RUGBY GAME.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1240, 23 September 1911, Page 12

RUGBY GAME.

JACKAL ASSAULTS THE LION. [Br Akistobulus.l Quelle phantasmagoriesl The lion is no sooner down than tho jackal jumps on him. This week "Enthusiast" has his say in tlio "soccer" column. A great deal of his "say-so" about tho limpness of tho Rugby lion is perfectly true. Somo things are making the lion ill, and may stay him if not put right. But let'not tho smaller aaimal presume, lest tho lion hit out with his back paw in tho last moments of his struggle with life and death, and lay the lessor beast low. Ilore is ono kick.. "Enthusiast" speaks of the spectacle which "soccer" provides for the public, and, presumably, Rugby does not. Good! Tho fraction of "Aristobulus," who happens to bo penning this note, came away from a Rugby match at Athletic Park one day last season very bored and ill. Ho left it before halftime, and turned to a senior "soccer" match on the Basin Roserve, looking for that fin© training and motion which feasts the eye. Tho last spectacle was 10000 metres worse than tho first. Thero was neither motion nor skill—only ono great groy cloud of nothing, where a number of nico youns persons jogged up and down, and did nothing. They were, .is it soon appeared, less than half-trained. That is by no means an uncommon symptom in Association football. In tho long run the patient, steady public will turn the lot down, unless a change comes, both in "soccer" and Rugby. The Association management is probably more wide-awake tha.n that of the sister game, for tho poor old Rugby ship is loaded down to Plimsoll with the great weight of ancient pilots who throng tho bridge. Up to date those pilots havo thought of nothing better that "cutting the painter from England." Tben, on some vague and nebulous way, they will save the ship.

