FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1437, 11 May 1912, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

■ [Br AsißTOßtwce.l RATHER EVEHTFUL WEEK. iTramwaymen. Leave tVie Fold, It doesn't- really.matter to football wheIher tho;. Tram ways toam play Eugby or not. They are a poor iteain, about equal to Saturday third-class teams, and evidently,: they play, the-game in a poor epirit. •■• On Wednesday thoy' left the field because they disapproved of the referee, and the chances are that , they will not bo given the opportunity of disapproving of any more referees. Thoy have no live or six hundred'.votos,.in- the Rugby Union election,- and they oan xoly on their case being jlealt.Avith wholly on.its.ments. ' ; Tho referee stated to Tire Dominion reporter who asked about his questioned, decision: "I gave the : free-kick agains.t a player playing the ball with his hand in the-scrum. ■ He ...didn't think I sa.Tr Playing the ball with' the hand in 'the ecrum is probably the shabbiest subterfuge to. which..a. Rugby, player can etaop.. Rugby andrthe.'Leiaue. / r;;;:; , : , ■ ;. Striking though gloomy enough is 'the picture of Eugby ptospects in.New norath Wales thus . painted by the "Sydney Bulletin":— ; ; i"The New. South' Wales Motro<poljtan Rugby -Union,-"'* it remarks, "is not dead yet,, neither ;dpth. it ".elwp, ' and it, will- for; tho •. gate money and the glory during the coming, winter with 10 .nrst-grado (.'earns, li second ditto, and .12 steerage.. _ The. umon'sjjreafr- trouble.; is'the corttinna! crossing . over '.. of. its • players to. the Leaglie.;.; They' learn their game under the union, make good.vand then, streak over" the lino into tlfe gates of tbo enemy before the ' union begins- to make any profit on them. :• The'result isT'that tlioTaverage, start'dard:nf union ' Eugby-has o tendency to smk. Un--loss 'this leakage-can. bo' ■stoppe'd.Tsomb---' how, the'standard will-'plnnpe. "The League, on the other; hartd, is swelling with proud hope. year it devoted its nttentioa to -".rresting the metropolis .. from"", tho ■ nerveless hand of the union, and', this season it •will follow its fainting -rival into the country, and assault it .for possession of the football back-blociks. The position in tho city will Ik> maintained by the bringing over of Maoril-arid and Queensland teams, and interest will be aroused by the sending of teams to both those States. The League is out for glory and goi*?, a:nd all other brands of football aie requested to stand off tho grass. The. chief danger of the League is that it may. burst through to rapid inflation/' ,The Next War. '- -y ••'•:" : - : 'V" The drabbest and most weimsome performance of alleged Rugby wllich has over been seen was staged on No. 2 ground'at 'Athletic Park last Saturday.! ..The per ? formers were Old Boys and Victoria Collego. The public did' not worry in the loast about the inatch, and 'the players ■ took less interest in it than that. Both toams fully maintained. their'. reputation —which is a rather Bad fact. . Why oh earth do these players continue'to-live the Rugby existence they do ?'" Wh'atevef is-,worth., doing is worth doing well—oven playing Rugby. Waterloo may have been on the Eton playing ground, but the next war will not be won on No. 2 ground nt ;,tho park, even though Bill Adams has figured-there now and tb.es.. As,'Good.aj.the .Old-Time Scruimming. One featuro of the Athl« tic-Petone match deserves a paragraph to itself. It is a paragraph that can bo penned i with gehnine pleasure. It is about the scrums. Seventy per cent, of tho scrums in in ordinary match are "indecisivos." Not eo in this grim game-. Here thero i' were thirty scrums,' and, of ..these, Athletic ,' .fitrOck successfully for (!ho ball no fewer than fourteen times, P«tono seven times, and there were only nine "missfires." The scrum industry is looking up. The Union and the "Ruffing." ,Bven the dogs have "been barking about "unnecessary" play for some time, and it was. pleasing to soe tho Wellington control; wading in to that dark lako of trouble this week. Wo, who merely sit on';the ehore as comfortable spectators, flhonld not be critical either of tho control or of the referees. But yet there is one part of the meeting that hits tho vision of the spectators as queer. This is:— . "■ -. ' .After some discussion it was decided , that tho secretary be instructed to write to the clubs asking them to assist the union in putting down