FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1497, 20 July 1912, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

CBl ABIBTOBTJIiTja] Ruminations on Leaguers by a Contributor. . ./ : ■■' Says a contributor i -All ■ sorts 6f foql stories are being circulated by' somebody, or several busybodies, about the imminent defection of half thewell-known best players in Wellington' to'.; join the League ranks. "Banji" Wilson has-been calculated in all the lists as a certainty, but he has not told his friends about it yet, and they do not believe he will take up the new game. Ho will bo playing for his club as usual to-day.

Thofa'ct of the matter seems to, be that the League bosses aro hot making, thp impression on players that their prelimin. ary pufts forecasted.; Bach..- succeeding-; team 'announced as a Wellington ■repre--eentative teaih contains more > ''iujd'' | ,m.o'Tß: uhf&niiliaf names, and not a single team •of the lot could mako a good game of a match with a first-class club team.

Some of the League recruits are disgruntled or discredited players. Oiie of the "representatives" picked for i'or a responsible place m, the field' is a youth who failed to mako a place for himself in two junior teamSvin the city'.'The 'League is good business ! for him; representative now. One of Jin'eir converts how with the touring team is a profes--Bional from conviction and;from choice, but, though there are men> who -feel and think like that about their" fport'p'laying the Union game here/they afo comparatively epeaking few. ■ ■'. . ! . ■• On the other hand, if a tour to England wexe on offer now from the League,: the.ro are very few of the. very.:best amateurs who would turn it down. '.- '." '.''.;

Does it not Eeem' also: that the League game in Sydney..has.bee'n'jcst : a : :little, credited by the .visit; of;'this; Jlnst: Scratch team of ours'to Austria ?,■''The: League game has -been• vrritten-fupj by 'the news-. papersTtiiere. as something .(infinitely finer than tha; Union could , , 'ever;qffer. ■ Friendly scribes , said that:'it'lad tired.'a new type of "player, and at last Australia had discovered ■ a kind;of football 'which ; its men ;;Yet;:a', ; teami;half.■' 'of •which' cflitsisteU :of, : novice^.iin%Northem League '■■•fu'iesi; has' >been •! able ■Eugbyl:hCTe" ; lnio>«;''that'itn!s':te'am' could hot havo'-mode: things' even": tolerably'interesting for New. Zealand's best in any Rugby rules they might'invent. 'All of, which should.go to show that League football in Australia has "been-given crcdit for a great deal, more' thai it. deserves. :

Blame tha "Weather 1:,...,:....;. The 'Mtf!'. Rame'iof. last.weekiimil livae ia rather:.dnll.'affairj'.b^tit.'Wonld; , have; been expecting rather much to'have looked for a first-class display tinder such conditions as those which prevailed on the afternoon of the match. The ground was. sodden, and play had been a very little wiiile in progress, before patches. were churned into mudholes. Very soon the.ball became covered with slime, and handlingiit ,was a matter of difficulty. The players soon collected about ; their person ; a,thick coating of-Athletic Park, and a ; few-hefty forwards got, suoh generous mud-baths that they were scarcely. recognisable. It was a dreary afternoon for the spectators in every respect. Tho weather was cheerless, and the game did not recompense for the time spent in looking at it. However, let ua take the good with tho bad I !And blame , the weather! , ''.— . ,'

Not Seeking the Rugby V.C. The more "finished team won the dayOriental: Poneke gave Oriental mors than Poneke received from the Black and [Whites in the close forward work, but the Poneke backs could do little with the t greasy oval. Morris (Poneke) seemed 'happier than most of the other backs in battling around .in the Blough. The Orieiital;.'baclis'.,did .not .experience -,tke' eame;: difficulty, in,-handling the- ball as their opponents did, but they did not cover themselves with glory on the day. : Jl'Leod.was at times informed by sections of the spectorate that he was funking. Tho writer doe 3 not wish to ro so far as that, but, it is certain that M'Leod was not striving' to gain the Rugby V.C. foi heroism in stopping rushes. It was quito clear that he was'not-out to sacrifice, his gkin- on-tho altar of Poneko footwear. . jßober'ts, , on the. oilher hand, went down. ' to; everything in, the most commendable Iwajr.-VSe foughti every-inch of ground ■with the opposing forwards, and took a severe gruelling like a man;'

Changes In Oriental. Team. ' It,,'.ia, eaid that there is a chance of changes being made in. the Oriental warguardVnot in the' men, but iii tuo placing ,of the men. The Oriental five-eighths line has not been doing anything out of the ordinary this season, so, it is eaid, improvement is sought. There is a chance of Carrad, who now ploys full-back, being put up to five-eighths, and Uinvig, , now in." the five-eighths line, being tr.insferied to. wing three-quarter. Patterson (threequarter, inay be posted at-full-back.

