WET WEATHER MORE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1510, 5 August 1912, Page 2

WET WEATHER MORE.

tk INTER-ISLAND iATCH INTERRUPTED, f PETONE TEAN3 BROUGHT DOW!*!, , rf SUMMARY OF RESULTS. -:■ .;;*. , - v;:-., ,V"",' Points. . " , Points. llqrth Inland (country) ':.:.. 14 South Island (country) 3 ; Wairarapa School Representatives 3 Wellington School Representatives 3 ■ . pfji|«tic ,;;.;;,,.,,. re .,.. :r ,.. rr ...5. Petone 3 Oriental .:.r........ *2 Melrose ...,. 0 \v' e |ii n gton... 13 Victoria Collego '9

Rain, and the Breath of an Iceberg. : After having given tho city the strange experience of two lino days, the weather on 'Saturday cracked up. The prophet ..who .'said that he could, not guarantee -■ the'populace a fine'week-end was once • agaiVcorrect. It was a dull morning, tmd before." noon the rain was upon 11s. By football time tho sun had totally dis- ■ '■r nppfcared, tho-rain fell hard and often, and;- the south breathed up with the; breath of an iceberg. Nevertheless, the .various matches were played, and some ' p v copl*» turned out to witnesss them. The fow'lfundred who huddled into the grandAthletic, Park, witnessed an un- • inspiring fiasco,''for which, 1 however, the : extfeirio dampness of almost everything •whicK. needs to bo dry was . chiefly : responsible. ■ : • ( . .I. '■:' .•■ -J • ■, :■ > ~ ','■ ■•-, -. ■ Lake/or. Both' Mixed? - : Proceedings..at the park wero opened pooh after lunch when the representative , school match between Wairarapa and " ■ ■'■■ Wellington was- turned on. At the con- '■: elusion of this, game, which ...resulted in a drawj ; a good-sized portion of .the ground resembled an>-exaggerated, pictures, of ,d .North; Auckland "road. It" is .but fair 'to say', that ■' there wero several patches which' , looked like oases in this desert of dough—patches which a person with,,,*., •yivid*'imagination would, possibly, assert , had;'once had green grass on them. It Tvasoji'this cr—ground, and in'this liquid of -pluggish; brown, that the North IslanpLandcSifflthVlsland'Coantry "ro^re&eii-'tativc-:-tearas":TOi'o'"askcd:'t6" pia"} , ' Kflgby." It Was on this area'of mixed ingredients that they .suffered for forty minutes. And in the^'Adjacent pavilion 'the public sat and pitied them. ' JThe Ga,m«,Abandoned. ,• ... ... . It was announced that the-inter-island match v would bo played in four twenty- : minuto .spells.; >?qpn after tho affair commenced it was obvious that it would be pitifully farcical. The, players could- not handle tho ball, they could not make,a ■ foothold,' no one could kick with accuracy, and it was, beyond a joko to get , eitheiv buried or drowned' in the "area." . At the conclusion.' of the' first spell each team had scored three points'. The teams did not leavo the field, but merely chang- ■' ed ends-. For another twenty minutes the 'skating; 'drowning, and burying was perpetrated?*and-.thenithe .scarcely recognisable thirty, -covered .'With '.slime, , and . looking 'as , though they felt too nncom- -• fortable to walk, leftthe field.. North'had 6corg<t£l£ "points* .arid:', South .were. still.:3.' they reappeared,..and apparently the' full measure was to be inflicted. However,, after a few moments' Play the ..referee blow,. his, iyhistle,- and at this..signal tho .players scampered off • the ,field. ~.TJip,; , refrigerated sppctatorate thawed itself out and travelled for home