rough and foul piny. Me.oibers generally expressed the opinion that the clubs did not help the union, as they might do in thi3 way. Now, is not this a. little bizarre? Whvshouldn't the control be a. real control, ■without reference to tho clubs nt all? What would we think of a Supreme Court judge, who in the,time of a crime wave instructed his secretary or associate, to write to tho general public asking them to assist him in maintaining the law? Well, that is practically whnt the control has , done. Suppose the Control Assumed More Power. Rough play is altogether a wrong term to apply to such tactics as the union thought to deal with. About fifteen years ago there was roughness in'football, but nowadays what goes by the name of rough play is really i'oul play.' tier} , fast men are apt to hurt opponents quito unintentionally, but the game is being made fur too. dangerous by the referees being far too careful in drawing fine distinctions between reckless and foul play. If the game is to bo kept as an amateur game, and not merely ns a public spectacle, all dangerous play must be suppressed. . It seems monstrous that tho union Committee have no power to deal with flagrant cases of foul play such as occurred last Saturday, and the sooner they invest with such powers tho better it will bo for tho game. It is absurd that the referee should bo expected to control the whole game and all connected with it.. He should certainly bo empowered to deal with foul play, but, having only one pair of eyes, he cannot, in a fast game, bo expected to see all that goes on, frequently yards away from where the ball happens to be. The Star Game-Rather a Surprise. As a game to watch, the AthleticPetone fixture on tho Park last week was the best seen yet for years. It certainly was hard, mid at times somo "mixing" was ' golr.g: on, but, all the same, tho goods" were produced, and DO per cent, of the 5000 looking on were more than satisfied. The result camo as a surprise to a certain section. It was thought that tho Athletic forwards would wipe the floor with Petone's vanguard. Did thoy do it? Hardly. The "All Bhies" held thoir own and, with their very fast set ofbacks, the Athletic first line wore pumped out in the clo-jing stages. TTaichcver team had won would have been lucky, and the side that lost would have been unlucky. Up till the time of his accident A. Wilson's playing powers were a lot ahead of thoso of his colleagues. His cleverness on the line and in the loose fooled his opponents many a time. Cunninghame is a useful forward, always in tho rush, and very safe at nseisfing the backs when taking a high kick. Irvine, Papson, find Orsborn wero a quartet of hefty men, who went with n. will from start to finish, and wero the means of creating several anxious momcnf.s to supporters of the suburban f.i(le. Parrant. Jiidd, M'Fnrhne, Rendy, W. Rvan, and Asliton \w:f> fix of Potoue'p m "(.n who fou'ht iil! through for a win. Thej fcnpvr that they were "up against: it" "ood and Jj&rd, but n?r«r lost heart,

no matter at what part of the field or at vhnt time they were desending. Tho Clan "Roberts." Athtetic's backs wore outclassed by Petono, ami only about twice during tho gamo did they got i nt ° line ' , Roberts was their "star turn," nnd, hnd ho not been there, tho Bluo and Blacks would have suffered defeat. Roberts side steps in a way that is really clever. It was quito amusing to see his elusion of tho not-toe-keon tackier. Kellv is a very powerful runner, nnd, given, "opportunities, is a dangerous man near tho lino. Sotno Petone Men. 'The Jt'Donald Brothers are sound on defence, but ore not quick enough on attack. JU'Kenzio and Ramsden ns a pair of five-eighths nre hard to equal. 'Tho perfect understanding which they have—each ono knowing what tho other is going to do—will paralyse almost any defence. Daley was not up to standard, and missed ono or two golden opportunities. Nunn is playing better than last year, and improves each 'week. Tho fixture, Athletic and Petone, in tho second round, should attract a great crowd, no matter where it is played. PooryvPoor "Poneoks." Their decisive defeat. by Melrose last week leaves Poneko a Badly discredited team, and unless they can do something very serious in tho way of preparation for coming contests, season 1912 is going to bo one of tho leanest years in tho club e history. " ■ : They .nave been unlucky in losing tho services" of one or two useful men, especially Walshe -and Mitchinson, but their places and the places of others have been 60 poorly filled as to suggest some very bad defects in club organisation., It is almost impossible to beliovo, for instance, that some of tlio "passengers" in tho game last week were really the best men available. • But even as the team is constituted it ,n«d not be long inferior to a team liko Melrose, if the men will get into decent condition. The ■ forward pack easily hold the-Bed and Blue scrum in the earlier stages of the game, pushed them off the ball repeatedly, in tact,-but they tired so badly aftar n quarter of an hour's play that-the Melrose forwards beat them all to pieces. Nor was the fault all attachable to the forwards, for tho backs failed wretchedly every time they had a chance to throw the ball about. The Ponoko rearguard have some speedy-men amongst them, and should bo a dangerous attacking combination, but they simply do not appear to know anything about each other's play, and their 'undoubted individual talents nre wasted. Metamorphosis of Molrose. Of course Melrose ■ aro, an improved team. They are mostly young players, and improvement was certain to come under tuition and training, but on their showing on Saturday they may expect a beating from two or three of tho, teams tEey have still to meet. Their forwards are a worrying Eet, always on the ball, and always busy with their feet, but they have not a single player of the Wilson or Moffatt type, who is apt to make a dangerous break at any time. It is a-good forward team without '.being a brilliant one. All this might be very well if they had behind them such a team of attacking backs as the Oriental Club can put in the field, but the fact is that the Melrose backs mostly play to' their forwards. When the pack is winning, as it iras against l'oncko, this is always a more or less troublesome style of play to meet, but it is not a good winning style. Melrose's style—Ancient and Changeless. In short, tho probabilities are that the Melrose pack will put up a good fight with, any forwards in town; the possibilities aro that they will be occasionally smashed up by resourceful, strong forwards such ns they will sometimes meet. Jlolrose are playing the same old game, which the team preferred to cling to in the old days of tho club's supremacy. The old players have gone, nnd the present team have been trained up through the ranks, but the old stylo football stays with them. If a few other clubs chose to piny it, the Wellington Rugby Union would very quickly become a lot poorer than they now claim to be. The play of the Poneko team need not bo traversed in detail. Gtmion, the little half-back promoted from junior ranks, deserves a little word or eo of commendation, especially as some of his own team blamed him for what was going WTong. It was his first game of the year, yet ho stayed tho match out, and was plucky to the end in spite of the fact that his forwards wero letting tho ppposors through every melee and leaving him open to all kinds of rough handling. This does not mean that there, was any undue roughness, for tho game was played in the best possible spirit. The Unity of Their Forwards. . The strength.. of the Molrose forwards was in unity. Not a man shirked once, and thero was a. heap of work for all of them to do. - Dec, Oakcs, and Dan Sullivan showed most prominently in loose play, Oakes being especially persistent in dribbling and fast following, but all the others were always round tho ball tryinsc to hook it away or to drive through with it. They will be a very dangerous pack against a tiring set of forwards, and somo of tho backs iu'town will need all their sdrill nnd stoirinoss of heart to stop a Melroso dribbling rush. Tho backs of the team are a safe, useful lot. 3hirp!:y, at first five-eighths, was easily the best back on tho ground in tho J'oneko match. If he were -well supported, ho would have no small chance of petting- his representative cap this venr. H. Marshall is a strong five-eighths, fairly fast, a good kick, and be runs straight. He also would appear a totally different class of player if ho could bo linked up in a chain of good backs. W. Marshall is a good full-back, and on accurate place-kick, but the three-quarters are only an avorago lot. The Lock Person-Only Paton. Notwithstanding the fact that H. Paton was "locking" tho Oriental pack on Saturday, there was a weakness somewhere, and 'the Wellington hookers got the ball far