FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1234, 16 September 1911, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

RUUBY. PELEGATES AND DONNYBEOOK, [Br.. Awstobuius.l .

•The Uphill Job of Reform. ''Donnybrook Fair" was the item for the night when the delegates mot. Pieces of personality flew as thickly a 9 brick-bats ;£ a Liverpool strike. Who was right? ■Who was wrong? Out of that thicket of accusation, recrimination, fault-finding, , 'bitterness, mugwumps, and .don I' know •what, there comes the clear outstanding impression of— something wrong. Tho meeting' led -to nothing, perhaps because the preliminary stages had to be waded through, and.that mean a certain amount of dirty linen. But that 4 over now'and ' let us hope done 'with' Tho real question is: Should not There be another and fwesmous meeting before the season closes? One notices that the meeting was "adjourned. . Adjourned for how long, when there is,so Xhto be said? If it is. adjourned sine die, it is only, another evidence that the •rulers' of Rugby are totally incompetent [of grasping tho great changes which are comingf and so the old game must go. ■■ Only one really wrong note was struck in the meeting and that came from Mr. WV Perry. He stated: -\ It had been said, that the unions wye was to finance and not to the nlavcrs. Why did' tho union pay so inuch attention to finance? Because they wanted to maintain the amateur game in the city.. If the union could not hold the park, the Sydney League would take it on, and the amateur game ivould bo gone. "Hα!" and also "Ho!" So the public ; have now to pay'.great gates—a shilling ; i9 it?—in order that., unions may rope in all the;, grounds, and no other Igamo except that high-priced one shall ! ever come. In other words the public -.'(without which.-the game must go) are I really asked by Mr. , Perry to'build α-wall round themselves. "Pay now."and pay as 'hard as you can so, that we may close all other grounds and forme ot sport to you!" If one understands tho Perry meanin" aright, that is,the Perry Evangel. .Well, did you ever?'. ... . ' . ■ ■ If the Rugby game' cannot stand.on its own legs without resirt- to something like boycott, then tho' soiraor it dies the better it will be .for, the public 'Who supply the 'sinews of war. 'And, •anyhow, it may bo quite possible to charge £10 per ' head per Saturday for admission to the park! But it may not be possible to get tho public to pay.

Waking up tho Grand Mogul. 'Allied to the foregoing comes the prayer from Wanganui to the Now Zealand "Union. '."What to do to savo the game? says Wanganui. And the Grand Mogul of tho sport turns in his sleep and grunts; "Well, what do you suggest? Wanganui no doubt feels .inclined to advise tho drowning of the Grand Mogul, but GTand Moguls die hard, aud tho job is tiresome. Still, the New Zoaland Rugby Union aro looking in a, timid way for suggestions. 'Another Set-back for Wellington. The "I-told-you-so" brigade had a brief innings during tho half-time adjournment at the Auckland-Wellington match. At this' stago the local men had a lead of 9 points,' and their prospects undoubtedly looked rosy. The t Wellington team was coing a great deal' hotter thhn it did against'jTaranaki, tho inclusion of Ready and Deit making improvement in the forwards, whilst Roberts stiilened up the backs. ' Smm optimistic Wclhngtonians were so full »f joy that they were prepared to ar«rue that the altered- team was just "IT," and that the pitiful exhibition ng*i»st Taranaki would < never havo sadd«nei a Wellington crowd had the ohanges been made before. So much for the halftim* breather. ' ' • ■ ■ When the teams returned to the arena it eertainly looked as though Wellington would—oh, what would they not do? But oh! what a shook awaited tho local men and their supporters! After a good deal of highly interesting sparring, Auckland opened their scoring account, O'Leary kicking a goal from a mark by Otterson. The visitors followed this with a try by Sellars, and when O'Leary converted, the Wellington lead was cut down to ono point. For a few minutes they held this lead but, when Bruce added another try for Auckland and O'Leary,converted, tho tally read: Auckland, 13; Wellington 9. The northerners' supporters let themeelves go at thi3 magnificent recovery, but there was still more trouble to come, Geddes, finding Evenson out of his. place and notching the final by for tho visitors. It was a great win for Auckland, the more go because of the leeway they had to make up in tho second terra. Evenson gave probably the worst exhibition which ho has ever given as fullback, In addition to getting out of place he appeared to bo rattled by the solid ■ .northern packmen. Mitchinson also was all to pieces and mulled tho ball with monotonous regularity. 110 received a heavy fall in front of tho northern goal early in the game, and this may 'have had something to do with liis poor display thereafter. Grace and Kinvig both did well as wing-three-quarters, the latter kicking particularly well. The two Ryans at five-eighths wero up to their usual iorm —that of good clubmen—but they are not representatives, so long as'thero are men like M'Leod and Bradley, or H. Roberts to call upon. Neither of ;the' Ryans have the brilliant touch necessary'in a fiveeighths and possessed by both M'Leod ant

