WHY WAS PLAY STOPPED?

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

WHY WAS PLAY STOPPED?

OFFICIAL LETTER. Respecting the abandonment of the. match between the.North and South Is-, land country .representatives, Sir. J. D. Avery, secretory ; of the-. IS'ew Zealand Rugby Union, writes:— , "August 3, 1912. "Just concerning tho abandon.merit of tho-'Nprth v.' South country teams match. The fact is that the possibility of abandonment was.not thought of when the game began, but in fairness to the players, it must be admitted that it was soon apparent that football worth _ the while was but-of tho question, and ! that the conditions were such as to niake the players' lot a very disagreeable one, and fended to produce farcical results not fit to be termed, representative football. Somespectators may take exception to the abandonment of. the game, , but surely some consideration is due to the players. Thoy aro -in : the best position to know how futile-it was becoming |to give an exposition of football in the circumstances. It was at the wish of the captains of both teams., that the referee decMred tho ground unfit'for further play. I merely state'these, points in case any of the pul> lie' taken .'exception through tho press to the actiori'of the'players.—l,am, etc., ;:;, . / J. D. ATHLEtIC-PETONE. PETONE'S FIRST .DEFEAT.,.. A ■• littie- over a thousand'. spectators'' watched' the Athl.etic-Fctono'game on: tho Potono oval,':'; The ground was a qiiagmire. Bef,oro plfty' started Petone were.hot favourites, but it was easily 'seen' after the.; kick-off that whichever siclo won would be tho luckiest. The ball was very greasy, and although both' , side's tried, passing on. occasions, the rain and'mud checked them, before any progress was made. Play, naturally, was confined to the forwards, who nil played good sound football, with plenty of dash, and pace. Petone got their score in the first half, anil Athletic'.'crossed the linbin the second spell." Paton was the best forward on the Athletic side, and was ably supported by. Bell. Wilson, and Orsborne. Gosling," the full-back, saved certain scores repeatedly, and got through-a heavy day's work in great style. In fact.,' he was just as strong as' Miller, the Petone .full-back, was weak.' The Roberts Bros., -Evensou, and Atkinson (who replaced Power- halfwav through the second spell) all played brilliantly. . Evenson's line-kicking was a gi-eat feature, and a big help to his forwards. For Petone .Ready, Parrant, Mac-fni-lano and Price played with great dash in the vanguard,-backed up by solid work on the part ~,'of .Tames. Ryan, Ramsden, M'Kenzie, , and JJunn in the rear' division. In a blinding rain Athletic kicked off. Thoy setup a hot attack which Jamos Ryan cleared. E. Roberts got-in a small kick, which was followed Paton. Bell, and Wilson, and Pctono were forced. After ' some heavy bouts on the lino tho town team gradually worked down and Petone were again forced. Rushes up and down field ensued; both forward teams fought hnrd for innstery. One minnto Athletic would attack, and tho, next Petone had thorn hotly defending. Back work was tried, but it wag of no avail; it was impossible to handle the leather. Potbne forwards broke away in a bunch, rained a lot of ground, nnd finally Ready dribbled cleverly over the line, and Arrowsmith pounced on the leather. Macfarlnno's attempt at goal, though a' won('orfnl kick, just fell short. Petone, 3; Athletic, 0.The excitement was from this stago on at fever Kent, and the teams put every mince into iheir play. "Speculator" kicks become common amongst the backs, and tho forwards slipped and pushed their way along. Athletic repeatedly \broke away from line-outs, and became dansrerous, but they could not get over thn line. At the interval tho score was still: Petone, .1; Athletic. 0. In tho, second half Petone was wen on the defensive, and on one occasion Jf'Kcnzio saved at a critical moment., Petono dashed back, but Gosling found the lino well down, and the city team, through the good work of Ball and Cunninehame, started a rush that was just checked bv .Tames R.vnn. At this stnge Power suffered an injury to his knee, and retired. His .place, was taken by Atkinson. A passing rush between T.. Roberts. EvenEon, Atkinson, JF'Donald, and Madden, saw th<> last-named pushed out at the corner. Relief came by a penalty. Ready was a!»:nn prominent in a rush that led 'tb.AtMctio forcing, but after the kicknnt Athletic made a great rally, and their forwards could not be stopped. Thf> ball rolled over the line, and before JFilirr could force Orsborne scored amidst wild excitement. E. Roberts kicked a splendid go<il; From then to call of time the pace was tnrrifie, but there no furthrr score. The result, therefore, was: Athletic 5j Pptone, 3. Jtr.'L. Simpson was referee. ORIENTAL-MELROSE. "MAGPIES" REACH TOP OF LADDER. By means of a comfortable victory over Melroso at Potone on Saturday, the Oriental team gained tho lead in the senior ohampionship. No',2 ground, on which -tho nitUcli' was played, was not by any meati3 in good condition, nn'l the cold rain which fell-during the progress of play did.not.make matters more .pleasant for spectators or players. Melrose looked to have Borne sort of chance as the game started, for n't that stage, Roberts, M'Leod and Paton- had not taken 'the field for Oriental. Within a couple of minutes, however, tho three- players named wero in thoic places and the Molroso men look,od as If an extra cold shower of rain had fallen on them. Roberts was not long in getting fr> work. Ho-first of all mndo a short dash on, his own account, and then a fow minutes later scooped the ball up in tho loo=e. nnd on it travvelkd to M'Leod and Kinvig. There was a clear opening for Hale, but he failed to take Kinvig's pass. Melrofe were now penned on their own line and from a scrum Roberts transferred to M'Leod. The latter sent a long pase to Hale, who

crossed tho line unopposed. I'aton's kick was not sucpe=sful. This was tho only score during tho first sjicll-a period during which Jtelrose were only once really dangerous, namely, when Murphy crosskicked to H. Marshall, who was supported by J. Marshall and Collins, Uio, lastnamed slipping when he appeared to have somo chance of scoring. Tho second half was all in favour nt Oriontal, but it was not until after 20 minutes' play that another scoiv was registered. This resulted from a splendid bout of passing, tho ball travelling from Roberts lo M'l/wl. to Kinvig, to Murray, to Hale, who scored. No ganl was kicked. Oriontal maintained the attack and presently tho forwards rushed tho bull ncro?s the line, where Pnton fell on it, but again tiro shot at goal proved futile. Piny was no sooner im progress than tho Oriontal men nislied tho ball over again, Patterson racing up from behind to fall on it. Onco more the kick was a failure. Mclroso had rallied when the gamo closed a few minutes later with the scores reading: Oriental, 12; Melrose, nil. Mr. H. E. Card was referee.