaten by Southlaud, but luck was against us, and the better'team did not win." After seeing , the Maoris against Otago, the wonder is that Southland was not swept bodily into Foveaux Strait. I can only think that' the Maoris must have been mesmerised into submission at Invercargill. Against Otago what a change [ Only a kinematograph could illustrate the game. It, bristled with incident and thrilled with the spectacular every timo the Maoris got the ball. The backs, fast as bares and as elusive, fan in and out, doubled.on their tracks, and cracked the Otago defence to- its final line, where only the excellent tackling of Duthie, the Otngo full-back, saved a procession of tries. The Maori backs were like thoroughbreds in a hack race. Not only were the Natives man for man yards faster than. the whites, but in Rugby intelligence and ability they loutrivalled the .Otago rearguard in every department of the game. Otago has not had her mediocrity shown up in such splendid and daring fashion for years. Taranaki on' a Sore Point.. Illustrated articles are appearing in the American press in reference to Mr. Eric Cullen-Ward's trip to America, where he is lecturing and coaching tho Californian schools' in the game of Australian football. The Americans have renamed: it "field ball," owing to- the bad odour in which "American football" is in. amongst the principals of the schools in 'the States. Americans are , taking kintlly to-the game, and two teams from the Columbia Park- Boys' Club, which' toured Australia last year, started on a six-weeks' tour recently, in . which trip Mr. Cullen-Ward was to have accompanied them. They are termed in tho American press "The Australian Bunch," and playing exhibition games of Australian football, which is taking on well. They travel as far north as Seattle ami Vancouver, and do things in grand style, making a Pullman car their home, and being dopoted at each important town, playing field ball during the day, and giving variety entertainments at night. Mr. Cullen-Ward has written a liook on "Australia's National Game," which .isbeing published by Spalding's Athletic Library, and will tend to popularise the game in the States.