Bradley. Fred. Roberts had a surfeit of defensive •vrork and did most of it well, but ho vraj a toy in the hands of tho lusty northern pack when he tried to break through them by majn strength.' Some of his passes to the five-eighths were very wild and for once lie appeared to be a little too anxious la get quit of the leather. Ono of the most ununderstandable moves of tho Wellington selectors, and ono which they persist in making, is in playing "Ranji" Wilson as wing-forward. On Saturday he cortainly played a good game in tho open, although Ottorson beat him badly whenever he tried, but it is surely absurd to play a man who is admittedly ono of .the finest packmen in New Zealand on the sido of the scrum, especially when thero is no shortage of wingers, of tho necessary calibre. Of tho pack forwards last , Saturday nono shaped better than Dent. On tho lino he was a giant, and ho shone in the loose work and put in somo serviceable tacklos. King and ParTy were next in order, and Bell also shaped well. ' 4 The pick of the visitors' rearguard were Jl'Grejor, Geddes, and Otterson. O'Leary was particularly sound in defence. O'Brien, tho Aucklandors' full-back, had a bttsy afternoon, and on the whole did well, although his general display-was not convincing. Barrett, Hayward, Bruce, and Horring wero consistently to tho fore in the Auckland forward assaults, but every man in tho flack did his bit in tho second kalf, and Hall, on the wing, who had befn holidaying in tho first spell, also came ,to light after half-time. [Two letters dealing with certain aspects of the Auckland match have had to bo held over until next week.] Mismanagement at the Park, The scsne which presented itself at the conclusion of tho representative match last Saturday was not creditable to those in charge at Athletic Park. Long before tho game ended patrons of tho front seats of tho grandstand had their view of the "ame spoiled by tlioso who had not sufficient interest to remain until tho end; but this was only a minor grievance, len minutes beforo timo tho spectators swarmed on to the green sward and ranged themselves up behind tho goal-line and alon» tho touch-line. Tho officials of the union appeared to mako no effort tc prevent tho crowd oneronehing, and the veforee in tho match also was content tc let tho spectators take charge. In championship games, where th< crowd has been less, tho officers of th< union liavo taken pains to see that oTdci was maintained, and spectators wero be

coming aware of tho rule of the ground but after the freohand allowed last week and the resultant chaotic condition of ntfairs, those in charge of the sport will only have themselves to b time it tne\ find it difficult to control the crowd in time that the Management Committee set about malting ay n "B e .™ n « whereby those'who wish to leave eni> mav do so without c's tm ' bmg K T Ji'lie drodsof patrons.. The sportinpiibhc receive little enough consideration fiom ■the Rugby Union. Special .exit, ivouU mean keeping more ga «nen «n all the afternoon, hence, .possibly, *e tacUardness of the union in remedying the piesent state of affairs. . 4

An Indignant Veteran. "Evenson !-Mitchinson '.-They oughten to be there. Their place is on the bank on Wellington last "Saturday- A good forward team heart-broken Jg a shnddv lot r of backs, was the ancieni s aummaryofthe beaten comtanation.