Surprise In'the City, ~ .-... _Abig crowd; of-city 1 people patronised the t,ram which--runs' along the brink of Port Nicholson'to'Petone, and saw the Athletie<Petone ' match. Petone would win, the majority of (hem said, but the partisans of tho Blue and Black were not among; :i thc -.majority.; '.; Athletio's hopes were- raised. higher. than they otherwise ■ wou|d;have been by ,the, fact that , they knew that-the ground-would ■ be in such a state, that it-Would beaimore gamble who,won.;.' Hoirever, when the final figure-* we're hoisted in the city there was as much surprise as lf.-the sun had fall-. en. How often has Eugby taught us thatwe. must not be surprised at what happens in,football! And still we persist m getting surprised. Petone beaten 1 Is that the correct result?- -That would ecem to/have;beeii the general attitude of the people outside the result-boards on' Satnrda'y etching. 'It was the' correct Tesult. ■ :That"to«gh proposition, which' no weather conditions are bad enough to disturb,- and no team can'defeat without a. run for its-money,- had, with tho'assistnnce of that femarkably : influential gen-tleman'called-Luck,'vanquished {he chosen of Petone. ... A Pond of Slough. ■■■■■'■ ■ 'Tho game was played in driving rain mid-.bitter wind, and in a pond of (dough. In fact, it seems a,pity that so important a match could -not have been .postponed,'but'such a course would, no doubt, havo .'been ' impracticable. The players accepted tho frightful-conditions in a manner which reflected to their credit. There were numerous impromptu burials, from which temporary imprisonments; "howover, the- players ever aroso with "undamped ardour." It'-was tho only 'thing which ,, frits not damp. " Tho. spectators; saw. the contest out in a spirit whicVis usually designated "grim deter.niiriation," or "splendid enthusiasm," but which may also bo classified as heroic patience. It. was a .spirit ,of ' 'pretty stron? stuff whatever its ■ denomination.' for the crowd from the' city and tho suburb endured a spectator's life for an hour and a half. > • ■ <■. An Eleverith^Hour fW.ln. '■ ;: ' The, game was not as interesting afc one would expect the two fifteens to produce; but most teams would have done 'wotm>' in the -circumstances. The general , feel-' ing of the onlookers was that Petono wero about ..tn leave tho field : victors. The Suburbanites scored a'try in the first snell, and; looked forward' to increasing their lead in the second half; Wit Athletic, as they have done on other, bce.iFions, snatched vipfory at the. clflventhhour. Petoae's try was scored by Arrow-, emith, near tho corner/ and MncfarlnneV attempt to eonvert.it'wm. a. great, thouih iinsuccpssfiil, kirk. Atlllftic's fry, which en mo shortly before the conclusion of f.ho second snell. was scored bv'Oshorne.'who had followed uo fast, and fallen on the oval beforeMlillnr. who had misfiolded. onuld recover. Tin's try was scored nenr the goal-nosf.3, and T,: "Rol-r-rts converted. And .so Petone-Tarntcd its post'on the top rung of the ladder. , CHAMPIONSHIP. LADDER.

■ MINOR UNIONS. rNTER-ISLAND COUXTEY MATCH. '■ lu tie first three minutes of the iftterIsland game then.' were three forces. North kkked off, and rushed the ball o-rer the* eoal-line where South sared ot forciwr. Immediately afterwards, Sonth

carried play over the North line where the full-back forced just in time. North nnswered this with nu irresistiblo rush which was carried to tho necessary, distance, but was nullified through tho ball going into touch-in-goal. North returned to tlie attack, and tho backs pressed home a splendid passing rush off which Nicholas scored. North Island, 3 points; South Island, 0. Just before the first of tho twenty minutes' changes was made, M'lntosh scored for South from a forward rush. North -Island, 3 points; South Island 3 p0int5.,.,..:... I . Oft-resuming., several of the North for'wnnl rushes wero stopped by South with difficulty, and at. length Desmond fell on tho oval over tho southern lino. In_ a few minutes Nicholas was over again. Leunard converted. The next try was obtained by Hiirkness (North). So, at the conclusion of the,second spell, tho score's wore: North, 14 points; South, 3 points. At this stage the match was abandoned. ■ Mr. AfNeilson was referee. .

• ..•■, ■■■ - - .0 : . . £-3 ■ a " ■ -i ■£ ' • •■•'■■■•' =b§ i % ■%"?.-- $ OriontiU 13 12 1 0 1"5 58- 21 J'o'ouo -..i..;..: 13 11 11 2(17 43 23 Athletic. ..:,.....'13 11 1 ' 1 llo 44 23 UehKO 13 9 i 0 131 83 18 St. Jaine3 1 13 6 (i 1 09 114 13 J'onoko :... 12 4 8 0 72 104 • 8 Wellington ... 12 3 1 2 - SO 128 8 Victoria Col..;; 13 2 10 1 83 135 5 Southern : 13 2 11 0 4.1 202 4