FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1449, 25 May 1912, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

■ ■- ■ . ■—__ —f ,'... .: [Br Abistobttmjs.l ' It Runs in the Family. It is not often in these strenuous days that a father and son are both playing ir senior football at tho same time—mon often.father is content to etand on tht line and oheer his hope and pride on The : following comment on last Saturday's Levin matches, from the "Horo■whenua Chronicle," illustrates the unusual case:—• "Utiku, who.has a son who ds playing for St.. James team in Wellington, though an old player, did we 11.",.. Roberts-Value of "Soccer" Training.. On many occasions during his brilliant Kugby career, "Fred" Roberts has reaped the benefit of his early training in the Association game. Before he threw in ■fiis lot with Rugby, Roberts was a capable exponent of the "soccer' game, and ■■frequently when he is playing a hard (jame on a wet ground, the spectators are surprised to see his clever dribbling and footwork. This was in evidence last Saturday, when the ground was sloppy and the ball greasy. On one occasion Roberts dribbled ■his'way through half a scoro of Melrose men,' and concluded by giving an accurate pass with his foot, vinic'h enabled a comrade to score, It was a clever piece of wori, and no one without a good groundIng' in "soccer" would have attempted, or could nave carried it out successfully. Much Ado About—What? A-few weeks ago there was quite a fuss concerning the fact that military parades were to be held on a couple of Rugby Saturdays. The Rugby people's idea seemed to be that if tho military people went about making fixtures indiscriminately they would knock the bottom out of the season's Rugby contest. It did not seem to occur to Rugby's rulers at the time that matches had had to be postponed in other seasons, and that the championship contest had survived tho trouble. What of the seasons which were interrupted by rainy Saturdays? The trouble was overcome! ...This note, is suggested by the fact that last Saturday a match was postponed because .the Karori ground was unfit to play... on. No one seenis to be howling from the housetops that this is going , to result.in the-annihilation of anything in particular, or a catastrophe of any kind. It is true, of course, that several thousand people who would have, journeyed to Karori to. see the spectaclo, Wellington and PonekV wished to provide for them irore sorely disappointed; and grievous harm may thereby be done. Great disappointments have 6oraetimes even resalfced in'broken hearts. Then theta is tho loss of revenue to the Karori tram service; but maybo trams will still run to Karori. Let us hope so. And think of -this! Think of this awful thing: next Saturday there will be no cup matches, because there is to be a military parade. !Aviest Game. Next Saturday while the cup matches are off there is to be a test match of some kind on Athletic Park. The exact nntufeof the match has not; been decided, but it will be one in which the more prominent players will measure strides alongside one another. No doubt the selector, Mr. V. R. Meredith, will welcome such matches. The poet Chaucer said in one of his modern operas: "A worker's life is ■' hot. a happy, one," And one may add: "Neither is a selector's. Mr. Meredith's first team of the year will meet Rotorua on Monday, June 3. A Grave Problem. Someone wishes to erect an advertising board over the fence opposite the grandstand at Athletic Park. There is already an advertisement of the kind there, and it is suggested that if a whole row of high advertising boards were erected along that side of the ground 'it would wipe out the "free show" which is obtained by people every now and then. .'■ This aspect was mentioned by a mem;ber of the Wellington Union last Wednesday night. Seeing that there are often '.as many as five people looking over the ■fence, and seeing that none of the five, -have the price of admission on them, tho matter :is ssrions. Why not hold a special meeting to deal with the problem? The high fence may be very costly, but the union must not be cheated out of their gate money by the people who have not the money to pay with, and who might not patronise the turnpike if they had. Poneke Have a Grievance. ■ Poneke have a grievance. Their secreHary has written as follows to the Wellington Union: "I notice that my team has drawn the bye for next Saturday, (that is to-day), and I am requested by my committee to draw attention to the followiiig facts, and ask if it is not possible to give us a game this Saturday. At the outset this season we have .been unfortunate in drawing the strongest teams, end, last Saturday, when we had a fixture with one not so' strong as the others, the game had to be postponed on account of the state of the ground. The Saturday offer next (June 1) there will be no football on account of the parade, and this ineans that our team will not have a game for a month. If there should be any further postponement on account of the weather, or the state of the ground, then there would be further delay. This would mean that our team would have nothing to train for. I shall be glad, therefore,, if your committee will give us « match next Saturday." This matter came before the union on Wednesday night. .It was dismissed iaetantly with ;tho observation that the union could not do anything. Bather ft pity that tho thing occurred: greater pity that the union could do nothing. Poneke might do a service by going deeper into this. The union may not be at fault, or they may be; but fliat is not the chief point. A similar situation could occur again, and it may not be impossible to remedy the trouble. If there is a remedy, we may as well have it in time to deal with a- recurrence, of tho trouble as have it somewhere in tho distant ages. Wellington Club—Then and Now. The ' Wellington Club's senior team, Tvhich has been doing better this season than it did last season, is to be strengthened by the addition of C. V. Fordham, T. M. Grace, and B. Drake, who were members of the now dead Old Boys' senior team. These three should prove to ■be of value to the Wellingtonians, and it 13 to be hoped that the Amber and Black will begin to climb the ladder a little. At the hardy annual known as the Wellington Club's smoke concert, we always hear from the orators a good deal about the club's prowess in the past. Memory suggests that the annual epeeches of several patriarchs of the club include proud references to tho fact that when Wellington were the only team here they had an unbeaten record. However, let us see if we cannot extract a little football out of the clnb. Most New Zealandera like it better than smoke concerts, Roiorua's Visit—"A Strong Team." The Rotorua team which is to play Wellington on June 3 at Athletic Park is reported (from Rotorua) to be a strong one. The team includes sovernl of tho members of last season's Maori team, Some of those Natives were worth seeing, others were not, so it is to 1)0 hoped that tho best of them are coming. By tho way, passing over Kaipara, and Baft, and Takarangi for tho tiino being, one would like some visiting team to dig Piki out and bring him along again. Piki, the half-back who was ni'ound with the Maori team two seasons a(,-o, wns one of the most promising halves who ever played tho piiuc, nnd if lie has been in good hands lately should have considerably improved. Present irritor saw him play some- wonderfully good games, and would be glad to hear that Mr. Parata, or some other patron of Rugby, had got him adopted by a first-class team, if h« is aot already 60 situated,