i What will come in both games is un- , doubtedly tliis: The game that affords j both the motion and the strenuousness , will win. "Soccer" has llio chanaS for , motion, but not the same chance for i streiiuoiisness of effort as Rugby has. Clip tivo men a-side out of Rugby, and sec it then! Unfortunately, that would moan 1 cutting the English painter. And Tiie j Dominion, which was the first paper in Australasia to open this subject, has no [ wish for that, until it is first seen whei ther the steering of tlio llugby ship could , not be better. Two Letters on Auckland Match. \ Two letters were received regarding the ! Auckland-Wellington Rugby match, and f these were unavoidably held over last [ week. "Bookie" sends a long epistle, of which only one salioat portion shall see ■ light. Ho states:— i Wellington was beaten on and off the field, and Aucklanders laugh l quietly but none the less heartily at the take-down. Looking back at the catch now, one marvels that the game was not picked, but no, we were so carriod away by the "improvement" ' shown' by our men that wo were blinded to .all else. Can anyone reconcile the first-spell form of the visitors with that of the second spell? No! They could not (would not) do anything right in the first half, but what a change on turning round. I was one of the lambs. I had eyes only i for Wellington, but those fumbles and general botches, those shocking linekicks, ctc.j all conic bock to me now. i Perhaps you, Mr. Editor, may reeoli lcet how few of the Auckland kicks reached tlio line in tho first spell, and how many were sent weakly into tho field. . Perhaps you . heard the people around you- remarking on tho rotten . , ldqking, (l 9 ! f ! pH)o visitors, and that tho 1 i team ..Was the, rwoi'St, they had sent down for years, hut I doubt, Sir, if £Oii could find fault with tho lineiinding, and all-round play of the Northerners to a man after the spoil. . . . I'm an amateur to tho core, but it gets on my nerves to hear some of theyo genial incompetents wlili are in chargo of the sport prating of its cleanliness, and tho fear of pollution i if the League game gets going, when . they must know that in reality tho game is racking with covert professionalism, and is tho breeding-ground of tho betting evil," Another correspondent, "Grandstand Critic," writes:—lt sceius strange that when matters were being thrashed out at tho special meeting of Rugby delegates on Wednesday, not one of these who stated that tho old game was deteriorating suggested that the question of betting hail anything to do with it. This only goes to show that the majority of those pontrolling the game in this city are cither ig- 4 norant or wilfully blind to what is going on quite openly every week. There lins been constant wagering over the 1 cup matches during the past season, and tho amount that changes hands in places frequently runs into three figures. Perhaps players are as yet too keen to bo bought over in championship fixtures, but it may not always be so, and in interprovinciaj fixtures it is probably not so. Tho wagering* on representative matches is always heavy in Wellington, and in tlio case of the Marlborough-Wcllington B match played in Wellington last season there was no attempt to keep secret tho betting that was done. Can the Rugby Union Committee say that they were not aware of what was taking place?" A Goal From 59 Yards. * The Australian League wonder, Messenger, is reported to have placed n goal from 59 yards out in a recent match. Commenting on the player in question tho "Referee" says ho has lifted his club out of tho rut match after match by his wonderful goal-kicking, supplemented by his genius as a player. Such a man would be missed from 'a world' 6, let alone an Australian, team. ' Church Teams Come to Blows. In the New South Wales Church Rugby competition, the B grade final between St. Andrew's and Randwick Presbyterian was played at Epping (Forest Loagc) on September 9, but was not finished, the referee, Mr. Witton, stopping tho play about 10 minutes before full time, owing to tho players engaging in fisticuffs. The game was a very strenuous one, and St. Andrew's were leading by 12 points to 10, when a dispute arose Between two opposing players in reference to a mark. Words led to blows. Several other players 'joined in the melee, but before nny serious damage resulted tho referee blew his whistle and declared the matali abandoned. It was to havo been replayed last Saturday. Our Late American Visitors. ' Tho trip enjoyed by tho American Universities' team last season through Australia ' and New Zealand, has evidently opened the eyes of some of tho students to tho fact that Rugby is nyrrc than a collego game, and that, oven" after leaving the 'Varsity and starting in business, one can easily take part' in games in his leisure hours with benefit to himself, physically and socially. A San Francisco paper, speaking of tho coming season, which is just now commencing in California, mentions that a number of tho boys who visited Australia last year, and who aro not now eligible for their respective colleges, will bo seen in action with some of the clubs in tho Golden Gnto City, and that their experience of Australasian play will bo of immenso service in bringing club football to a high standard. How is Rugby in Sydney? Tho Rugby Union season 1911, that opcnod inauspiciously, as it were, with a doubt in many persons' minds as to , whether t'ho Metropolitan Rugby Union, ' ns a union, would seo the season out, has • closed in almost a blazo of clary (says : "Wanderer" in the Sydney "Daily Tele- ; graph"), ccrtainly in a manner that • gives bright; hopes for tho future, and is ample recompense for those who in dark- , looking days havo stuck closely to and ' worked for tho gamo and cnuso they , think right. j The season's commencement saw tho M.'R.- Union so financially embarrassed , that, with tlio exception of ground hire, , its players were called upon to pay every expense in connection with trie game; uniforms, ('ravelling expenses, insurance, 1 etc. . Even then, considering that at first t the attendance at first-grade matches was 1 remarkably small, it seemed possible that I to prevent' tho M.R. Union "shutting up c

shop players might bo called upon to pay cach a moiety of ground charges, as happened (o players in the old days. Hut, in tho faco of gravest difficulties, tho. proper spirit of amateurism seemed to come (o tho fore; young players aroso to take the pined of those who had left the Busby Union ranks for another codo. Assisted by old players who had stuck steadfastly to tho Union gamo they rap. idly improved in form, and, as their plnv unproved, so did tho general interest. If a careful survey of matches and attendances were made it' would, bo found tliat as with tho play, a gradual general improvement tiiok place, culminating in the comparatively largo attendances nt 1 tho final matches on the University Oval. And so tho 11. R. Union finished flic sea- ??'! o "'j' meet all current liabilities, but to pay off some of ita accrued liabilities of prior seasons.-