moro often than their opponents. Right at tho finish of the game, however, the Oriental forwards wero superior both iii the scrum and in tho loose, nnd it is just possible that they may have been holding the Wellington pack rather cheaply in tho first spell. Some Oriental Fcaturos. In contrast to the forwards, tho Oriental backs aro ft splendid lot, and on any occasion that'they aro fully extended, wo may Iflok for "fireworks." The Karori ground was well suited to a good back display, but the Oriental backs did not deem it necessary to make any specially vigoroiie efforts last Saturday, though some of their passirfg wns good. M-'lcod was absent, but will no doubt bo available in the big matches, and will materially strengthen a brilliant team of backs. ■Roberts retains hit form In a wonderful manner, nnd his two tries on Saturday were typical efforts. St. Jamos and Southern—A Dogged Rough-and-Tumble. From tho standpoint of the spectator the contest at tho tlutt Park on Saturday was a long way below pur. The. heavy forwards of St. Jnmea sot the fashion of a dogged rnugli-nnd-tninblo and Southern had to make tho best of it. To do them justice both tennis wont nt their work in a willing way and showed no eigns of tiring as t!n> day wiiro nn. The shadow of defeat eiwompuwd SnuIhcrn early in tho dny, but they tnilod on Rrinily nnil St. .Inmcs got and r.->!ni;iod their victory only by fifthting hard right up to Hie time when tin. whistle hlow. Tho Southern forwards were in gnnd condition, but tho iimniiirrs of tho opposing vanguard woie equally fit and had

a decided advantage of weight. Tho backs were pretty evenly matched, but the Southern rearguard wore hampered by the weakness of their comrades in front. A Process of Piling On. St. James seemed to bo actuated by tho idea thnt n very proper thing to do with a heavy forward is to pile him on top of eoin'etliing. Tho piling process was repeated with frequency and on each occasion piny had to bo suspended whilo a mixed mass of humanity was being disentnngled. Teams that are fortunate enough to possess a heavy vanguard might profitably ponder tho fact that a heavy forward on his feet is worth a great deal more than the same person squirming in a collapsed scrum, oven should ho happen to be on top or thereabouts. An unprejudiced observer, at tho Ilutt, on Saturday, might easily have assumed that tho function of a football forward is to act as a sort of aggressive buffer, to plunge stolidly ahead until his own impetus and the impact of an opposing force bring him down. Making the Most of It. In contrast with tho rough-and-tumble forward struggle, the backs of both teams, when their rare opportunities enme, were alertness and grace personified. Tho tight forward work afforded scope for outflanking movements and thero was a. really creditable skirmish towards tho end of tho game. The- forwards came to u sort of permanent deadlock in Southern territory and the backs hovered on tho outskirts waiting for something to turn up. Tho Southern rearguard had fewchances of getting through, but they laboured gallantly in defence. The attackers wore keen as mustard to get over and Young, on. _ the right wing, led a series of splendid dashes. Coolness and- speed wero tho outstanding features of his work and ho had bad luck in not attaining his objective. When he did finally cross tho line he was penalised for off-side play. From the Eideline it appeared that was a mistake on the part of the referee. Israel, Cook, and Dobson -were othor backs who acquitted themselves well in attack, but indeed there wns little fault to be found with any member of cither rearguard. Amongst the defenders none were better than Bradley (three-quarter), and Capper (full-back). The former seems to bo maintaining his capital form of last season,/ but he had fow chances, on Saturday, of displaying his turn of 6poed. Passing From the Ground. The London Referees' Society recently discussed the never-ending topic of passing from the ground. Here is tho excerpt from tho lion, secretary's notes: Q. —If a player is held (but not tackled in accordance with tho definition thereof on Page 55) and tho ball touches the ground, can the player pass the ball? A. —Yes. A deiinito explanation of a tackle is now given, and so, if ho can pass tho ball, ho is not tackled and can pass the ball off the ground. This is an entirely new ruling, nnd the special attention of referees and players is called thereto.