The Coming Event-Police v. Press. It is "on the. menu that before next week is numbered with the past_a .squad of nicked policemen will h a ye preached a new evangel to tho press of this c *ty, and rubbed in the chief points wita WUe of the surfaco soil of Athletic ra . some time the burly gladiators nho e:le cise with pens and pencils and tram on ink lave -been reneatedly appronched by diminutive'men dressed in blue c 'otnes, and invited to play a gamo °f I™°byl™° by, l f The press accepted tho invitation, but the police, naturally loth to _ I ' ecl ? l>6 knnckiiic about,' deterred completion oi lie Wract until they had' received a written guarantee from the printer s devil in tho office of one .of our conte that the force would not be unnecessaiy sacrificed to satisfy the appetites of the drudges of tho inky way. As good sports tho authors and copy carpenters conceded this, and now tho match is to bo fought in moral suasion. As a fuithei concession tho police are to bo a' lo ™ l l ° wear batons in their, belts, and are advised to also carry their dark■ ill caso it bccomes necessary during game to look for the. referee. * The press, too, havo thought it wisdom lo make certain stipulations. In o ™or to avoid suspension .of somo of tho oldest rules of the gam© it has been agreed that no policeman wearing booties larger than seventeens shall be eligible for the blue fifteen. This is calculated to make : it possible, to hold scrums and ljne-oul? in the customary way. Without this provision it was thought that scrums might be utterly impossible and a farce,' by reason of the fact that it customary for opponents to get near one another during these ma , noc , UVT ? s *. • • _ The police have been in hard training for the lost' two days lo the public knowledge, and it is common talk that policemen have been seen moving about in the fresh air at all hours of the day . and night. There is also a dark. suspicion that several of the team havo been ,in solid training between the condemned cell in the Terrace Gaol and the Manawatu River.since early on tho morning ot bunday, August 28.' . . . ' The press havo been in training tor many years. The Dominion ltselt has had a team of picked athletes, maintained'solclv to keep in steady training for Ru-by for tho last 16 years. None of theso ruffians will be allowed to carry pens behind their e.ars or scissors and paste in their § trouser pockets. Poets are barred and if .any dilletante folds up the leather .and silently steals away lie shall be immediately arrested and sentenced to three. sittings of'the Legislative Council, in default to spend 24 hours punctuating Sir Joseph Wards latest indeterminate sentence. , . A mutual agreement is being engineered to secure a referee. Tho Attorney-General has not yet been communicated with on this point, but is expected to forward a copy of his "Humbugs and Homilies, turning down tho comers at Sermons to Scribes" and "Perorations to Policemen. It is rather liklly that Mr. V. It. Meredith or Mr. W. Perry will control the anyono say control the players?—on .this auspicious occasion to be. The Postmaster-General is to act as 'timekeeper,: and is using the town clock for tho occasion. The St. John Ambulance will not be in attendance, but for several days beford tho event only urgent cases will I be admitted to the Public Hospital. (The match is to bo a curtain-raiser to the Charity Cup event next Saturday. Air. V. R. Meredith will referee.) Forgetful of Former Favours. I would like to record the general 'feelin" of disappointment, among the Now South Wales and Queensland players that the expected Australian tour through kcw Zealand did not eventuate (says a writer in the' course of a lengthy article in tho •Sydney "Eeferee"). Such trips foster the game. Tho New Zealand KugViy Union is not to bo complimented upon its attitude in this matter. It has, I consider, quite lost sight of the help given them by the Now South Wales Union in their own troublesome days of yore. Apparently tho invitation and.help afforded to tho To Ante College, tho first 'Varsity team, tho "All Blacks'" visit of 1005, and tho visit of Sievwrighfs team (who .were the guests of the New South Wales Union) to New Zealand liave been forgotten.. New Zealand can make amends for this by bringing the South African team over hero and to the Dominion next season. Percv F. Busli has returned to Cardiff from trance. Last season ho captained the Nautes Club, and proved that he was as great a player as ever. A movement is on foot in Cardiff Rugby circles to get him to prolong' his stay over next football season, and to ask him to . accept the captaincy of the Cardiff Club. The recent tour of the Taranaki representatives involved an expenditure of 'something liko £iOO.