Wellington's Representative Matches, The Wellington Ifjiion has a fair]/ big programme of representative fixtures to arrange this season, and has found that a good many obstacil >s have to bo overcome in the process,' of tho mapping out of tho events. ,' Auckland and Tan inaki are to be visited when the enp s< ason ends (or thereabouts), southern tea ms are coming north, and several small ii nions aro clamouring for games with V 'tllington. Hairke's ■ Bay wants a niatcl i, and an effort may bo mado to send tl to team to Auckland by steamer, and p lay Hawke's Bay en route. On tho return from Auckland, tho Ambsr and BJ.acks of Taranaki tiro to bo playifcl, and' there is a chance of Wanganui Lying , vi.sited on the way down from Dairylpnd. Wanganui are very keen on baAV n o . Wellington play there, but as a matter »jf. fact, they owe Wellington a visit'.:. jMarlborough will probnb!y bo played byl a Wellington. B team, amd Wah-arapa',h< ipe for .a game later in the eea-son. The people who. a, re engineering the visit of the Sydney Univ ersify team are looking for a date with AV ellington. They have named August 2/1. Jont. Wellington has not decided yot if 'it ,<ian accept ■ that date. The University people's financial proposals, too, may Juive to bo Tovised a little. Lower tirade Heprdienfatives. A pleasing Buggeittion was made to the Wellington Union \'f one of its members, Sir. F. C. Atkinson, last Wednesday. Mr. Atkinson asked per Mission to go ahead with an idea he had of arranging a fourth class representative match between Wellington and Wangansii. He rather surprised his confreres lly remarking, in ; anticipation of the inevitable "What would it cost?" that if each union donated £& the financial arrangements wuld be complete. Mr. D. D. Weir thi'n stated that, he had a proposal for a' Wellington third class representative team to make a tour. Mr. Talbot (secretary of the union) immediately mentioned that he had a fifth clas3 representative fxip in mind,, and that his scheme incluvled the billeb.ng-qut means of housing the tourists. Mr. Atkinson did not state so, but it is presumed that billeting-out is a part of his scheme,