A Pleasant Toplc-The New "Weilington." ~,Jn. their match ..against- Petone : last Iweek, Wellington showed most improvement in form, and the great pity is that they did not start earlier.in the competitions to "shake up" tho stronger teams. Petono have not had such a 'hard game since their, encounter with Oriental an the first round.' The,Yelloil- forwards especially are deserving of .praise, as they never .lagged' all, .i through,',.. wero keen tacklers.-andjj-fast at following up. The back"diyisi6iv,'was: 'standard, and'oaused- some an-vious' moments to the suburban-'defenders/ , '. "■■ ' :

I'Ho Man. Standing," ': ?, Perhaps the. feature of ■the match was the sterling tackling .'-"of. .Mvboth teams. Every. , man J a(«ouuted for- . Irishman, and in this way'both back tsairis* .pissing turns were nipped in played a very sound, clover'game,-.-and was ably backed up by Millard,."!Drciks,. anil Lambert. At full-back Bridgo'was a veritablo stonewall. Weir,'■ Irons,.-jMafchnnt, and Coker ; pick; ■ of ' Wellington's forwards. • ■ • : ..;■■ :-..■■■■. : , On the'Petone'side,.'M'li , arlnne, Ready, Parrant,r.and Price .-were all working well, but;they. ; were ,"up against it," and they kijfey , it. ;;;HlthoUgh:, tho backs on Petone J s<-side;:ehdeJit.o«?a to pierce the . defence,.. l they. : Seldqm. : "eucceeded. Eamsden, Jaa. Rjati, .Bby;d/!:and.*>sunn were a good ?;uartet ; -fpr-'the: Blues*' flamsden particu-arly-bdng;-reifytiup'py.iind clever. Tho gatno w.as; very fas,t and-full of bright infootball' for the;ninety minutes.

he is unlikely to be playing to-day. M'Kenzie, who is also out of actton owing to an injured leg, is not very likely to bo in his placo at centre-three-quarter to-day. . .' .

The 'ambition of the officers of the Poneke Club is to seo tho club with the most up-to-date gymnasium possible. The present -"gym." has a playing area of soinia sDft. square, also . dressing-rooms, "etc.;'but'an effort' is , to be mado "to exdond tho "gym." another 25ft., rearrango the dressing and bath quarters, and erect club rooms above tho gymnasium pToper. If the club's enthusiastic pyesidont. (Dr. Newmain,,_M.P.) makes lip his min,d that tho thing is to bo done, Poneko will soon have one of the best "gymns." in New Zealand.

. From a Manawatu paper:—Northern Union football is to bo commenced at Palmerston. Seven Manawatii representatives have signified their intention of joining. If this is" so, then Rugby is imperilled in Palmerston, as without opposition now it does not raise enough public ■cfithusiasm to get at .the principal matches. '.

" Not often is it that one catches'"Full. Back" in the "Witness" nodding, but even Homer eoinetimes node, and here.is the nod in question:—There ia an • Otae6 representative back named Bckhold who has done nothing for a whole generation but play defence, and who has.never, yet oven got on , ~ nodding terms with: the A BC.'of. : attack. Still, after all'these year? , "Full Back" admonishes him thus: "If Eckhold wishes to develop into an attacking back' he must drop,that lin.6 habit;" This'seeins'tantamount to advising a very aged,-hoary, and ancient leopaTd to take steps to change his spots. . A fully-recfurted College legion is to march, like Caesar's :.men;' "under the eagles":to-day. Likoßalbus (or some such person) in the, classics, some of them recently retired for the vacation ut bene yiveren,tv , . Thq .post-vacation reinforcements i include' Staintoni Nathan, Paulsen, Qfiilliam,:;ani[l;K;.Ke.nzi|.' ' I The ■■fuil back for this yearns OtaßO '.team should: be easy of selection with Scott-iii'. fdfm.''The Taieri man being available,/need ono look further for the last line of defence ?—"Full Back" in. the ;" Witness.". '. .; D§nt,; vi-ho has played one match this year'fofvFetone,'..will not be a starter thisisttlsSii.'- It is runwiiwd, that. noit yWr'.ho'will play Northern'iUnioin. . An attack of . influenza prevented 3. Elliott; from. turning out for Poncke last Satui-day, aud he ihay not be able to play this, week. •:''.'. * .' Curtayrie will .probably, be out with his old club, College, for the Test of the . Parker {PetoneVKho has/been laid tip with a bad shoulder, is iow fit and well. Butcher, Victoria College, is still in, Auckland, and probably he will not be available to play for his club for a week or two. 'Gibbons, one of the College Teoruits, showed rather, deceut form in the pack last Saturday. > l ' A very, active Pomeke veteran in tie person of Alf. Griffiths turned out for the old club last, week, rather than eee a gap in the ranks. Many people who do ■not reinembe-r Griffiths weTe under the impression that Poneke had roped in a promising new main. The Petone Football OlubV annual "social" takes, place on July 31. Ready, who v cut the top of his. finger off a few weeks ago, turned out last week. ' 'On: 'the coming Otago tour ■ north "Full Back" lias some remarks to make. He saysi-'lt was exceedingly unfortunate that Black received injuries in the interisland match necessitating his retirement —unfortunate, too, because tho game was nearly concluded when the accident happened. Tho Dunedin Pirates' fivo-eightks will'bo out of action for ;soine'■weeks,'but it is. hoped, he will have recovered suffi-ciently-to join the Otago team on its northern tour at the end of next month. Writing of this tour, one regrets that some of the University men are unable to travel. At least two of the backs of tho 'Varsity team—Cockroft and Alexander— would be certainties if they could make the trip. Cockroft, I hear, may possibly go, in which/case the selector's difficulty concerning a centre three-quarter will bo overcome. Cockroft, though selected for the inter-island match, was unable to go to Napier. This fact may strengthen the belief that ho will be. available for tha Otago team's northern tour. Forward Otago will be well served. The right men selected, the province should be represented by one of the best packs ever sent on. tour. The ''All Blacks" Casey and 511>onald will not be the least of these.