too. Whatever the other aspects,- of the general idea, it 13 pleasing to • see this interest being taken in the. younger players. . • H'm! Let's See. ! Somebody writes to inquire; which is the more popular form of footl/all inAnstralia—Rugby or Australian Bhiles. H'm! let's.see?. The Australian game is played exclusively in Victoria and Scjuth Australia. It is also played in :New South Wales and Queensland, and/ somewhat also 'in Westralia. Rugby it absolutely confined to Queensland and New South Wales. So the anxious inquirer can eort it out for himself— Sydneyi "Bulletin." Canterbury Championship Ladder, The following table shows the positions of the various teams in the senior championship at Ohristchurch:— d o Q J» * H w | s £ 3 fi&2 4?ss Merivale 5 5 107 9 5 Sydenham 5 i 1 - 72 38 4 Christcnurch ..5 3 2 - 34 43 3 Old Boys 5 2 2 1 39 23 2} Linwood 5 2 3 — SO 35 2 Cant. College ... a 2 3 - 29" 61 2 Mbiou 5 1 3 1 33 56 1J Marist Bros." .... 5 —■ U '95 - The Condition of the Park, "Never at any time during the past five years," writes "Penny-Wise," "havo I seen the Athletic Park looking rougher than it did last Saturday. Timer was when the turf on this ground was a picture, but to-day it is getting rough, wtith a coarse growth of grass in patches. Are the Rugby Union finances running so low that they cannot beep tho old ground as it used to be kept?" [Note.—The turf on No. 2 ground certainly did appear to bo a little on the gross side on Saturday, but this was probably due to the grass having been allowed to remain long in: view of the soft nature of the ground after the heavy Tain.]

Melrose and the Bouquets. Melrose made a great.and gallant effort last Saturday to justify the bouquets of their flatterers. Four maiches had tho Newtown boys played, and 'all four they had won. Melroee were reckoned by their ardent friends to have quality enough to knock out anything which came along. But, while Melrose had won all four of their matches, they had not beatei four first-class teams. However, they may yet make their supporters' predictions come true; they are still well in the running for the ohampionsbip. They are not invincible, but their game against Oriental showed that they are capable of giving any of the recognised crack teams a very merry hour and a half. For a light team, their performance was a ! remarkably fine one. Why Oriental Won. The way in which the Melrose forwards swarmed over and over the Oriental team was wonderful, and it was a real treat to see. By sheer dash upon dash they bowled their big opponents over, and drove them back. Melroso's condition appeared to be perfect. In another important department of the game they gave a delightful exhibition—in tackling. Nothing could have been finer than their collaring was. Generally speaking, Oriental had the worst of matters, and Melrose deserved to win; but what saved the Black and White was their weight and their scoring proclivities. Some teams are notably good scorers—and Oriental is among the number. And it is the scores, not the general play, on, which Rugby' games are decided. Their''weight told when they were near the line: a heavy man is handy indeed if he gets the ball when he is so close to the goal-line that he only has to fall over in order to score, Murray as "Last Ditch." Murray's work at full-back was a good stand-by to Oriental.. Ho got his side out of sonio nasty scrapes in the second spell, and credit is due to him for some of his saves, though Luck numbered him among its friends for the time being. Murray seemed to be much keener on saving tho situation in the second half than he was in the first half. The ex-Aucklander is a useful back. A few years ago he wa3 the pick of the Auckland representative; three-quarters, which is not saying a great deal, for Auckland's three-quarters were a very ordinary lot. Southern and Athletic. Lack of generalship rather than lack of play accounted for the downfall of Southem on Saturday. Athletic, tho other party to the argument, wero by no means up to concert pitch, but they displayed elements of combination, and these, in tho event, earned for them an easy victory. With the exception of 11. Capper (fullback), Bradley was Hie only back in (he defeated team who made himself at all conspicuous. In judicious line-kicking, lie showed himself a master, and, whenever there was any saving to do, ho was generally on tho spot, but the Southern rearguard as a whole seemed to be perpetually at a loss. Even Bradley was often content to kick for the lino'when there were chances about of making somo moro aggressive move.

Athletic, whatever their fault? may lw, are aggressive all tho time, nnd they duly profited by tho somewhat lackadaisical attitude of the Southern rearguard. A lot of work whs thrown on Capper, and he bore up under the burden, staving off attacks time after time. In the latter part of tho game his vigour and dash wero greatly diminished, ns the remit of n sudden collision with an opponent. On the Athletic side most of the honours went to Evenson, who proved himself a capablo back in tho field, scored a try in dashing style, and made good use of his opportunities in tho goal-kicking departmeat,